Does Prostaglandin D2 Hold the Cure for Male Pattern Baldness?

Dr. Luis Garza of the Garza Laboratory at Johns Hopkins is a renowned US-based hair loss researcher. He recently published quite a thorough article regarding PGD2 and its link to hair loss.

Prostaglandin D2 and Male Pattern Baldness

Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) has been shown to be elevated in the bald scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). It has the capacity to decrease hair lengthening.

This latest review by Dr. Garza and Ahsley Nieves discusses the
current knowledge surrounding PGD2 and hair loss. Moreover, it analyzes the future steps needed to translate new findings into novel therapies for patients with AGA.

The material in this article is fairly scientific, and an image on the last page is probably far more confusing than useful for most laypeople. In any event, the full summary is worth a read:

Does Prostaglandin D2 hold the cure for male pattern baldness?

Dr. Garza’s team has probably done more research on PGD2 and its link to hair loss than any other group in the world, but their conclusion at the end of the above article is a bit discouraging:

“The tools are limited, but the task is simple: just find the needle in the haystack.”

The section in the article on outstanding questions that still need to be addressed is quite lengthy. So I am therefore not very optimistic about this particular avenue of research leading to any hair loss cure within the next few years.

Nevertheless, it is worth following Dr. Garza’s updates on his website and his students’ ongoing research projects.

Transgender Couple

Truly amazing what modern science and technology can do. The girl (aka ex-boy) will probably never start balding like her father (who is in another non-youtube video).  The boy (aka ex-girl) will on the other hand now have to deal with androgenetic alopecia if it runs in his family.

MTF (male to female) transitioning and its impact on hair loss are far more interesting to see in older transsexuals who are already balding prior to transitioning. A must follow is Danielle Hallet (@daniellehallett) on Twitter. She has had a number of hair transplants while transitioning, since she had lost most of her hair prior to beginning the MTF journey. On her website you will find a number of before and after photos if you look through the archives.