Hair Loss Gene Regulation from Environmental Influences?

Hi Doc,

Firstly thanks for the blog, very helpful and informative, have been following it for some time.

I had two questions for you,

1) First is regarding propecia. I have read many entries in your blog and you mentioned that complete reversal is extremely rare and usually seen in those under 21 (with use of propecia). My question is within your practice have you ever seen early to late norwood 3 patterns reverse to a norwood 2 (where balding is hardly evident). I know that regrowth is rare and should not be expected, but was just wondering if you had seen such changes in your practice.

2) You and other doctors (experts in hair loss) have mentioned that even if one is carrying a baldness gene it doesn’t necessarily manifest itself. Well I know that gene regulation causes genes to turn on and off during ones lifetime. Could it be possible for the baldness gene to turn off once it has manifested due to positive environmental influences (healthy diet, very low stress, exercise etc..)…my second question is just me wondering really, medically it might not make much sense, but I have heard of gene regulation (genes turning on and off during ones lifetime due to environmental influences) and was thus wondering if this applies to balding genes as well.

Thank you

What more can I say about complete hair loss reversal from Propecia other than it is highly unusual.

There is little doubt in my mind that the balding gene has on and off switches that may be impacted by environmental factors such as diet, but I do not know what many of them are. I do know that stress is one of those environmental factors that can impact balding. As more research is done, we’ll continue to learn more.