Innovative Hair Loss Solutions with Dr. Christina Han of XYON Health

On this episode of the “Anti-Aging Insights” podcast, Dr. Teri Fisher sits down with Dr. Christina Han, a renowned dermatologist and the medical director at XYON Health, to dive deep into the topic of male pattern hair loss. Dr. Han explains the prevalence and impact of hair loss on self-image, and offers expert advice on various treatment options, including topical minoxidil and oral finasteride. She also highlights the innovative approach of XYON Health in delivering topical finasteride to minimize side effects. This episode is filled with valuable insights for anyone dealing with hair loss or considering treatment options. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn from two leading experts in the field! For more information, visit XYONHealth.com and AntiAgingVancouver.com. Join Dr. Fisher and Dr. Han for a comprehensive discussion that could help restore not just hair, but confidence as well.

Today’s Guest

Dr. Christina Han

Dr. Christina Han is a Canadian and US board-certified dermatologist currently practicing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Having grown up with various skin conditions, she has great compassion and empathy for her patients, young and old, who are suffering from various hair, skin and nail disorders. She received her medical training at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and completed additional training at Yonsei University, Seoul, in the fields of dermatological and laser surgery and skin cancer treatment. She has served as a consultant for various pharmaceutical companies focused on developing new skin therapeutics and is a regular attendee at local, national and international dermatological conferences.She is currently holds a position as Medical Director at XYON.

In her spare time, Dr. Han enjoys going for long walks, hiking, traveling and spending time with her three children.

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Anti-Aging Insights podcast, Dr. Teri Fisher hosts Dr. Christina Han, a seasoned dermatologist and medical director at XYON, to discuss male pattern hair loss. Dr. Han delves into the prevalence of this condition, with 20% of men beginning to experience hair loss in their twenties and 50% by the age of 50. She emphasizes the significant impact hair loss can have on self-image.

Dr. Han starts by explaining the genetic components of male pattern hair loss, clarifying common misconceptions about its hereditary nature. She outlines the approach taken when a patient presents with hair loss, beginning with a comprehensive medical history to confirm a diagnosis of genetic male pattern hair loss.

Treatment options are a focal point of the discussion. Dr. Han highlights two primary medications: topical minoxidil (Rogaine) and oral finasteride. Minoxidil prolongs the growth phase of hair follicles and promotes blood vessel dilation, enhancing nutrient delivery to hair follicles. Finasteride, on the other hand, inhibits the conversion of testosterone into DHT, a hormone responsible for follicle miniaturization leading to hair loss.

To address concerns about the side effects of oral finasteride, notably sexual dysfunction, Dr. Han introduces the innovative solution provided by XYON: topical finasteride. This method targets medication delivery directly to the scalp, aiming to reduce systemic absorption and minimize side effects. XYON’s SiloxysSystem Gel enhances the retention and efficacy of topical treatments.

This episode provides a comprehensive overview of male pattern hair loss and the latest advancements in treatment options. Dr. Han’s insights offer hope and actionable solutions for those experiencing hair loss, with an emphasis on the innovative treatments available at Anti Aging and XYON. For more information, listeners are encouraged to visit XYONHealth.com and AntiAgingVancouver.com, or connect with Dr. Teri Fisher on Instagram @DrTeriFisher.

Key Insights

• Male pattern hair loss is highly common, affecting 20% of men in their twenties and 50% by age 50, with significantly impactful effects on self-image.
• Treatment options for male pattern hair loss include topical minoxidil (Rogaine) and oral finasteride, which work differently to promote hair growth and inhibit hair loss.
• Topical minoxidil prolongs the anagen (growth) phase of hair cycles and promotes blood flow to hair follicles, while oral finasteride inhibits the conversion of testosterone to DHT, a hormone linked to hair follicle miniaturization.
• Oral finasteride can have side effects such as sexual dysfunction, but topical finasteride, available through XYON Health, aims to mitigate these side effects by targeting the scalp directly.
• XYON Health uses a proprietary SiloxysSystem Gel to effectively deliver active ingredients to the scalp, retaining medication at the skin level and reducing systemic absorption.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: Hey there, and welcome to this episode of the Anti-Aging Insights podcast. Thrilled to have you along. Today I have a special guest along with me today, Dr. Christina Han, and she is a dermatologist and a medical director, or the medical director at XYON. And I’m thrilled to have her on today to be speaking about hair loss, particularly for men today. We’ll do a women’s episode in the future. But Christina, thank you for being here. I’d love for you to take a moment and introduce yourself.

Dr. Christina Han: Thank you so much, Teri, for having me. So, I’m Christina. I’m a dermatologist. I’ve been in practice now for a dozen years and my practice is very much focused on medical dermatology and surgical dermatology. And one of the areas that I’m passionate about is hair loss. And so hence why I am in the medical directorship role at XYON.

