In the UK there are millions of men and women who are affected by
hair loss. Although Male-pattern baldness is more common than
female-pattern baldness, (affecting around half of all men at some point
in their life), it can be a deeply stressing condition for both sexes
and can often severely damage confidence and even impact on one’s social
life.
However, there are numerous treatment options available to these
millions of people in the form of Propecia and Regaine for males, and
Dianette, Florisene and Regaine for females. Today though, there is
more hope for men and women around the UK who are losing their hair,
after new research found that a side effect of the active ingredient in
the eye drops ‘Lumigan’ may be utilised to create hair growth on the
scalp.
Lumigan contains an active ingredient called ‘bimatoprost’, a type of
medicine that is known as a prostaglandin analogue. Lumigan is usually
prescribed for patients with ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma
where there is increased pressure inside the eye. The bimatoprost works
by decreasing the pressure inside the eye by increasing the drainage of
fluid from the eye into the blood stream. If the pressure is not reduced
then there is a great risk of damage to the optic nerve and then
impaired vision.
One peculiar side effect though of the eye drops is the fact it can
stimulate the growth of eyelashes, and now preliminary trials have
already begun to see if bimatoprost can reverse the onset of male and
female pattern baldness.
Lead scientist Professor Valerie Randall, from the University of
Bradford, is a consultant to Allergan Inc which manufactures Lumigan.
She says: “Bimatoprost is known to stimulate eyelash growth and is
already used clinically for this purpose. We wanted to see whether it
would have the same effect on scalp hair, as the two types of follicle
are very different. Our findings show that bimatoprost does stimulate
growth in human scalp hair follicles and therefore could offer a new
approach for treating hair loss disorders.”
Androgenic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss in both men
and women, and can strike in varying severity. The culprit for the
occurrence of thinning hair is connected to hormones named ‘androgens’
and in particularly; dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This powerful hormone
stimulates facial and bodily hair growth but has adverse effects on hair
located on the head. It is believed that DHT initiates a process by
which hair follicles begin to deteriorate over time and eventually stop
producing hair entirely.
The promising aspect of the latest research is that it has been
discovered that bimatoprost works on a quite different receptor that is
unrelated to androgens. Prof Randall continued: “Even if the androgen
receptor is telling the hair follicle to do negative things, the drug is
telling it to do positive things.”
Bimatoprost has been applied to the living scalp tissue provided from
donors undergoing cosmetic surgery. In merely a nine-day period, it was
found that follicles that had been treated with bimatoprost grew a
third more hair than untreated samples.
In addition, researchers discovered that follicles in a person’s
scalp contain the same kind of receptors that respond to bimatoprost
that are also in eyelash follicles. Prof Randall explained what this
could mean for those who are losing their hair, saying: “This means that
so long as the drug can be applied in such a way that it can reach the
follicle, it should stimulate hair growth in patients.”
All that awaits now is the result of six-month long Phase II clinical
trials, which are currently underway in the U.S. and Germany. The
trials comprise of 220 men with male-pattern baldness and 172 women with
female pattern baldness. Comparisons will now be analysed, with some
patients being administered a solution of bimatoprost on the scalp, some
patients will be given an ineffective placebo, whereas others will be
using the highly effective Minoxidil, the active ingredient contained in
Regaine Foam and Regaine Lotion.
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