Hair Restoration Blog

In the study of hair growth and hair elongation, there’s a new kid on the block. He goes by “TRH” or, to be more specific, Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone. TRH has the potential to play a major role in Hair Restoration and Hair Transplants.

This month, a new discovery in hair growth and the hair growth cycle was published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The study was done in Germany by Dr. Gaspar at the University of Lübeck, Department of Dermatology and Department of Internal Medicine.

Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH) has proven to be one of the factors involved in the hair follicle growth cycle. Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone is in closest proximity to the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, which regulates thyroid hormone synthesis.

Since transcripts for members of this axis were detected in normal cultured human skin cells, and because it’s been found that when human hair follicles (HFs) are stimulated with thyrotropin, they respond, researchers have decided to study whether human hair follicle functions are also modulated by thyrotropin-releasing hormone. They report that the epithelium of normal human scalp hair follicles expresses not only TRH receptors (TRH-R), but also TRH itself at the gene and protein level.

Stimulation of micro-dissected, organ-cultured hair growth with thyrotropin-releasing hormone promotes hair shaft elongation, prolongs the hair cycle growth phase (anagen), and antagonizes its termination by TGF-beta2. It also increases proliferation and inhibits the apoptosis of hair matrix keratinocytes. These Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone effects may be mediated in part by reducing the ATM/ATR-dependent phosphorylation of P53. By microarray analysis, several differentiated up-or down-regulated TRH-target genes were detected (e.g., selected keratins).

Thus, human scalp follicles are both a source and a target of thyrotropin-releasing hormone, which operate as a potent hair-growth stimulator. Human hair follicles are an excellent discovery tool for identifying and dissecting non-classical functions of thyrotropin-releasing hormone and TRH-mediated signaling, which emerge as players in human epithelial biology.

Q:

Hello,

I did a search for hair re-growth, hair loss, etc. and I found your email address.  These internet searches are definitely far from perfect, in fact sometimes they are way off!  So if this is not the type of business or practice you’re in, I apologize and please disregard this email.

I’m a 43 year-old male.  I started losing my hair, very slightly, at age 27.  I really haven’t lost a whole lot since then, however, my hairline has receded a little and I have been using Rogaine pretty faithfully.
I’m trying to find the best way or multiple ways of re-growing my hair.  First, I am curious to know if it is okay to use Rogaine (5%) and take Propecia?  Do you know if Nioxin or any other shampoos or hair thickeners are helpful?  Would you recommend any?  Are there any other factors that make a difference in re-growing hair such as: vitamins, hormones, foods or physical exercise?

Do you think these types of remedies are all stop-gap solutions and I will need to look for something more permanent? Do you have any insight or additional thoughts or sell any products or services that I can purchase that will help?

Thank you,

A:

Thanks for your email.  You have asked many questions which most have been answered in our Hair Restoration Blog.  There are many hair loss products in the market, but most of them do not have any active ingredients that can help your hair loss condition.  There are only two FDA approved medications that have been approved and proven to be effective and safe for hair loss treatment and prevention.  Those two medications are Rogaine and Propecia.  If you are suffering from male pattern baldness, hair transplant surgery may be the only option that can improve or eliminate the appearance of baldness by bringing good quality hair from the permanent zone to the front and balding areas.

I do not have any particular hair loss product nor recommend many different lotions and potions that are out there in the market for hair loss.  You can find other valuable information on our postings in our blog and can answer your questions on:

• Nioxin - hair loss product
• other shampoos for hair loss
• vitamins for hair loss
• balding and hormones
• foods for hair restoration
• physical exercise and hair loss

I recommend that you find a good hair restoration doctor who can evaluate you and come up with a master plan for your condition.  This may include medications, surgery or even cosmetic changes that you need to bring your hair and beauty back to your life.  We do offer an online consultation for hair restoration through pictures and if decided that you are a candidate and you choose to have a hair transplant with us, it could be easily done.  Our California offices of hair restoration can arrange your trip to our Los Angeles office for your hair restoration surgery.

You can contact our office at 888-302-8747.

Good luck,
Parsa Mohebi, MD