I'm confused about Retin-A

metomeya · Post by **metomeya** » Fri May 21, 2004 7:37 am

I recently found this while googling

"Retinoic acid (Retin A) also stimulates hair growth similar to minoxil (1, 2). It probably causes a skin irritation that stimulates 5 alpha reductase which governs sensitivity of the hair follicle to circulating androgens. "

Stimulates 5 alpha reductase? Stimulates, don't we want to stop 5 alpha reductase? Does 5AR also produce other hormones that keep hair growth or something?

the main reason that i'm asking is cause there are drugs and herbs (saw palmetto) which bind to 5AR, if 5AR is important to hair growth, wouldn't binding it harmful?

here's the link:

http://www.wdxcyber.com/ngen16.htm

Post by **HairLossFight.com** » Sun May 23, 2004 10:47 pm

Metomeya,

I am as confused by this as you are. I think this may be an error on the part of the person who wrote it. I'll have to ask a dermatologist about this.

Regards,
Sam

Post by **HairLossFight.com** » Sat May 29, 2004 2:47 pm

Hi Metomeya,

Okay I finally had an opportunity to read the whole page and now I understand what the site is saying. Basically they are talking about one of the paradoxes of hair growth, which is that the same hormone, DHT, which is responsible for androgenetic alopecia (MPB or FPB) or hair loss of the scalp is also responsible for hair growth in other areas, such as the face, chest, and the ... well ... "special places" if you catch my drift.

At this point it's not known why this is the case.

I'm not sure if you've had a chance to read the following article on my site, which summarizes what we currently know about hair loss:

http://www.morphollica.com/research/and ... opecia.php

Regards,
Sam