Microneedle patch digs deep to regenerate hair in bald mice
newatlas.com
newatlas.com
[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29028377/ [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746236/
They treated the control group with testosterone? I.e., the hormone most linked to baldness?
Different people have variable ratios, and genetics certainly play a role in the variability.
What it fails to explain is why, if testosterone is the culprit, hair grows in other places later in life.
A much more compelling theory is that hair loss is due to the stretching of the scalp as the muscles and bones in the face grow in aging. It also explains why men have more hair loss then women. The force diagrams match male pattern baldness perfectly. (yes, also correlation)
If follicles transplanted to these areas also failed, then the mechanical explanation would hold more water, but they empirically don't...so something is obviously different at the follicle level.
He simply says it the theory is based on correlation which you agree to in your first sentence.
(please Google for the studies and data, I don't have links ready but have reviewed them in the past, there are tons by different groups of researchers across many countries)
At this point, rejecting as main culprit for AGA either too much DHT or a DHT sensitivity that is to high or, worst case, both at once in one man, is nothing but crazy fringe science.
To stress this out, the vast majority of men will keep their hair forever with oral minoxodil and oral finasteride and someone not keeping it on oral dutasteride instead of finasteride is a freak of nature.
Also the current understanding is that it's specifically DHT (a second order type of testosterone) that causes head hair follicles, and hormone treatments that modulate conversion of T into DHT one way or the other have fairly predictable effects on hair loss patterns.
There probably isn't just one single cause here, but hormones are definitely a big part of it.
If MPB were due to a tension mechanism, transplants wouldn't work. But they do. If MPB were due to a tension mechanism, surgical intervention would be simpler than transplanting thousands of follicles. But it isn't. If MPB is due to an endocrine mechanism, which it is, transplanted hair would behave differently than adjacent "native" hair against the progression of balding. It does.
Billions of transplanted follicles on millions of balding heads testify to the fact that rubicon33 is way off base.
1 - Higher testosterone, generally correlated with higher amounts of DHT as testosterone is metabolized into DHT. This obviously depends on some intermediary metabolic process and all of the dependencies involved there.
2 - Certain hair follicles are DHT resistant. Why does MPB follow a M-shaped pattern and devolve into common patterns across those afflicted?
3 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26622151/ Mechanical stress points on the scalp seems to map injectively to the areas that see hair recede.
Takeaway: mechanical stress induces chronic inflammation on the scalp, localized in areas that correspond to MPB hairloss areas. Chronic inflammation begets androgen binding and those with high amounts of systemic DHT/vulnerable follicles develop MPB.
This seems measurable (inflammation markers in titers), testable (A/B test with NSAIDs), and amenable to preexisting population studies without tracking patients over time (eg. find patients with long hair, that wear hats, etc.)
What if the stress points simply cause lack of blood flow, leading to sebum buildup?
> Nine mice were randomly assigned to one of three groups: negative control (testosterone), experimental (testosterone + MnMNP), and positive control (testosterone + minoxidil).
I was obsessed with saving my hair in my late 20s. In my 30s I just accepted it and moved on. Treatments can be expensive with dubious results (Minoxidil, different shampoos) or have possible serious side effects (Finasteride). This can be really disheartening if you are single though.
If Finasteride continues working for a few more years I might consider a FUE transplant to restore a bunch of density. I consulted with a top hair transplant surgeon (very famous and pricey, with a one year-long backlog) and he told me Finasteride is by far the most effective, and time-sensitive, treatment one can start to mitigate the problem. In his experience of 20+ years as surgeon administering Finasteride to 1000s of patient, he said the number of people exhibiting side effects is consistent with the published research during clinical trials, i.e. very very low. That being said, each person clearly has a different appetite for "risk".
He said I should not necessarily be in a rush with the transplant considering my situation, and that as long as I keep using Finasteride and it works it will keep my options open in the future for a transplant.
