Smoking contributes to Hair loss
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Association between smoking and hair loss: another opportunity for health education against smoking?
Dermatology 2003;206(3):189-91 (ISSN: 1018-8665)
Trueb RM
Besides being the single most preventable cause of significant morbidity and an important cause of death in the general population, tobacco smoking has been associated with adverse effects on the skin. Smoke-induced premature skin ageing has attracted the attention of the medical community, while only recently an observational study has indicated a significant relationship between smoking and baldness. The mechanisms by which smoking causes hair loss are multifactorial and are probably related to effects of cigarette smoke on the microvasculature of the dermal hair papilla, smoke genotoxicants causing damage to DNA of the hair follicle, smoke-induced imbalance in the follicular protease/antiprotease systems controlling tissue remodeling during the hair growth cycle, pro-oxidant effects of smoking leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines resulting in follicular micro-inflammation and fibrosis and finally increased hydroxylation of oestradiol as well as inhibition of the enzyme aromatase creating a relative hypo-oestrogenic state. In view of the psychological impact of androgenetic alopecia on affected men and women, increasing public awareness of the association between smoking and hair loss offers an opportunity for health education against smoking that may be more effective than the link between smoking and facial wrinkles or grey hair, since the latter can be effectively counteracted by current aesthetic dermatologic procedures, while treatment options for androgenetic alopecia are limited. [Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel].
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Induction of alopecia in mice exposed to cigarette smoke.
Toxicol Lett 2000 Apr 3;114(1-3):117-23 (ISSN: 0378-4274)
D'Agostini F; Balansky R; Pesce C; Fiallo P; Lubet RA; Kelloff GJ; De Flora S
Section of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via A. Pastore 1, I-16132, Genoa, Italy.
Besides being responsible for a high proportion of those chronic degenerative diseases that are the leading causes of death in the population, tobacco smoking has been associated with skin diseases. Smoke genotoxicants are metabolized in hair follicle cells, where they form DNA adducts and cause DNA damage. The suspicion was raised that, in humans, a link may exist between smoking and both premature grey hair and hair loss. In order to check this hypothesis, we carried out a study in C57BL/6 mice exposed whole-body to a mixture of sidestream and mainstream cigarette smoke. After 3 months exposure, most mice developed areas of alopecia and grey hair, while no such lesions occurred either in sham-exposed mice or in smoke-exposed mice receiving the chemopreventive agent N-acetylcysteine with drinking water. Cell apoptosis occurred massively in the hair bulbs at the edge of alopecia areas. Smoke-exposed mice had extensive atrophy of the epidermis, reduced thickness of the subcutaneous tissue, and scarcity of hair follicles. On the whole, exposure to smoke genotoxic components appears to alter the hair cycle with a dystrophic anagen pattern. Although this mechanism is different from that of genotoxic cytostatic drugs, N-acetylcysteine appears to exert protective effects in both conditions.
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Association between smoking and hair loss: another opportunity for health education against smoking?
Dermatology 2003;206(3):189-91 (ISSN: 1018-8665)
Trueb RM
Besides being the single most preventable cause of significant morbidity and an important cause of death in the general population, tobacco smoking has been associated with adverse effects on the skin. Smoke-induced premature skin ageing has attracted the attention of the medical community, while only recently an observational study has indicated a significant relationship between smoking and baldness. The mechanisms by which smoking causes hair loss are multifactorial and are probably related to effects of cigarette smoke on the microvasculature of the dermal hair papilla, smoke genotoxicants causing damage to DNA of the hair follicle, smoke-induced imbalance in the follicular protease/antiprotease systems controlling tissue remodeling during the hair growth cycle, pro-oxidant effects of smoking leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines resulting in follicular micro-inflammation and fibrosis and finally increased hydroxylation of oestradiol as well as inhibition of the enzyme aromatase creating a relative hypo-oestrogenic state. In view of the psychological impact of androgenetic alopecia on affected men and women, increasing public awareness of the association between smoking and hair loss offers an opportunity for health education against smoking that may be more effective than the link between smoking and facial wrinkles or grey hair, since the latter can be effectively counteracted by current aesthetic dermatologic procedures, while treatment options for androgenetic alopecia are limited. [Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel].
