Celebrity Hair Transplant, Cricketer Hair Transplants

Cricket Player Hair Transplant Boom

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The ICC Cricket World Cup starts in India on October 5, 2023. Although less than 20 countries play this sport seriously, it is a major sporting event in the Commonwealth of Nations. While reading about this subject this week, I came to the realization that hair transplants are becoming very popular amongst cricket players.

Cricketers Get Hair Transplants

In the past, I covered the hair transplants of the late Australian cricketing legend and ex-vice-captain Shane Warne. Him and Graham Gooch (ex-England captain) were perhaps the first cricket superstars who went public with their hair transplant procedures. Both underwent their transplants and other hair loss treatments at Advanced Hair Studio (UK).

South African cricket great Jacques Kallis also underwent a hair restoration procedure at Advanced Hair Studio (South Africa). And New Zealand ex-captain Martin Crowe also went to the same clinic in a different country. However both of them seem to have started with a non-surgical hair replacement procedure (called Strand-by-Strand® Cosmetic) that seems to be a bit similar to an artificial hair transplant.

This week, the Daily Mail had an article about England cricket team captain Ben Stokes and his 2018 hair transplant. It seems to have turned out great and he is very pleased with the results. His five year before-and-after photos were released by Wimpole Clinic (UK).

According to Mr. Stokes:

“Some of his England team-mates have also undergone similar transplants after discussions in the dressing room, while others are contemplating it.”

Eugenix Hair Sciences

Considering that the center of the cricketing world is in India, it is not surprising that locally based clinics treat cricketers with hair loss regularly. However, I was still very impressed with Eugenix Hair Sciences ability to get so many cricketers to come to them for their hair transplants.

Hair Transplant Cricket Player Azharuddin
Hair transplant before and after 1-year in ex-cricket player Mohammad Azharuddin. Source: Eugenix Hair Sciences.

Eugenix’s hair restoration surgeons have performed a number of hair transplants on cricket superstars (both past and present). Clinic co-founder Dr. Arika Bansal wrote a recent article on Linkedin about former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s two hair transplants at their clinic. In his first procedure in 2021, he got 4,240 grafts, all from the scalp. In his second procedure in 2022, Mr. Azharuddin got a body hair transplant procedure (around 4,000 grafts from his beard and calf regions) due to lack of scalp donor.

On Instagram, Eugenix’s other co-founder Dr. Pradeep Sethi recently posted a great video about cricketer Mohammed Shami’s hair transplant at their clinic. Mr. Shami is playing in the upcoming World Cup.

Other well known Indian cricket payers who got hair restoration surgeries include ex-vice captains Virender Sehwag at Medlinks and Ravi Shastri; and ex-captains Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir.

Autophagy, Caloric Restriction, Hypoxia, Metformin, Rapamycin

Autophagy and Hair Growth

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Autophagy Hair Growth
Hair growth via small molecule autophagy inducers. Source: Cell Reports.

Autophagy has been in the news a lot in recent years. The word is derived from Greek and means “self-devouring” or “self-eating”. Autophagy is used to describe the human body’s process of reusing old and damaged cell parts. i.e., it is your body’s cellular recycling system.

The main reason for the increasing visibility of this word is because of the surge in popularity of caloric restriction, intermittent fasting and low carbohydrate diets. All of these can induce autophagy, as can exercise and hypoxia.

Autophagy and Hair Growth

Interestingly, autophagy can also affect hair growth positively. Perhaps not too surprising considering the number of health conditions that are impacted by inflammation and dysregulation of autophagy (and the related issue of senescent cells).

  • An interesting 2019 study from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) found that hair growth can be initiated by small molecules that activate autophagy. The scientists found that:

“Quiescent (telogen) hair follicles can be stimulated to initiate anagen and hair growth by small molecules that activate autophagy. Including the metabolites α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) and α-ketobutyrate (α-KB), and the prescription drugs rapamycin and metformin.”

  • Another more recent study from 2021 found that impairment of autophagy could be a potential mechanism in androgenetic alopecia. Interestingly, RIKEN (Japan) was involved in this research.
  • Yet another study from 2018 concluded that autophagy plays an essential role in human hair growth. Monasterium Laboratory was involved in this work.

Metformin, Rapamycin and Autophagy

In the first of the studies I listed on top, it is mentioned that metformin and rapamycin both impact autophagy via inhibiting mTOR and AMPK signaling. I have covered both these well known drugs in some of my past posts related to longevity and anti-aging.

While metformin is taken by diabetics, a large number of non-diabetics (including Dr. David Sinclair) who are trying to increase their healthy lifespan also take the drug. One major observational study of 200,000 patients from 2014 found that diabetics who take metformin actually outlived non-diabetics. However, this study does not imply causation. Therefore, longevity experts are eagerly awaiting results of the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) trials.

Rapamycin is a potent inducer of autophagy. Many people take the drug in the belief that it counters aging in humans. Of more immediate interest is the major “Dog Aging Project“, also known as The Test of Rapamycin In Aging Dogs (TRIAD). Also of note, topical rapamycin could reverse hair greying and benefit hair growth. Perhaps even more so via microneedle delivery.

Summary

You might have no interest in such esoteric findings that are usually only tested in mouse hair initially. However, caloric restriction (under professional guidance) and exercise are almost certainly going to improve your overall health. And caloric restriction even grows hair/fur in mice (of course).

Even if you see no reduction in hair loss, experimenting with such longevity related strategies is not a bad idea. I am very averse to taking drugs, but there is a good chance that I will get on metformin in the coming years. Not yet sure about rapamycin.