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This came in my email and may be of interest to some.
https://www.minoxidilmax.com/review/azelaic-acid
Dear MinoxidilMax Newsletter Subscriber,
Here comes our first newsletter. Some of you might have subscribed our newsletter long time ago and do not want to receive update from us. You can simply subscribe from this email list.
In this article, we will answer one question that is frequently asked by our customer: is azelaic acid a better DHT blocker than finasteride? Do I need both or just one of them in my product?
Both azelaic acid and finasteride are DHT blockers. Azelaic acid is generally considered to be a type 1 and type 2 alpha reductase, while finasteride is only a type 2 reductase. So it seems that Azelaic acid is stronger DHT blocker than finasteride. Is this true? Let's first take a look at the structures of finasteride, testosterone and azelaic acid (above) Finasteride has similar structure as testosterone . It is a specific competitive inhibitor for type 2 alpha reductase that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). If you have read enough, you will know that high level of DHT in scalp is the cause of male pattern hair loss. So to lower the DHT level in the scalp is the key to reverse hair loss. To convert testosterone into DHT, the reductase has to bind to (or “swallow” to put it in layman's word) testosterone first. When finasteride is present, finasteride will be bound to the enzyme first (because reductase likes finasteride a lot more than testosterone) and block the active site of reductase. As a result, reductase will no longer be able to bind to testosterone and convert it into DHT.
Azelaic acid has drastically different structure from testosterone (see the Figure below). It is a non-specific competitive inhibitor. In other words, reductase is not a big fan of azelaic acid and has no interest in “swallowing” it. However, when the reductase is surrounded by numerous azelaic acid molecules and it will involuntarily and accidentally “swallow” some azelaic acid which will in turn deactivate the enzyme. That is why much higher concentration of azelaic acid is needed compared to finasteride to be effective (The typical concentration for finasteride is 0.1% as in our Dualgen-15 Plusproducts, or 0.05% as in our Essengen-6 Plus), while the concentration of azelaic is typically 5% as in our Dualgen-15products.
https://www.minoxidilmax.com/review/azelaic-acid
Dear MinoxidilMax Newsletter Subscriber,
Here comes our first newsletter. Some of you might have subscribed our newsletter long time ago and do not want to receive update from us. You can simply subscribe from this email list.
In this article, we will answer one question that is frequently asked by our customer: is azelaic acid a better DHT blocker than finasteride? Do I need both or just one of them in my product?
Both azelaic acid and finasteride are DHT blockers. Azelaic acid is generally considered to be a type 1 and type 2 alpha reductase, while finasteride is only a type 2 reductase. So it seems that Azelaic acid is stronger DHT blocker than finasteride. Is this true? Let's first take a look at the structures of finasteride, testosterone and azelaic acid (above) Finasteride has similar structure as testosterone . It is a specific competitive inhibitor for type 2 alpha reductase that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). If you have read enough, you will know that high level of DHT in scalp is the cause of male pattern hair loss. So to lower the DHT level in the scalp is the key to reverse hair loss. To convert testosterone into DHT, the reductase has to bind to (or “swallow” to put it in layman's word) testosterone first. When finasteride is present, finasteride will be bound to the enzyme first (because reductase likes finasteride a lot more than testosterone) and block the active site of reductase. As a result, reductase will no longer be able to bind to testosterone and convert it into DHT.
Azelaic acid has drastically different structure from testosterone (see the Figure below). It is a non-specific competitive inhibitor. In other words, reductase is not a big fan of azelaic acid and has no interest in “swallowing” it. However, when the reductase is surrounded by numerous azelaic acid molecules and it will involuntarily and accidentally “swallow” some azelaic acid which will in turn deactivate the enzyme. That is why much higher concentration of azelaic acid is needed compared to finasteride to be effective (The typical concentration for finasteride is 0.1% as in our Dualgen-15 Plusproducts, or 0.05% as in our Essengen-6 Plus), while the concentration of azelaic is typically 5% as in our Dualgen-15products.