>>
<<
Induction of alopecia in mice exposed to cigarette smoke.
Toxicol Lett 2000 Apr 3;114(1-3):117-23 (ISSN: 0378-4274)
D'Agostini F; Balansky R; Pesce C; Fiallo P; Lubet RA; Kelloff GJ; De Flora S
Section of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via A. Pastore 1, I-16132, Genoa, Italy.
Besides being responsible for a high proportion of those chronic degenerative diseases that are the leading causes of death in the population, tobacco smoking has been associated with skin diseases. Smoke genotoxicants are metabolized in hair follicle cells, where they form DNA adducts and cause DNA damage. The suspicion was raised that, in humans, a link may exist between smoking and both premature grey hair and hair loss. In order to check this hypothesis, we carried out a study in C57BL/6 mice exposed whole-body to a mixture of sidestream and mainstream cigarette smoke. After 3 months exposure, most mice developed areas of alopecia and grey hair, while no such lesions occurred either in sham-exposed mice or in smoke-exposed mice receiving the chemopreventive agent N-acetylcysteine with drinking water. Cell apoptosis occurred massively in the hair bulbs at the edge of alopecia areas. Smoke-exposed mice had extensive atrophy of the epidermis, reduced thickness of the subcutaneous tissue, and scarcity of hair follicles. On the whole, exposure to smoke genotoxic components appears to alter the hair cycle with a dystrophic anagen pattern. Although this mechanism is different from that of genotoxic cytostatic drugs, N-acetylcysteine appears to exert protective effects in both conditions.
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Molecular Help
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Smoking may not be good for hair quality via keratin, and it may have some effect on your anagen telogen cycles, but I doubt it's got anything to do with noticible hair loss in a thinning receding motif. It's not going to cause hair follicles to minaturize. It's not going to cause follicle degrading inflammation, auto-immune or otherwise.
Smoking may be a filthy habit but this is just like the alcohol or masturbation threads... pure speculation that feeds the hope that lifestyle changes are going to save your hair. I suppose it's a good thing though since usually these lifestyle changes are positive so we might as well believe it's going to help our hair. Except the threads about getting pissed on.
Smoking may be a filthy habit but this is just like the alcohol or masturbation threads... pure speculation that feeds the hope that lifestyle changes are going to save your hair. I suppose it's a good thing though since usually these lifestyle changes are positive so we might as well believe it's going to help our hair. Except the threads about getting pissed on.
Cassin
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Smoking is one of the most horrible things you can do to your body. One of the best things I have ever done for myself was to quit.
Its simple....if you want to quit, you can easily. If your aren't 100% convinced you need to stop it's almost not even worth trying.
I could easily spend an extra $120 a month on treatments with the cash I now save.
Its simple....if you want to quit, you can easily. If your aren't 100% convinced you need to stop it's almost not even worth trying.
I could easily spend an extra $120 a month on treatments with the cash I now save.
CDESIGN404
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Will stop smoking make things return to normal (veins, hairs etc...) ?
hair_tomorrow
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CDESIGN404 said:
I'm a smoker.
When I first went on finasteride back in the late 90s I also quit smoking. The finasteride, minoxidil, nano, nizoral, not smoking combo worked miracles. Went from a Norwood 4 to a Norwood 3 in 8 - 9 months.
I stopped all hair regrowth efforts, started smoking again, and several years later was a NW5A, and, ultimately went back on finasteride.
This time around, finasteride, plus everything else I'm doing in the hair regrowth area - don't seem to be doing sh:t.
I bet if I could quit smoking again I'd see some improvements. IMO.
