Hair plays an important role in human social and sexual communication. The
androgen-stimulated, patterned loss of hair in cases of androgenetic
alopecia (or common baldness) in genetically pre-disposed individuals, is
associated with ageing and can cause marked phychological distress.
However, it is poorly controlled. To investigate the effectiveness of daily
topical application of a Chinese medicine-derived herbal mixture, Xiantene,
on balding progression, two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (3 and
12 months) were carried out on balding men using the trichogram approach.
Xiantene significantly increased both the total number of hairs and those in
anagen, improving the ratio of anagen:telogen hairs. This suggests that
topical Xiantene increased the length of the anagen phase and may promote
a cessation, or partial reversal, of the progression of androgenetic alopecia
in men.
Canities, loss of scalp hair colour, is another mark of ageing. To investigate
whether early greying may protect follicles from androgenetic alopecia, the
extent of alopecia, assessed using the Hamilton scale, was compared
between men who first became grey before, or after, 30. Both alopecia and
greying increased with age in 843 men (217 European, 626 Thai) whenever
they first started greying. However, men who showed greying before 30
were significantly less bald, though more grey, in both groups. Hair follicle
melanocytes synthesise the pigment melanin, producing reactive oxygen
species (ROS) and oxidative stress; losing melanocyte pigmentary activity,
and therefore these toxic factors, appears to enable hair follicles to maintain
their full size for longer, despite the androgen drive to miniaturisation. / Tri-Mill Charitable Trust, Global Beauty International Management Ltd.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/5324 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Davies, Paul G. |
| Contributors | Randall, Valerie A. |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, School of Life Sciences |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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