Researchers create wearable device for re-growing hair

Most people go through the problem of excessive hair loss and methods currently used for re-growing hair can be a bit complicated. Researchers have now created a wearable and flexible device that can help in re-growing hair.

Excessive hair loss, or alopecia, can often lead to anxiety and stress. Some studies have shown that though stimulating the skin with lasers can help re-grow hair, the equipment is often large, difficult to use in daily life and at home and also consumes a lot of energy.

To ease this process, researcher Keon Jae Lee and his team have developed a new flexible, durable and wearable photostimulator that has quickened hair growth in mice when tested. In order to make the device, the researchers fabricated an ultrathin array of flexible vertical micro-light-emitting diodes (?LEDs). The array had 900 red ?LEDs on a chip that was a bit smaller than a postage stamp and only 20 ?m thick, reported Science Daily.

The device used around 1,000 times less power per unit area than a traditional phototherapeutic laser. Also, it did not even heat up enough to cause thermal damage to human skin. The array produced was powerful and flexible and can withstand to 10,000 cycles of bending and unbending.

As published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers tested the device’s ability to re-grow hair on mice with shaved backs. When compared with the untreated mice or those treated with hair-growth-promoting medications like minoxidil injections, the mice treated with the ?LED patch for 15 minutes a day, demonstrated greatly rapid hair growth, a wider re-growth area and longer hair.

For the future, it is now hoped that a bigger version of the device could someday be used by humans in their homes on a daily basis, opposing the current treatments such as various medications, hair transplant surgery, laser treatments etc., wrote New Atlas.