Study to Determine Effect of Gentle Wounding to Stimulate Hair Follicle Neogenesis

Brief Summary

The investigators have extensive evidence in mouse that wounding leads to the generation of new hair follicles in the skin. This can be an important new therapy for patients with scarring, but especially those with alopecia. The question is whether gentle wounding in human subjects can cause the generation of a new hair follicle. The plan is to first carefully map a small area of the scalp without hair follicles. Investigators will then try various modalities of gentle wounding (including fractionated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) laser, mild curetting) of the surface epithelium in the presence and absence of FDA approved topical medications (including retinoids). Investigators will then prospectively monitor the area for hair growth both by noninvasive visual monitoring (including photographs and dermoscopy) and biopsies. The outcomes of this study hopefully will allow new therapies for especially scarring alopecia conditions where hair follicles are completely lost and there are no current therapies.

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