I’m also a clinical assistant professor at the university here and love to just educate. So that’s why I’m here today. So let’s dive right in.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Amazing. Well, many of the listeners will know somebody or may have some challenges with themselves with regards to hair loss, and so maybe we can just start with the basics in terms of, why is this a problem? How common is this problem? A little bit of the background information on male pattern hair loss.

Dr. Christina Han: Yeah, absolutely. And you’re right. This is very common. It can start very young. About 20 percent of men can start having it in their twenties. And it’s actually thought that 50 percent of men by the age of 50 will experience some thinning, and this continues to progress as we age, unfortunately. And so this is only talking about male pattern hair loss.

There’s obviously lots of causes to hair loss in general, but hair loss in general is a devastating thing for most people just because it is so closely linked to our self image. And it can be really devastating to see that receding hairline or thinning. And so, this is something I see every day and certainly there’s help out there, because there are treatment options, and more and more of these types of conversations actually need to happen so that people can know that there are treatments out there.

Dr. Teri Fisher: So that’s great. So let’s dive right into that. So let’s say there is a man out there and he’s looking at his hair and he’s saying, oh, this is thinning or I’ve got a receding hairline and they come and they speak to you. Here’s my concern. How do you approach that? What do you do?

Dr. Christina Han: Well, first of all, I do a good medical history just to make sure that this is what we’re dealing with, and that this is a genetic form of male pattern hair loss. This is, as I mentioned, a genetically driven process. So, I tell them that, you know, usually we can’t change our genetics, but we can certainly try to halt the progression and even try to grow new hair.

So, of course, going through the background, medical history, medications, what they’ve already tried, their family history, and other important factors like their diet also come into play as well. And just their overall health, because our hair and our skin are closely linked to all aspects of our health.

And then, you know, of course, I dive into some of the treatment options that are out there, usually prescription, and that will kind of depend on what their lifestyle and their wishes are when it comes to topical or oral treatments.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Great. Yeah, we’ll definitely get into that. I have an interesting question here that’s something that keeps coming up a lot. People always say, I don’t understand. My, my dad has a full head of hair and I don’t. How much is the genetic component relevant here, or is that a misconception or what are your thoughts on that?

Dr. Christina Han: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I get asked that all the time too. And it’s true that it is a little bit of a misconception because I think historically a lot of people would say, oh, it’s the mother’s side or the father’s side. But actually it is polygenetic, meaning there is not just one gene that is passed down from one side. It’s likely multiple genes that are at play. And so it’s unfortunately not that predictable based on the lineage of your family history. But certainly if there are more members in the family that are afflicted with thinning hair or balding, the chances are going to be higher that the given individual may suffer from that as well.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Okay, there we go. Now we’ve answered that question once and for all. Fantastic. So next steps. This man has decided, okay, yeah, I want to do something for my hair. What are the treatment options that you can suggest? Maybe you can go into a little bit of them, how they work, that sort of thing.

Dr. Christina Han: Absolutely. I think many of us have heard of Rogaine. Rogaine is a brand that is topical minoxidil. And that is one of the two treatment options that are currently approved for male pattern hair loss. Rogaine, or topical minoxidil, comes in two percentages currently in Canada, 2 percent and 5 percent, in either a lotion or a foam. And for men, I generally recommend the 5 percent twice a day, every day, until they decide they don’t want to treat the hair anymore. So that is the first option that is currently Health Canada and FDA approved.

And then the second option is oral finasteride. Oral Finasteride is a pill and this is a tablet that’s taken once a day. And again, this is something that that individual will likely need to commit to in order to try to maintain and restore their hairline. They’re two different drugs. They work totally differently and I’m happy to go into that. But these are gonna be the first two things I will offer as treatment options.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Is there a simple way that you can explain how they each would work, so people have an idea of what the difference is between those?

Dr. Christina Han: Sure, yeah, absolutely. So minoxidil topically works by likely prolonging that anagen or growth phase of that hair cycle. So to step back a bit, every hair on their scalp is in a cycle, so it is either growing, resting, and then transitioning to shed out. And then again, that cycle starts again. And that’s normal. A hair follicle is always in some point of that cycle. And of course, every follicle on our scalp is at a different phase of that cycle. And so Minoxidil is thought to prolong that growth phase or that anagen phase. And as a result, more of that follicle’s time is spent growing a hair rather than resting and falling out.

Another way that it works is probably by promoting dilation of the blood vessels in the scalp. And that’s a good thing in general because it allows for more oxygen and nutrient delivery to the level of the hair follicle. And that also can help promote growth factors and more hair regrowth.

So that’s actually the thought, but interestingly, minoxidil wasn’t known to do that until they started giving oral minoxidil for that vasodilatory effect in cardiac patients, so that’s actually where it first got discovered, was to lower blood pressure by dilating blood vessels near the heart and in our body to lower blood pressure.

And so that’s how actually Rogaine came to market was because they saw that these cardiac patients started to grow hair.

Dr. Teri Fisher: That’s interesting, huh? Very cool.

Dr. Christina Han: And then finasteride works completely differently. It works at the level of an enzyme that is responsible for converting testosterone into another form of testosterone called DHT.

