WHAT'S IN THE BOTTLE
Tricomin and Folligen
By Joanne Kabak
February 17, 2004
THE PRODUCT AND WHAT IT'S MARKETED FOR: Two product lines marketed for stimulating hair follicles and maintaining a healthy scalp in women as well as men are made by companies based in Washington state. Each uses a different version of a copper complex created by research biochemist Loren Pickart. The original product is Tricomin from ProCyte Corp. in Redmond. It's sold online and through dermatologists as a shampoo ($16 for 8 ounces) and a spray ($48 for 6 ounces). When Pickart left ProCyte he formed the biotechnology company Skin Biology Inc. in Bellevue and began to market Folligen, described as a more advanced copper-complex formula to stop hair from shedding and to encourage it to regrow. It's sold online and by mail ($19.95 for 8 ounces of shampoo, $21.95 for 2 ounces of lotion -- a 45- to 60-day supply -- for "scalp health, follicle health and hair vitality."
WHAT'S KNOWN: Copper is a nutrient essential for the body in tiny amounts. Pickart's research over 30 years found its properties help heal wounds and rejuvenate aging skin. He said he found that as he studied the effect of copper on damaged skin "we were getting really large increases in the size of hair follicles." In the July 1993 issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Dr. Hideo Uno, a scientist with the National Primate Research Center in Madison, Wis., reported that "a copper binding peptide ... had the effect of follicular enlargement on the back skin of fuzzy rats ... the effect was similar to that of topical minoxidil."
Uno said copper peptides need further testing, especially on human subjects. "Absorption is a big problem and remains a field of research," he said. Without an effective-enough delivery system, the copper peptides break down before they can penetrate the skin and reach down to the hair follicles. Pickart said when the rejuvenating properties of copper peptides are applied to women's scalps, there is "some regrowth after about four months." Factors such as hormones play a role in hair loss in women, he said, but copper, in its distinctive blue- green color, still makes a difference. "The ultimate cause of hair loss is damage to the skin around the hair follicle," he said.
BOTTOM LINE: Copper peptide use for hair loss presents a dilemma. On the one hand, "you know copper is important to hair growth, and the technology of copper tripeptides makes great sense for treatment," said Dr. Ken Washenik, medical director of Bosley, a nationwide medical group specializing in hair loss and transplantation, and a clinical investigator in dermatology at New York University School of Medicine. But "I have not seen any data or studies or treated any patients where I could say, 'Yes, this is effective.'" Similarly, Dr. Marty Sawaya of the University of Miami's department of biochemistry, who has studied hair loss extensively, said she worked with copper peptides "and was disappointed in their lack of hair growth. Most of what was seen was 'maybe' decreased shedding." She added that many dermatology surgeons like to use copper peptide shampoos designed for use after hair transplantation to help with the crusting around the sites from surgery.
There's no harm in trying copper peptide products, Washenik said, but don't do it in place of other treatments that have been shown to be more effective. Skin Biology has that covered, too. It sells a "hair regrowth system": a 2-ounce vial of 2 percent minoxidil and a 2-ounce tube of Folligen cream. Minodixil in a 2 percent solution is the only drug approved by the FDA for treatment of hair loss in women, and it's available over the counter.
ALTERNATIVES: "Hair loss in women is a much more complicated issue than hair loss in men," said Washenik, and you usually need a physical exam and blood tests to rule out an excess of male hormones or a thyroid condition, each of which has its own drug treatments. "If your propensity for thinning hair and hair loss is inherited, like the vast majority of people, you can then start addressing whether the way to go is minoxidil or one of the other agents that's less proven but has anecdotal evidence." Hair transplantation may be an option, especially since advances in techniques have eliminated the look of hair "plugs." And there's a new technology in development. Washenik hopes to start human trials on hair "cloning," a process for extracting hair follicles, culturing their active cells in a lab and implanting them into a head for, hopefully, "an unlimited supply of more hair."
Joanne Kabak is a freelance writer.
Copyright 2004, Newsday, Inc.
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The talk about it not absorbing etc is strange. Thought they had that figured out.....?? I use a liposomal SOD(not cu peptides) product...guess I'm glad I am.
