“The year 2021 saw a boost for the QR678 therapy.”

Dr Debraj Shome, Cosmetic Surgeon and Director, The Esthetic Clinics, is popularly known for his precise and intricate work in cosmetic surgery as it requires an in-depth understanding of different kinds of skin and body types. He has pioneered many new innovations in the field of healthcare, and one of the most recent ones is the QR678 injection treatment for hair growth. Along with stimulating hair growth, this therapy is non-surgical, pain-free and a non-invasive procedure. Dr Shome shares more on the male pattern and female pattern hair loss and what makes this therapy an ideal approach with Shriyal Sethumadhavan.

How is the male pattern baldness different from the female pattern baldness? And, what causes this type of baldness in both?

Male pattern baldness is a slow process and it can be some time before you actually notice the visibly receding hairline. The first indication to watch out is to look for an M-shaped or horseshoe shaped hairline. Other indications include excessive hair loss in showering or when brushing the hair. The fact that the female genetic makeup is different than males, make it obvious that hair loss in females has a different pattern than males. It is rare for women to go entirely bald with hair fall but the female pattern baldness is characterised by thinning of hair and happens generally after menopause or at puberty. Female pattern baldness can be hereditary and the first indications are hair thinning around the parting line of the scalp. Early identification and treatment of the hair loss can stop the progression of the problem. Male and female pattern hair loss, also known as androgenic alopecia, continues to remain a prominent area of concern, especially in the age groups of 25 and onwards.

Is there an association between hair loss and COVID?

There is a sharp rise in the number of temporary reversible hair loss cases in post-COVID patients due to physical and emotional stress. Hair loss post-COVID usually begins two or three months after the patient has recovered from COVID-19. Noticeable hair loss usually starts after an average of about 55 days post-recovery. Hair loss happens due to fever because of an infection, diet changes, stress due to isolation and stress related factors. This hair loss is known as telogen effluvium. This condition is a temporary form of hair loss and is often seen in COVID patients because of the shock that the body sustains resulting from fever and other symptoms. Problems such as hair loss are fast emerging as one of the common side-effects of this pandemic.

What makes QR678 an ideal treatment for restoring hair growth?

QR678 ® is a proprietary, first-in-class hair fall and hair regrowth therapy that has revolutionised the treatment of hair fall in alopecia. The therapy curbs hair fall and increases the thickness, the number and density of existing hair follicles, offering greater hair coverage to the ones with alopecia.

Here’s how the therapy works: Signals passed between the upper and lower layers of skin trigger the growth of hair follicles; the three stages of hair follicle development are anagen (growth), catagen (dormancy), and telogen (shedding); Extending the anagen phase helps in hair development and growth factors pass the signal to do just that. Growth factors tell the dermal papilla cells to start growing or trigger the anagen phase and QR678 is a special preparation of those growth factors that send this message across with precision.

This process is facilitated by mesotherapy which is carried out with the patented QR678 molecules. These molecules are branded development elements, used by little practically painfree administration into the scalp. Growth of hair calls for five to eight sessions dispersed two to three weeks aside each. Typically, 1 ml of solution is inserted per sitting, each sitting requires 15 minutes, no medical center stay is needed, and every session costs approximately Rs 7,000.

This therapy can be considered among the ideal treatments for restoring hair growth. The hair-regrowth treatments available in the market, currently have many limitations; they cannot revive hair beyond a certain stage. However, QR678 is a process where growth factors are injected in the hair follicles, which not only arrests hair fall but also stimulates hair growth. It is a non-surgical, pain-free and non-invasive procedure for hair regrowth treatment and has shown very good results in over 21,000 patients. The therapy has been awarded the prestigious composition and mechanism of administration patent from the United States of America in 2017 and it has received an approved from the Indian Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for commercial manufacturing and sale in March 2019. The therapy is also FDA approved in EU, UK, Kuwait and is pending approvals in other countries.

“The QR678 hair treatment/therapy is a mixture of natural growth factors that are already present in the scalp and therefore it is completely safe to use on everybody.”

Is the treatment done differently in men and women, and how? Also, tell us about the difference in the way the results are seen in men and women.

