The Effectiveness of Medicated Hair Tonic Containing Royal Jelly Extract

Abstract

Hair thinning and loss cause the deterioration of quality of life by affecting the mental state of a person and even the impression of others about them. Although various medications have been developed to treat these conditions, people still prefer hair tonics because of the absence of side effects. To address this need, a hair tonic has been formulated containing a royal jelly（RJ） extract to hydrate the scalp. The incorporation of honeybee-produced RJ extract was fostered by its reputation as a moisturizing agent. A clinical trial has been conducted to prove the ability of RJ-based hair tonic to stimulate growth. The trial revealed an increase in the hair number, the anagen ratio, and the moisture content in the stratum corneum of the scalp, as well as the improvement of the scalp and hair quality based on a subjective evaluation. Nevertheless, since the hair tonic formula contains other medicinal ingredients besides the RJ extract, the effect of this latter on hair growth is unclear. For that reason, the gene expression in dermal papilla cells after using the RJ extract was examined, and showed that the addition of this ingredient leads to an increase in the expression levels of IGF-1 and FGF-7, responsible for maintaining the anagen. Therefore, the RJ extractcontaining hair tonic is expected to treat hair thinning and loss and promote hair growth for both genders.