You will have to excuse me if this common knowledge (I could not find anything indicating that it was) but it looks like Retinoic Acid inhibits the enzyme that converts PGH2 to PGD2. There is plenty out there suggesting that it helps with penetration of minoxidil but I'm wondering if what is really happening is that it actually helps reduce PGD2 that encourages regrowth. Any comments?
Retinoic Acid (Retin-A) overlooked as PTGDS inhibitor?
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The thing is I don't think retin-a as a single treatment does anything at all. It's really a synergistic effect with minoxidil that seems to help a bit more, right?
Here is a study that looks in vitro with minoxidil + retin-a though; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693596/ , might be interesting for you;
Here is a study that looks in vitro with minoxidil + retin-a though; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693596/ , might be interesting for you;
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I've had thoughts about adding Tretinoin into my hair loss regimen, but have been very hesitant to do so, and I'm not sure if it will help significantly to allow the topical treatments to work better.
Thanks, I have actually seen that study and obviously there is a synergistic effect here. My thoughts where that if PGD2 inhibits regrowth via whatever mechanism, maybe the reduction of PGD2 via Retin-A inhibiting PTGS is what is behind the effect. I bring this up because everyone is going nuts over Seti when we could already have something that stops the conversion to PGD2 in the first place. Looking back in time, where people have tried Retin-A it has been on temples and bald areas with the results being very little to no regrowth which is what you would expect if the consensus that PGD2 antagonists do not result in hair growth is true.
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As you're already taking AA's I'm not sure it would help much in your case, also I have no idea what the correct dosing of Retin-A actually is. For me I add 4-5grams of 0.1% Tretinoin gel into 84ml bottle of Garnier Stemoxydine which together caused some excellent regrowth around the hairline and temples for me after five months of very slight thickening with just minoxidil. I'm not saying that Retin-A is the reason for this as there are other explanations (which I will go into when I finally do post in the success stories section) but it is a possibility.
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As you're already taking AA's I'm not sure it would help much in your case, also I have no idea what the correct dosing of Retin-A actually is. For me I add 4-5grams of 0.1% Tretinoin gel into 84ml bottle of Garnier Stemoxydine which together caused some excellent regrowth around the hairline and temples for me after five months of very slight thickening with just minoxidil. I'm not saying that Retin-A is the reason for this as there are other explanations (which I will go into when I finally do post in the success stories section) but it is a possibility.
Well Retinoic Acid (Retin-A) is pretty potent stuff and is a skin irritant, I roughly calculated the dosage I use to around 0.35mg which is spread over the whole of scalp.
Retinol is different and is a lot less irritating to the skin, however once it penetrates the skin between 5-10% is converted to Retinoic Acid, so a 2% dose should be the equivalent to 0.1-0.2% of Retinoic Acid.
I can't say why you would get such an adverse reaction. My hair loss is diffuse patterned and in my teens I had extremely dense and thick hair, so much so that my scalp practically was not visible even when parting. I would say I'm now at 30% of what I had used to have, lost over a period of 20 years.
Retinol is different and is a lot less irritating to the skin, however once it penetrates the skin between 5-10% is converted to Retinoic Acid, so a 2% dose should be the equivalent to 0.1-0.2% of Retinoic Acid.
I can't say why you would get such an adverse reaction. My hair loss is diffuse patterned and in my teens I had extremely dense and thick hair, so much so that my scalp practically was not visible even when parting. I would say I'm now at 30% of what I had used to have, lost over a period of 20 years.
Well in theory it should work like Seti except it would work higher up in the chain so where as Seti blocks the reception of PGD2 produced by the PTGDS enzyme this would work by blocking the production of PGD2 in the first place.
This is the theory, although I have no idea what the correct dosage would be. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever get a definitive answer for the simple reason that Tretinoin is a generic drug and therefore there is no commercial incentive for anyone to do any research into it although there have been case studies where it has shown to work by itself.
Well hair or skin, however I use it all over my scalp and have had zero shedding of skin where there is hair where as my forehead did initially show a reaction, so UV may be your biggest enemy. I've recently upped my dosage with no adverse effects at the moment.
Just buy the gel version rather than the cream, the gel uses alcohol so you can mix it in with anything else you use that has alcohol in it.
Actually it I should have been more accurate in the title, it is all-trans-retinoic-acid (ATRA) aka as Tretinoin which is what it would be listed on the cream. Retin-A is one of the trade names, as is Retin-o, A-Ret, etc etc.
I read before that Retin-A can really effect a scalps permeability even after its been applied. I'm interested in it however I plan on adding topical spironolactone to my regiment soon and am not sure about an adverse relationship with the too. As I don't want spironolactone to go systematic and give me beautiful breasts.
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Retin-a is prescription only drug? ? Greeks use it for better absorption.
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Whats going on with this? This discussion died out just like the vitE succinate thread(pge2 up, pgd2 down).
Couldnt we do someting with like this as topical? :?
retin-a (ptgs inhibition, additional penetration), 0.25-0.5% retinol which equals 0.025% to 0.05% tretinoin?
limonene (penetration, pge2 increases cAMP though) goal 1%, so like 1,5% Grapefruit Oil
castor oil (pge2ep3 up, also ptgs a bit down)
+ DMSO for penetration. (castor is terrible at penetration so like 30%)
+ 0.3mm dermaroller for penetration
Couldnt we do someting with like this as topical? :?
retin-a (ptgs inhibition, additional penetration), 0.25-0.5% retinol which equals 0.025% to 0.05% tretinoin?
limonene (penetration, pge2 increases cAMP though) goal 1%, so like 1,5% Grapefruit Oil
castor oil (pge2ep3 up, also ptgs a bit down)
+ DMSO for penetration. (castor is terrible at penetration so like 30%)
+ 0.3mm dermaroller for penetration
I've been using as part of my regime on and off. Like any inhibitor (including seti) it won't by itself cause regrowth by itself so people assume it does n't work.