Verteporfin: can an eye drug give scarless healing in the donor area?
Verteporfin is approved as an eye drug. Its use against scarring is experimental and so far studied only in animal studies.
Verteporfin is known as an eye drug, but it also dampens the YAP signalling pathway, which governs scarring. That has made the substance one of the most talked-about hopes for “scarless” healing. The documentation so far is animal studies, however, and no study in humans concerns a hair transplant.
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WhatsAppWhat is verteporfin?
Verteporfin is a drug approved for a form of photodynamic therapy in the eye (for a type of wet age-related macular degeneration). It is not approved for scars or hair loss as of October 2026.
Outside the eye area the substance is interesting for a different reason: it dampens the YAP signalling pathway, which pushes a healing wound towards scar tissue. If that pathway can be slowed, the hope is that the skin rebuilds itself closer to its original state instead of laying down a firm scar.
Can verteporfin give scarless healing?
In animal studies, verteporfin has reduced scarring and in some cases let skin heal with new hair follicles and glands. But this is preclinical documentation, not proof that it works that way in humans.
The documentation so far is animal studies: first in mice, later in a pig model, which resembles human skin more closely. It is promising research, but the leap from animal to human is large, and in scarring many earlier promising ideas have not held up. “Scarless healing” with verteporfin therefore still belongs under research.
Has verteporfin been studied in humans?
No, not with results yet. A few early trials in humans have been registered, but none has published results, and none concerns a hair transplant. A Danish trial, SCARFREE-001, with Odense University Hospital as the responsible party, is to investigate verteporfin against scarring in a different surgical wound (not on the scalp), and it had not yet opened for recruitment at our most recent check. The documentation for reduced scarring therefore still comes only from animal studies.
There is no peer-reviewed study of verteporfin in a hair transplant. The idea of a “scarless hair transplant” is therefore not proven in humans, however it is described elsewhere.
What does it mean for the donor area?
Potentially something, but only in theory so far. An FUE leaves small, dot-shaped scars in the donor area, and a treatment that could dampen scarring could in principle affect both how much donor hair a surgeon can responsibly harvest and how visible the traces are afterwards.
Until there are trials in humans, this belongs under research, not under what a clinic can offer. The documented way of caring for the donor area today is careful, surgeon-controlled harvesting. Read what we know about scars in the donor area now, and see the full overview of new hair loss treatments.
Sources
- Mascharak S, desJardins-Park HE, Davitt MF, et al. Preventing Engrailed-1 activation in fibroblasts yields wound regeneration without scarring. Science, 2021;372(6540):eaba2374. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33888614
- Mascharak S, Griffin M, Talbott HE, et al. Inhibiting mechanotransduction prevents scarring and yields regeneration in a large animal model. Science Translational Medicine, 2025;17(786):eadt6387. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39970235
- ClinicalTrials.gov. SCARFREE-001: Verteporfin for Scar Prevention (phase 2, Odense University Hospital; intradermal verteporfin in surgical wounds, not the scalp). NCT07488988. clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07488988
This article summarises published research. It is general educational information, not medical advice, and it is not a recommendation to start, stop or change any medication. Prescription drugs carry contraindications and interactions; discuss them with a doctor who knows your medical history.
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