Now DHT is likely the main culprit in what causes male pattern hair loss, and what’s happening is actually the follicle is getting miniaturized over time because of signals from that DHT. And so ultimately that follicle is no longer a big robust follicle that’s able to grow hair. It actually becomes so miniature that it’s not able to grow a normal terminal hair. And so finasteride is classified as a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor by blocking that conversion into DHT.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Okay, so that’s great. So there’s two different ways that you can work on the hair. Now one of the issues with some of these, particularly the latter medication, is that people take it orally. There are some side effects of potentially that can occur, correct?

Dr. Christina Han: yeah, I mean it’s fortunately not that common, but I certainly will encounter it in some of my patients. And those are really mostly sexual dysfunction related side effects. So any sexual dysfunction you can think of can unfortunately occur with oral finasteride and that’s simply related to the hormonal effects that this medication can exhibit.

And as a result, some men can experience decreased libido, decreased erections, changes actually to ejaculate fluid. So you name it, all of it can happen, unfortunately, but the good news is it’s not that common. And it is considered reversible with discontinuation.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Now, what if there was a topical, versus an oral way, of getting this medication to the hair?

Dr. Christina Han: Well, that’s great because that’s actually why I’ve partnered with this company called XYON. XYON Health is really looking at innovative ways to deliver treatments like this. And one of them is topical finasteride. So we talked a little bit about topical minoxidil and it makes sense that you want to deliver medication to the follicle, and we don’t really need it in the rest of our body. So that’s the exact premise of XYON Health, topical finasteride. Let’s deliver it to the scalp and the hair follicle. We don’t need it in the body and hence the potential for reducing side effects. So that is one option out there at XYONHealth.com. Many patients are electing to use topical forms to really lessen this potential for side effects.

Dr. Teri Fisher: So that’s great. And of course I knew that, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer the XYON products at Anti Aging. One of the really interesting things about that to me is your delivery system. And I wonder if you can actually talk about that, because I think that’s really innovative and I think it’ll be really interesting to people that are considering treatment for their hair loss.

Dr. Christina Han: Yeah, it’s actually super exciting. It’s physician formulated and it’s proprietary to XYON’s technology. As a dermatologist, one of the most important things when we apply to the skin is actually the vehicle or the base that that medication is being applied to. And SiloxysSystem Gel is this gel that XYON has that can compound in active ingredients like finasteride to apply to the scalp.

What’s great about this is that we’ve done research studies looking at how it stays on the skin and is able to retain at the level of the skin. And we’ve also looked actually at how much medication gets absorbed using SiloxysSystem gel. Specifically, we want it to be limited into the body. So, measurements on drug levels, as well as level of DHT suppression were also looked at in actual clinical subjects.

I’m really excited to be part of this brand because I do feel that they are really science focused and innovative in delivering safe and effective treatments.

Dr. Teri Fisher: That’s fantastic. Well, I think that’s a great overview then of male pattern hair loss and some of the treatments that are available, some of the innovative treatments that we have at Anti Aging and that we have in partnership with you, XYON. It’s really great. Things are obviously constantly evolving and the research is there to support it. So that’s fantastic.

I want to thank you so much for joining me on the podcast, Dr. Han. And I also want to give you an opportunity to tell the listeners, the viewers, where can they learn more about you, if you want to share a social media profile? Or again, links again, if you want to mention to XYON where they can learn more about that as well.

Dr. Christina Han: Oh, of course. Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure. You can find me on Instagram at TheMedicalDerm or also XYON stuff are available at XYONHealth, so X, Y, O, N, Health dot com. And it’s actually a great service because patients can go there at their comfort of their own home, go through a specialist consultation online, and learn more about some of the products that we have. There’s also over the counter retail ready products that I know you carry at your clinic, but you can also purchase and add to cart online as well. And that’s all available at X, Y, O, N or XYONHealth.com.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Fantastic. Well, again, thanks so much for joining me and educating our listeners about hair loss. We’ll have to do this again sometime. I think we should do one on women’s hair loss as well. I think that’d be a great topic.

Dr. Christina Han: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Teri Fisher: Thanks again. I appreciate your time.

Dr. Christina Han: It’s been so much fun. Thanks again. Until next time.

Dr. Teri Fisher: There you go. I hope you enjoyed that episode with Dr. Christina Han. Lots of great information there on male pattern hair loss. Again, I encourage you to check out all the resources at XYONHealth.com and as well, if you want to discuss some of these treatments, as well as some other treatments for hair loss, I am happy to have that discussion with you of course, at any time, by checking out our information at antiagingvancouver.com or my personal website at DrTeriFisher.Com. As well you can reach me on Instagram. Happy to chat with you there @DrTeriFisher.

A huge thanks again to Dr. Han for spending some time with us, and helping to educate all of us a little bit more about hair loss, which is a very, very common condition.

Thank you to you, listener, for tuning in this week. I hope you got a lot out of this episode, and I look forward to speaking with you again really soon. Until then, take care.