Every year, those afflicted by baldness are hopeful that a scientific breakthrough will allow for a revolutionary new pill, or cream, or laser that is capable of reversing the effects of hair loss. And every year, the pharmaceutical companies and research facilities are performing new tests in order to meet the growing demand for a cure for baldness. Let’s take a look at how close they may come in 2012 to finally finding an effective treatment that can cure baldness.

In The Search for a Hair Loss Cure, 2012 Holds a Lot of Promise

There’s no doubt that a company or research team that discovers a new hair loss cure – one that is highly effective yet has minimal or no side-effects – will make an astronomical sum of money. So the incentive and will is certainly there. Over the past two years, there have reportedly been significant breakthroughs in finding a hair loss cure: more than any other time in history. Given the amount of money at stake for the ‘winning’ miracle treatment is increasing every year with the number of new hair loss sufferers, and scientific knowledge in this area is increasing almost exponentially due to the new wave of stem cell research, it’s no surprise that experts are extremely optimistic. In fact, we’ve already come very close, and experts are in agreement that a cure for baldness will be found in the next few years.

There Already is a Cure for Baldness – If You’re a Mouse

Over the past year, there has been at least two notable ‘breakthroughs’ in finding a cure for baldness – but so far these have only been practically achieved in mice. The first method is through manipulating stem cells to regrow hair follicles. These claims originally surfaced at the back-end of 2010, and the head researcher, Roland Lauster from Berlin Technical University, says the cure for people would be available within 5 years. So, a bit soon for 2012. However, as it’s not at all unrealistic to expect a breakthrough cure for baldness, 2012 should yield promising signs as researchers continue to explore stem cells for solutions.

This year mice were also treated to another hair loss cure – the use of a chemical compound that blocks the effects of stress on the hair. They had 100% successful results of growing back hair on bald mice, with just five days of applying treatment. A criticism from the dermatology community of this hair loss cure is that, should the product work well on humans, it will only be effective for people that lose their hair due to stress or other non-hereditary factors. Those that suffer genetic hair loss and baldness, such as male pattern baldness, will not be cured from this form of treatment. For hereditary sufferers of hair loss, it seems as if stem cell research holds the most promise.

Conclusion

Although there are no new cures that are specifically slated for release in 2012, there is plenty to get excited about as there have been many breakthroughs recently. While 2012 might not be the year that a long-suffering hair loss affected person may finally get the cure they’ve been after, it is more likely than ever to be the year that a definitive cure is achieved once and for all, which could then realistically become available in 2013-2014.