Exosomes: A New Effective Topical Way to Fight Against Alopecia?

Life is a very interesting journey. So interesting, that science is advancing gradually to understand its complexity, and so beautiful that it is beyond words. This journey is an unstoppable forward time machine, in which we become wiser every single day. However, wisdom comes with pain, passion, experience, stress, and therefore, physical signs along with it. For example, hair loss. 

Hair loss can affect many people at any point in their lifespan, this universal issue becomes multifaceted for the afflicted individual. The effects of hair loss are not just limited to physical appearance, and health, but can also extend to psychological and social aspects of life. 

The good news is that nowadays, biotechnology and the cosmetic industry have found a promising new approach for the treatment of hair loss or alopecia.

Table of Contents:

• Why should you care about hair loss?
• What is alopecia?
• Who does hair loss affect?
• What are exosomes?
• What are current treatments for hair loss?
• Why use Glia Hair Care?

Why should you care about hair loss?

Hair loss, or Alopecia, is a very hot topic, not only because 2% of people in the USA suffer from it and this problem can happen to anyone. It has been noticed in very popular events such as the Oscars as well as in the most powerful people such as Elon Musk. We cannot deny that besides being one of the most influential investors he has a certain charisma. Nevertheless, many people will fixate on his hair transplant. It is a demonstration of how people, even powerful ones, will do anything for beauty. 

Beauty is related to health. According to evolution, attraction is nature’s way of motivating you to mate with highly fecund mates that are the fittest and healthiest partners available. Choosing highly fecund mates will increase reproductive success, your subconscious automatically tells you, in order to achieve a successful life, you must look healthy. 

The first thing that someone pays attention to upon a first impression is hair, face, and shoes. That is why the beauty industry Is worth over $571 bn worldwide. However, this industry focuses on not offering solutions to existing problems because of a lack of innovation.

What is alopecia?

In order to understand Alopecia, let’s start with the etiology. The term alopecia originates from the Greek word “alopex,” which means fox. This term was used by physicians in Hippocratic times and was so-named due to fur loss seen in fox due to parasite infestation. 

It is impressive to see that 2500 years later, we understand that the causes for Alopecia can vary. Let’s divide the causes in two categories. The first category is non scarring alopecia that can be caused by genes, hormones, chemical (chemotherapy) or physical trauma.

The second category is scarring alopecia caused by an autoimmune disease, metastatic infiltration in the scalp or an inflammatory response triggered by mucinous material accumulated in the hair follicles and the sebaceous glands, 

The most common type is non-scarring or androgenetic alopecia. 

Who does hair loss affect?

Alopecia, best known as hair loss, is a big problem. This problem is not specific to any social stats, race, sex or ethnicity. Anyone can face this at any point of their lives. Alopecia is not exclusive to the scalp; it can be anywhere on the body. 

Most men start to lose hair in the twenties. The hair loss starts in the front and the temporal areas, some men end up completely bald. Nevertheless, they tend to maintain hair at the occipital area due to its resistance to the androgenic hormone.

In contrast women begin to lose their hair in their forties, losing most of the time from the central area. Women will not end up with complete baldness. 

Initially, it may be hard to identify as the condition becomes more easily noticeable only after about 40% of hair volume has disappeared. There are several causes that are related to this problem and there has not been a reliable therapy until the late discovery of exosome therapy. 

What are exosomes?

The exosomes are little vesicles that act like wires and transport markers of interest between self-renewal cells. These vesicles are very tiny and have an approximate diameter of 50 nm. This means that with a slightly acidic pH and a lipophilic matrix they can be absorbed and metabolized in the seventh layer of the skin, where our blood vessels can transport this desired marker to the surrounding areas. 

Figure 1. Skin structure.  All the layers are in pink, and the blood vessels connected to the connective tissue are in red. The Exosomes and the hair follicles – areas of action are marked with magenta and purple. The subcutaneous tissue is in yellow. The hair is in brown.

Now that we have explained what an exosome is, we want to briefly explain the pharmacokinetics of the exosome. For that reason, we believe that the safest way to apply a component due its slow absorption and the prolonged time of action is the topical application.

Rapid absorptions by Intradermal routes, usually have picks due to its metabolites kept on the plasma, they do not have a slow and steady absorption and there is not a barrier of protection since it goes right to your bloodstream. The best model to test skin regeneration is Swine. The skin of this animal is like the human skin.

Figure 2. Absorption curves in the plasma. The relationship between rapid and slow absorption of any drug or component. The x axis is the time of action, and the y axis is the concentration in the plasma.  

Figure 3. Comparison of methods of medicament applications with the correspondent absorption curve in the bloodstream. The relationship between rapid and slow absorption of any drug or component depends on the method of intake of the drug or component. The x axis is the time of action, and the y axis is the concentration in the bloodstream. Each curve is defined by the style of the dashes and the color. 

As a summary, Alopecia, or hair loss is an emerging problem that has been part of our lives since ancient times. People give it importance because it is correlated to physical health.

What are current treatments for hair loss

Current treatments for alopecia do not provide a satisfactory efficacy. Most of them have side effects, and can be painful or leave noticeable scars. Thus, the fact that exosome shampoo therapy delivers impressive hair proliferation with no reported adverse events makes this therapy an attractive avenue to be explored. Due to the novelty of this treatment, clinical trials to confirm its efficacy and safety of exosome shampoo are still in progress.

Nowadays, Biotechnology has found a promising new approach for the treatment of hair loss or alopecia, called exosome shampoo therapy, after the first time of usage, the following benefits become apparent.

• No scarring
• Little to no discomfort
• Instant improvement 
• Greater safety and efficiency
• Increases the sensation of follicular microcirculation. 
• Visibly prolongs the anagen phase of the hair. 
• Instantly increases healthier and nourished hair
• Topical and easy use

Currently, there are no reliable and tested treatments for hair loss, but a new emerging approach called exosome shampoo gives new hope to the industry. It is always recommended to use products that have clinical data backing up safety and effectiveness. Learn more about Hairloss shampoo as a way to promote healthy hair growth.

Why use Glia Hair Care?

Hair loss is a condition that can affect any of us. If you experience this issue, do not fall for myths and fake treatments that may be a waste of money and time. If you can use a cosmetic that is backed by clinical trials, you should go for this option.

Learn more about  Glia Hair Care. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Valeria M. Criollo Vinueza:

Valeria is a grad student at North Carolina State University in Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the area of Immunology. She is the CEO of CryoGen and Gliabeauty. Through her hard work and research, she gathered worldwide recognition from humanist doctors, surgeons, scientists and investors involved in helping people that cannot afford expensive healthcare to fight against chronic emerging diseases. Ultimately, the CryoGen team is devoted to helping victims of violence and accidents by regenerative medicine at an affordable cost.