Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA) is the most common cause of baldness and hair thinning. It generally starts in the third and fourth decades of life and it is estimated that 50% of Caucasian men and 19% of Caucasian women are affected by age 50.
Current treatments of the condition are minoxidil topical and oral finasteride, FDA approved medications for the treatment of AGA. A combination of topical minoxidil and topical finasteride have shown more promising results; however, hair transplantation remains the only current successful permanent option, and it requires surgical procedures.
A recent study performed at a Hair and Scalp center in Clearwater Florida has set out to find the effectiveness of CBD as a possible safe, non-prescription, inexpensive AGA therapy.
CBD works through the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the body and has novel effects on hair follicle elongation and hair matrix keratinocytes activated through ECS receptors in the hair follicle cells (Bíró et al., 2009). As such, the therapeutic effects of CBD would complement the physiologic effects of minoxidil, finasteride and antiandrogen therapies.
Thirty-five subjects with AGA used a once daily topical hemp oil formulation (10.78% CBD, and 0.21% THC), averaging about 3-4 mg per day of CBD and minimal amounts of other cannabinoids for six months. A hair count of the greatest area of alopecia was carried out before treatment and again after six months.
The results revealed an average increase of 74.1% in men and 55.2% in women of hair counts in the temporal area, and an increase of 120.1% for men and 64.9% for women of hair counts in the vertex area.
On average, there was statistically significant 93.5% increase in hair after 6 months [from 18.5 to 32.7 (p < 0.001) )] when temporal and vertex areas were combined. All subjects had some regrowth.
One-third of the patients reported some slightly increased hair shedding during the first
month of treatment, this was no longer was noted at the two-month visit. Otherwise, there was no reported adverse effects from use of the extract.
Since the CBD works through novel mechanisms different from finasteride and minoxidil it can be used in conjunction with these current drugs and would be expected to have synergistic effects.
Reference:
Smith, G., & Satino, J. (2021). Hair Regrowth with Cannabidiol (CBD)-rich Hemp Extract- A Case Series. Cannabis, 4(1),- 59. doi:10.26828/cannabis/2021.01.003
