Skin and Hair Transplantation
GHK-Cu improved the transplants of skin grafts in pigs, mice, and humans. For pig skin grafts, the best results were obtained by using GHK-Cu dissolved in a small amount of DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide). Normally in skin grafts, most of the grafted skin dies off, and new skin grows outward from the surviving core of the skin graft. However, the addition of DMSO often so improved the graft "take" that the final graft "take" area exceeded the actual size of the skin graft.
| Study | Result | Reference |
| Improvement of skin grafts in pigs | Photograph: . |
Pickart US Patent 4,760,051 Compositions containing glycyl-1-histidyl-1-lysine copper(II) enhance the wound healing process without evoking an antigenic response. |
| Tested GHK-Cu on skin transplants in mice | Transplanted 1.5 cm diameter full thickness skin grafts in mice. This is considered an "impossible" transplant experiment 40% of full thickness transplants became permanent grafts | Pickart Iamin: A Human Growth Factor with Multiple Wound Healing Properties. in Biology of Copper Complexes, Clifton, NJ, 1987, pp. 273-285. |
| Human hair transplants | .Studied the effect of GHK-Cu analog on hair transplants. Treated patients saw new hair growth in six weeks, versus the normal 10 to 14 weeks. In most cases, skin crusting after transplantation is reduced from 10 to 14 days to five days. Increased the degree of hair outgrowth from human hair transplants | Perez-Meza et al, (International Journal of Cosmetic Surgery (Vol. 6, 1998, pp 80-84) |
| Human hair transplants | 30 hair transplant patients, found GHK-Cu analog reduced the shedding of transplanted hair from 30 percent with saline to 10 percent. The healing time of the transplanted grafts was cut in half. Regrowth of new hair from the transplants occurred in six to eight weeks with saline and four to six weeks with GHK-CU analog. Patient satisfaction after transplantation rose from 80 percent to 95 percent. | Hitzig,G. Enhanced healing and growth in hair transplantation using copper peptides, Cosmetic Dermatol 2000 (June) ; 13, 18-21 |
