Someone sent me this, and I'm very skeptical.

[CCS]

Whyat said:
"The thing is...it's published on PubMed =)

Lassus A, Eskelinen E.

Department of Dermatological Research, ARS-Medicina, Helsinki, Finland.

A controlled, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study compared the effects of ViviScal (a new food supplement incorporating special marine extracts and a silica compound) with those of a fish extract in the treatment of young males with hereditary androgenic alopecia. The pretreatment histological diagnosis was alopecia with a mild to moderate perifollicular inflammation zone. The study consisted of 20 subjects who received two tablets of ViviScal once daily and 20 who received two tablets of fish extract once daily for 6 months. The mean patient age and mean duration and severity of baldness compared well between the two groups. Most patients had been treated with long-term topical 2% minoxidil for 1 year or more prior to the study. At baseline and after 6 months' treatment, a biopsy was taken for histological examination. A non-vellus hair count was performed at baseline and after 2, 4 and 6 months. In the fish extract treatment group three patients withdrew from the study before the fourth month due to lack of therapeutic effect. After 6 months' treatment, patients receiving ViviScal showed a mean increase in non-vellus hair of 38% compared with a 2% increase in the fish extract treatment group (P < 0.0001). In the ViviScal group, 19 (95%) subjects showed both clinical and histological cure, whereas none treated with fish extract showed any clinical or histological difference after 6 months' treatment (P < 0.0001). In both groups, a minimal decrease in the erythemal index was observed. In conclusion, ViviScal appears to be the first highly active treatment for androgenic alopecia in young males."

 

[vq0]

A 95% cure rate would mean that the active compounds would have to cure several types of male pattern baldness or there is only one type. I am very interested. Good post.

 

[CCS]

I'll ask him for a link to the abstract, to make sure he did not just type this up.

 

[mjd50]

Here is a link to the site. Boy, I wish it could be that easy. There was someone on hairsite who I believed was using some similiar silica or whatever type product. I don't know how they finally made out.

http://www.viviscalhair.com/

 

[CCS]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

well it is on Pubmed. Too bad my school's science library does not subscribe to pubmed.

 

[trobinson]

Hey Guys,

1st time poster, long time lurker - but thought I would chime in with this one as before i was on the big 3 I took Viviscal alone for a year.

For the first 6 months, I took 2 tablets a day, then 1 a day thereafter. After I finished with Viviscal I took GNC branded Horsetail Herb (Silica 500 - i think ??) twice a day for 6 months in total, but 3 months in I started on the big 3.

My experience... its ok.

For the first 3 months or so, nothing at all, and I didnt notice a shed. After that there was a small amount of thickening, but i didnt notice any velous hairs growing around the hairline, so whether this mildly increased the hair shaft or actually grew new hair i really dont know. No pictures unfortunately. But it was certainly nothing spectacular.

When i moved down to 1 a day and then plain Silica, I didnt really notice any immediate loss or anything - like how you would expect to get when you come off finasteride.

Then i moved onto the big three and canned it.

Obviously it is incredibly unfair and hard to compare Viviscal to the big three, but the big three totally blew the viviscal out of the water for me.

Would i go back and take it again? Simply put, no i wouldnt. It is pretty damn expensive, especially if you take it twice a day. Also from what i remember the GNC branded Silica and the Viviscal smelt and tasted exactly the same and (again working from my memory as i do not have pictures) i didnt loose any gains from Viviscal when i moved to Silica.

I suppose I could try going onto Silica again, to see if i gain anymore, but i really cant be bothered and on a side note, my girlfriend totally refused to swallow when i was on this, as she said it made my c*m incredibly bitter.

 

[Armando Jose]

J Int Med Res. 1992 Nov;20(6):445-53

No more words, ...1992, and no more studies in this issue.

BTW, In Spain exist this treatment today.

Armando

 

[beaner]

Viviscal was featured on the Dateline segment "The Follicle Five" where they gave a bunch of guys different hair loss treatments and then compared results 6 months later. If I remember correctly, the guy on Viviscal noticed that his hair stopped falling out and improved in quality and decided he would keep using it. This segment can be found on Youtube if anyone cares to go check it out. While I doubt it would be any comparison to finasteride, maybe it can improve the quality of hair.



Here's the Youtube page. It contains both segments of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... licle+five

Edit: I just watched it and the Viviscal guy had the most disappointing results out of all of them according to the Dr. that was making the determinations with photos. The guy with transplants had the best (of course) and it was even free!

 

[ginner]

on a side note, my girlfriend totally refused to swallow when i was on this, as she said it made my c*m incredibly bitter.

LOL, in that case I'll forget about it.