The circulation question

[So]

Does anyone place any validity in poor circulation being a cause or at least a contributing factor to hair loss?

It certainly is old news at best but I thought I would revisit the topic.

I have vested interest in this theory because now, five months into Propecia treatment, 6 months of a completely healthy and revised diet coupled with regular exercise I have yet to see any improvements but rather continued loss.

I understand that I might be a non-responder, or some of you may say it's too early to tell, but surely thought my hair loss would have either halted or at least slowed down. None of which has happened.

There are many of us non-responders out there which has lead me to nothing more than theorize about the potential contributing factor of poor circulation in the hair loss game.

I have heard that poor circulation leaves your hair even more suceptable to DHT. Therefore as much as you try and reduce DHT, if your circulation is poor, your likely fighting a losing battle.



It may be to early to tell some of you might say.

I would have thought at best my hair loss would slow down. I may be one who does not respond to conventional treatment, but in saying that, I propose lack of circulation as a result of stress, anxiety, poor diet, lack of exercise and other factors are having

 

[Rage]

People have tried hanging upside down as a treatment of male pattern baldness.. there's no better circulation aider then that! And guess what? IT DOES SQUAT!

Perhaps a better explanation for your non-response to finasteride is that you have a distinct form of 5ar that finasteride can't bind. It's been shown (you can search pubmed!) that some forms significantly reduce the binding affinity, but dusteride was able to bind these forms well. Perhaps that would be a good starting point for you.

 

[So]

What about Minoxidil?

Does it not increase circulation to the scalp area nourishing hair follicles?

By what mechanism does Minoxidil work that would be so much different than standing on your head....

Regards,

 

[Rage]

What about Minoxidil?

It has two effects, one is on the underlying blood vessels. It causes dilation and probably counteracts vessel degeneration in male pattern baldness. Exercises would increase blood flow too, but whether it can protect the blood vessels is questionable.

The second effet of minoxidil is on the follicular cells themselves. It promotes hair growth factors, and inhibits those that cause hair cell death. This is where exercises do nothing.

 

[docj077]

From what I've read, your ability to respond to propecia is pretty much directly correlated to the number of triplet repeats present in the androgen receptor gene located on the X-chromosome. Some people are just genetically more lucky than others.

 

[docj077]

Sorry, but I found that study for you.

1: J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc. 2005 Dec;10(3):293-4.

Effectiveness of finasteride on patients with male pattern baldness who have different androgen receptor gene polymorphism.

Wakisaka N, Taira Y, Ishikawa M, Nakamizo Y, Kobayashi K, Uwabu M, Fukuda Y, Taguchi Y, Hama T, Kawakami M.
NPO Future Medical Laboratory, Tokyo, Japan.

Finasteride is not necessarily effective on all of the male pattern baldness (male pattern baldness) patients. To know any factor which correlates with the effectiveness of finasteride, the polymorphism of androgen receptor (AR) gene was analyzed. Symptoms of the 488 male pattern baldness patients (18-62 y) before and after treatment with total dose of 10 mg or more of finasteride was typed by photographic method. The number of CAG and GGC repeats in AR gene of male pattern baldness patients was determined by DNA sequencing. When the number of the triplet repeats (CAG + GGC) was plotted against the degree of symptom improvement after treatment with this drug, a broad correlation between these variables was observed. The smaller the repeat number, the higher the improvement with finasteride. The group of patients with shorter repeat region in AR gene responded better to this drug than that with longer repeat region, although the former patients tended to reveal severe initial symptoms. Determination of such polymorphism is thought to be useful in the drug choice for male pattern baldness patients.

PMID: 16382684 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

[htownballa]

How do they define "severe initial symptoms"?

 

[docj077]

How do they define "severe initial symptoms"?

I think it means that there was a rapid loss of hair such as severe overall thinning, which is the kind of balding that will leave a person nice and shinny up top within a few years.

I think weak initial symptoms would be the guy that receded very slowly and really doesn't have much to complain about until he gets into his late 30s or 40s.

That's just my opinion.