Humans are born with a full set of hair follicles, but these can be lost as genetic baldness sets in, or through damage to the skin and in conditions such as alopecia.
The market for treating such conditions is worth some $10 billion a year, with even robots being utilised to transplant hair. However, no truly effective solution exists.
Now, George Cotsarelis at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues say they can stimulate the formation of new hair follicles.
They use an abrasive wheel to rub away skin from the scalp, causing a new layer of young cells to grow as replacements.
Treating these young cells with drugs that inhibit epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on their surface causes some of the nascent cells to form into hair follicles.
The team says it has tested the idea successfully in mice and on human skin grafted onto mice and have set up a company called Follica to commercialise the idea.
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