G
Guest
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I don't know. At least all the people I know that smoke, have full heads of hair. And some have been smoking for the last 30 years, 20 cigs a day.
Maybe all those guys are not predisposed to lose hair. But it's a big coincidence.
Maybe all those guys are not predisposed to lose hair. But it's a big coincidence.
Solo
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I have exactly the same hair type as my maternal grandpa and my mother. My grandparent didn´t ever smoke a single cig and he was totally bald when he was 25 (started balding at 17). And I mean "slick bald".
There´s this story I got about it: One day I saw a pic of my grandpa and her took a couple of days before they got married, and I got shocked, my grandpa had a full head of hair!!, and I was told before he´s been bald almost since birth. I asked my grandma and she told me, laughing, that he had his hair PAINTED for the pic. It was a b/w vintage pic, and there he looked pretty well, he seemed ok, but the fact was his hair was directly painted for the pic. She told me it was normal to do so in those days (I´m talking about 1940), taking a pic of yourself wasn´t precisely a daily routine, so people wanted to look his best. The fact is that my grandpa looks quite good in that pic, but I cannot quit laughing every time I see it.
The point is, I have the same hair my grandpa has (or had :lol: ) and I do smoke (a box a day), I also started balding at age 18, but I mantain most of my hair by now (helped by meds, yes, but I think I wouldn´t be a Norwood 7 without them).
I´ve thought many times about smoking and hair loss, I have an strange loss pattern and I´ve been guessing around if smoking could be the cause, but this is the definite exclusion fact for this theory.
I would like to quit, though, but I´m addicted as a crack wh***. I can´t be without smoking more than a couple of hours!!!.
There´s this story I got about it: One day I saw a pic of my grandpa and her took a couple of days before they got married, and I got shocked, my grandpa had a full head of hair!!, and I was told before he´s been bald almost since birth. I asked my grandma and she told me, laughing, that he had his hair PAINTED for the pic. It was a b/w vintage pic, and there he looked pretty well, he seemed ok, but the fact was his hair was directly painted for the pic. She told me it was normal to do so in those days (I´m talking about 1940), taking a pic of yourself wasn´t precisely a daily routine, so people wanted to look his best. The fact is that my grandpa looks quite good in that pic, but I cannot quit laughing every time I see it.
The point is, I have the same hair my grandpa has (or had :lol: ) and I do smoke (a box a day), I also started balding at age 18, but I mantain most of my hair by now (helped by meds, yes, but I think I wouldn´t be a Norwood 7 without them).
I´ve thought many times about smoking and hair loss, I have an strange loss pattern and I´ve been guessing around if smoking could be the cause, but this is the definite exclusion fact for this theory.
I would like to quit, though, but I´m addicted as a crack wh***. I can´t be without smoking more than a couple of hours!!!.
Aplunk1
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I used to smoke about a pack a day-- Camels... yum.
But I have been cigarette-free for about 1.5 years... Best thing I ever did. I never realized how addictive they really are.
The only benefits of a cigarette are an after-sex/after-beverage pleasure. They stressed me out, etc. etc.
Cigarettes are just awful for you... awful.
But I have been cigarette-free for about 1.5 years... Best thing I ever did. I never realized how addictive they really are.
The only benefits of a cigarette are an after-sex/after-beverage pleasure. They stressed me out, etc. etc.