For men (male pattern baldness), the area on the top of the head starts loosing hair and new hair don’t grow back. For women (female pattern baldness), it is the area around the centre partition that starts getting wider. The QR678 hair treatment/therapy is a mixture of natural growth factors that are already present in the scalp and therefore it is completely safe to use on everybody. It has the right concentration of specific hair growth factors, does not have any side-effects, is performed as an outpatient procedure and the results are visible within eight weeks of starting the treatment for both men and women. The therapy curbs hair fall and increases the thickness, the number and density of existing hair follicles, offering greater hair coverage to the ones with alopecia or male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss. The therapy has also demonstrated encouraging results in post chemotherapy induced hair loss, treatment of hair conditions such as seborrheic dermatitis and in immunogenic diseases like alopecia areata. Minimal sideeffects and non-invasive treatment are the two important factors that patients are looking for in hair fall treatments and this therapy has been successful in providing both these aspects; there is no difference in the way the treatment is carried out as such.

For women, irregular periods can be because of many reasons ranging from stress and sudden change of lifestyle to serious issues such as PCOS and thyroid. Once the cause of hair fall and irregular periods is detected, it can be treated with the help of hair regrowth treatments such as topical ointments, medications, and QR 678 ® hair regrowth treatment.

How does this treatment increase the uptake of the traditional hair transplant procedure by 50 per cent?

Hair transplants add more hair to an area on your head, beard, eyebrow or chest that may be thinning or balding. It is done by taking hair from thicker parts of the scalp (usually the back of the head), or other parts of the body, and grafting it to the thinning or balding section of the scalp. There are two main hair transplant techniques that are regularly used: The FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) and the FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction). Both these methods are effective in restoring thicker, natural-looking hair. FUT and FUE both involve transplanting individual hair follicles. During FUT surgery, a surgeon cuts a strip of skin from the back or side of your scalp and then extracts the hair follicles. In FUE surgery, your surgeon will remove individual hair follicles directly from your scalp, rather than first taking a strip of scalp skin. FUT and FUE may each take several hours to several days to complete. In part, this depends on the amount of work performed by the surgeon. You will go home the same day of the procedure.

The QR678 hair transplant works in three stages: Pre-transplant stage: It is first administered on the scalp session-wise; the advantage here is that the solution will revive the hair follicles even if they appear dead. Hair-transplantation stage: This is a surgical procedure in which healthy hair are taken from the back of the scalp and transplanted to the area where the old hair have begun to fall out or bald patches have started appearing. After extraction, the hair follicles are kept in cold QR678 solution for 30 minutes so that they imbibe the growth factors leading to an increase in the uptake of the hair follicles grafts by almost 30 per cent.

The overall advantages of using this technique range from:

• High survival rate of hair follicles and less donor hair requirement.

• An enhanced youthful appearance with less grey hair.

• Not having to worry about complications, pain or side-effects.

• Plant-based solution and a noninvasive procedure.

• Reduced recovery time and ensuring correct angle, direction.

• Depth of implanted hair, which looks absolutely natural.

How many sittings would it take for results to show?

The QR678 injections are administered in 8-12 sessions in about three to four weeks apart. The results are visible after few weeks. Once you have achieved the desired results, the injections need not be repeated unless the hair fall starts again. This is because this theraphy make the hair follicles healthy. Also, since this is a plant based formulation, there are no contraindications involved. Esthetic Clinics uses QR678 treatments along medicinal treatments to treat the root cause of hair fall and promote hair regrowth for natural looking results. To understand in detail, CLICK HERE.

How is this procedure gaining acceptance in not just India, but world over?

While 2020 was a slack year as the aesthetics industry itself contracted sharply and elective treatments decreased in lieu of COVID, the year 2021 saw a boost for QR678. In the EU and UK markets, QR678 has been launched on September 1, after which the majority of the hair clinics in these markets now have access to the therapy. At present, the product is made at the QR678 facilities which are located in Korea; manufacturing units are being set up in Europe, and as we speak, and there is a European entity which deals in distribution all around the world. The therapy is in the process of filing a fresh patent globally, as it is undergoing overhauling; the patent would be even more efficacious.