I originally posted this in the MTF forum, but I realize that I should've posted it here instead. I recommend reading the valuable responses in that thread.I've started my first estrogen (estradiol) intake today. I rubbed oestrogel all over my scalp and took a pill. I'll be doing this once per week, for a whole month, then skip for an entire month.
My question is:
1. Will an intermittent HRT avoid or minimize breast development? I want feminization but wish to remain a flat-chested inner lesbian.
2. What effects did estrogen have on your hair? Any regrowth? Did you stop losing hair during HRT?A little science on estrogen and telomerase activity, just so you know how (little) I understand this:
Though there still remains much to understand about DHT's role in male pattern baldness, I'm betting on what I do know: that hair follicles, like any other cell, undergo cell division, and cell division requires telomeres, and telomeres are replenished by the enzyme telomerase, and telomerase production is activated by estrogen. Even if DHT "does not bind nor inhibit the synthesis of estrogen receptor," it
"decreases estrogen-induced RNA transcription at a point subsequent to estrogen receptor binding," and this may include estrogen-induced transcriptional up-regulation of telomerase, which effects premature aging of hair follicles due to lack of telomeres.
It may sound simple, but the discovery of the role of telomeres has indeed simplified the understanding of most cellular processes.
Chromosomes are protected by telomeres--the loss of which marks cell death--and the enzyme telomerase, which replenishes telomeres. This 1978 discovery won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine. A 2010 study by Harvard professor Ronald DePinho demonstrated
age reversal by activating telomerase; this was done by "knocking out" the gene that makes telomerase, causing symptoms of premature aging such as gray hair, brain shrinkage, and atrophy of the testes, and upon reactivation of telomerase production there was restoration of affected organs.
The telomerase activating mechanism of estrogen
has long been documented, and estrogen deficiency
has long been observed to inhibit telomerase.
Estrogen however, by the same process, is also responsible for making cancer cells virtually immortal, thus the use of anti-estrogens such as Tamoxifen to treat breast cancer. Commenting on the double-edged sword property of telomerase activation, DePinho advices that "the risk can be minimized by switching on telomerase only for a matter of days or weeks — which may be brief enough to avoid fueling hidden cancers or cause new ones to develop."
This may explain the empirical results of sexually active women (on the pills) well in their 40s who still look half their age, and why they are the most susceptible to breast cancer later in life.
I'm in my early 20s, and although I still have a full head of hair my hairline is starting to recede.
I've been taking finasteride intermittently for 3 years with questionable results. (I stop after I notice that my hair loss has subsided, and resume when my hair starts falling again.)
The effects of "conditional telomerase induction" on the "proliferation of hair follicle stem cells" was
studied in 2005 by Stanford cancer biologist Steven Artandi, and you can see a picture comparing a mouse with its TERT gene turned on with two control mice. But Artandi concludes thus: "baldness dramatically alters hair follicles and makes it unlikely they would respond to the protein."
Today I've just begun my ultra-low dosage HRT with oestrogel and estradiol tablets, with the intent on taking them once a week, for a month, and skipping for a month. I wish to reap the benefits of estrogen without the development of breasts, specifically I hope to maintain what healthy follicles I have unravaged by DHT (as Artandi thinks regrowth is unlikely). I already have feminine features, but I definitely desire for my face to look convincingly female enough that strangers wouldn't have to apologize for calling me "Ma'am". I'm just not a fan of breasts, and I wish to remain flat-chested.
You might be wondering why I chose to discuss hair loss in the MTF community instead of a specialized forum...
I haven't found studies between estrogen and hair loss, and most people in hair loss forums have never and will never touch estrogen. My google searches only show digressing posts in HRT MTF forums, and I wish to compile personal-anecdotal-empirical evidence to better inform my decisions and the rest of the hair loss community as well.
Thank you.