Cigarettes are just awful for you... awful.
powersam
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GoodGuy- its quite obvious they arent pre-disposed to hairloss otherwise they'd be losing hair now. unless your trying to say smoking stops hairloss?
solo- the fact that your grandpa went bald fast without smoking does not mean that smoking isnt effecting your hairloss.
noone is saying smoking is the sole cause of hairloss, just that it could make you lose it faster. and just a few posts up you have two studies which show smoking is damaging to hair. i don't know how this can even be in contention any more.
and when are all you people going to stop posting "well i knew this guy who smoked every day of his life and he never lost a hair so it cant be true" stuff. anecdotal evidence counts for absolutely nothing. no scientific value whatsoever.
solo- the fact that your grandpa went bald fast without smoking does not mean that smoking isnt effecting your hairloss.
noone is saying smoking is the sole cause of hairloss, just that it could make you lose it faster. and just a few posts up you have two studies which show smoking is damaging to hair. i don't know how this can even be in contention any more.
and when are all you people going to stop posting "well i knew this guy who smoked every day of his life and he never lost a hair so it cant be true" stuff. anecdotal evidence counts for absolutely nothing. no scientific value whatsoever.
markelbentley
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i dunno. it probably makes things worse, but if you are not predisposed to male pattern baldness then you can smoke or do whatever, but you still wont go bald. i personally quit smoking. convinced myself that it was absolutely horrible for my body (skin, hair, lungs, even jump shot) thank god i quit while still realtively young, 22.
Perfectionist
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So .... is the damage permanent or does your hair grow back after you quit ??
Am a light smoker (maybe 10-15 Menthol cigs a day) for about 9-10 years ..... if I quit, how long does it usually take to see your hair come back !!
Dang it, there goes another one of my life's greatest pleasures ..... !!
Am a light smoker (maybe 10-15 Menthol cigs a day) for about 9-10 years ..... if I quit, how long does it usually take to see your hair come back !!
Dang it, there goes another one of my life's greatest pleasures ..... !!
Perfectionist
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Well, seeing as I know people who tend to smoke 40-60 a day ..... I'm an amatuer !!
powersam
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that still proves absolutely nothing solo. as you well know different people bald at different rates, you share some genes with your grandfather but not all. the only true test of this would be identical twins smoking i guess, or maybe a large scale study of hundreds of men over years. moreover you do not know what other contributing factors could have been involved in your grandfathers case. he could have had a thyroid problem.
Solo
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Ok, PowerSam, as I said before I understand what you want to say, I´m not pretending to state a theory based on my "grandpa and me" study.
But I´m saying that I´ve guessed many times that smoking could have something to do with my hair loss, as I started balding by the time I started smoking. But this other evidence (my grandpa´s early onset of baldness) refutes my guesses. We have the same hair kind, same head shape, same ears, same jaw, same eyes... He´s the person in my family I resemble the most. And at age 25 I have retained my hair despite I smoke. He was totally bald at 25.
This of no use to anyone else, as you well say, but I think in my case is valid to say smoking is not a decissive factor.
And there´s another fact to add: my grandpa´s dad smoked since he was 12y old. He died at age 92 with recession and age related thinning, but he mantained a good head of hair during most of his life.
And to complete the story I have to say my grandpa suffered major stress as he had to emigrate from his hometown and deal with a great laboral routine, having two jobs and raising a family in another part of the country.
I guess he wasn´t the luckiest man of the world!! :lol:
But I´m saying that I´ve guessed many times that smoking could have something to do with my hair loss, as I started balding by the time I started smoking. But this other evidence (my grandpa´s early onset of baldness) refutes my guesses. We have the same hair kind, same head shape, same ears, same jaw, same eyes... He´s the person in my family I resemble the most. And at age 25 I have retained my hair despite I smoke. He was totally bald at 25.
This of no use to anyone else, as you well say, but I think in my case is valid to say smoking is not a decissive factor.
And there´s another fact to add: my grandpa´s dad smoked since he was 12y old. He died at age 92 with recession and age related thinning, but he mantained a good head of hair during most of his life.
And to complete the story I have to say my grandpa suffered major stress as he had to emigrate from his hometown and deal with a great laboral routine, having two jobs and raising a family in another part of the country.
I guess he wasn´t the luckiest man of the world!! :lol:
Perfectionist
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Dang it ..... mankind has split the atom and put a man on the moon ..... why the hell can't they make a cigarettes thats actually good for you !!