I'm also not single and my partner actually suggested multiple times she doesn't care about my hair, I just do like my hair and will explore all options this world has to offer before giving up :-)
I started to lose my hair earlier than I cared, so I started cutting my hair rather short to deal with it. I met my partner around this time, but we were both in other relationships. A few months later, I finally decided to shave my head, and only after that did my partner think I looked good. Maybe this will work for you if you haven't gone down this route already.
But just look at Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the late 90s vs. today - they took different but IMO equally successful approaches to their hair loss. Musk went the hair plugs route while Bezos went the "shave it all off" route (of course I don't think the hormone therapy for Bezos hurt either).
TL;DR: discuss the possible implications (especially fertility-related!) of higher T and lower DHT with your doctor before taking finasteride / dutasteride
The biggest problem I have when hearing about finasteride side effects is that anecdotal reports are completely useless when determining the true risks of finasteride, but they are played up a ton by the press. The reason being that finasteride is a long term medication. If you look at a large group of men from, say, age 30, tons of them will develop fertility issues, sexual issues, depression, etc. in the next 5 years regardless of any medications they are taking. But it's very easy to get someone on the news that says "I started taking finasteride last year and now I have no libido" and blame it on finasteride. The press rarely interviews people like me who have been taking finasteride for nearly 20 years with no ill effects.
And, to be clear, my anecdotal report is useless, too - only broad meta-analyses and your personal risk threshold should weigh into your decision of whether or not to take it.
It’s the same as women on hormonal birth control. Some don’t notice any difference - and others get incredibly moody/sad/etc. Hormones are complex.
Being Mr. Clean level bald for several years did come with some lessons. The biggest was that even with thinning hair, it provides far more thermal regulation than you'd expect. Without any hair, your head can quickly overheat in direct sunlight and you lose tons of heat during cold weather. Get accustomed to having hats. For me, the newsie type hat worked best but for some reason, there are plenty of people who think if you wear that particular type of hat, that you're trying to fool everyone into thinking you're not bald. Some people can be very assholish about it. But for the bald it is a good hat because there's not a lot of empty space for where hair usually would go. It does a nice job of replicating the thermal regulation hair normally would. Mesh trucker type hats are generally not a good choice. There's too much airflow and the bands tend to be abrasive.
Another thing you'll have to deal with if you still have significant amounts of hair outside of the balding spots is how much more time you're now going to spend keeping it shaved clean. Stubble might be seen as sexy on your face but it looks bad on your head. Any time savings from not needing to shampoo, condition, and style your hair can get consumed by needing to keep it shaved. There are specialized types of razors made for head shaving that use standard shaving cartridges. It's worth spending a few bucks on getting one instead of using a razor designed for your face.
Finasteride gave me severe depression. Also, I microneedle. My min + microneedle regime is extremely effective.
This happened to a friend of mine. Another is taking it for years and is fine. I honestly think people aren't warned enough about that side effect. I was more worried about possible sexual dysfunction.
Functional sexual recovery took up to three months. At this point I do believe in post finasteride syndrome, and I am glad I completely recovered.
I did... "smalldose" at 0.5mg a day for only about 3 months.
And yes, the vast majority seems to have no nameworthy side effects. The norwood reaper is cruel.
I am using a pelcas one. On amazon there seems to be a pseudo brand cluster of pens that look very similar but use the same cartridges. You can check out /r/tressless for more reviews.
You've got my barber recommending to check out some infrared hat thing you wear a few dozen minutes a day, you've got minoxidil and finasteride, special shampoos, microneedling, hair transplant, etc.
I'm about to join the 30-something club and my hairline has started to recede (temples first). To be honest, it's been around a lot longer than I thought it would be - my dad and grandfathers had little hair by age 30. Not that I've really taken advantage from a dating perspective (self-image issues are no fun).
I would like to keep it around if possible, but if the answer is more drugs with little research into long term usage, I'm not sure if I'd really be willing to make that trade-off.
Even a super low dose finasteride gave me significant side effects, but I do have some hormonal issues on my own. Some people apparently get long term side effects, and my doctor was against me trying it for that reason.
Obviously hair transplants are the nuclear option.