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Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

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Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#51

Post by abainbridge »

> administering melatonin prior to exposure to UV radiation increases cell survival and reduces oxidative damage. Topical melatonin applied to skin 15 minutes prior to exposure to UV radiation completely prevented skin redness (erythema) in a small randomized double-blind study of human subjects

This isn't necessarily good news. Sun burn is your body's way of reducing skin cancer. When your body detects too much exposure to sun, it kills the cells that are most likely to have suffered DNA damage. The soreness and inflammation are a result of that mechanism. Disabling that mechanism would cause skin cancer.

But maybe melatonin promotes DNA repair and thus the cells don't need to be killed. More research needed :-)

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#52

Post by collyw »

jm__87 wrote: post #14
gnulinux wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have chronic insomnia, I had it all my life. I used to use melatonin but yes over time it lost its effect and melatonin is not one of those drugs you can just take more to sleep. It has a very precise dosage and if you take more it doesn't make you more sleepy. If you have chronic insomnia, you need to solve the root cause. In my case it is anxiety, and currently I'm trying to solve my anxiety and my sleep quality…

I too suffered from insomnia regularly for most of my life (for at least 25+ years that I can remember) and just have managed to figure it out this past year. The major things for me have been light therapy in the morning, carefully watching my diet (certain foods cause mild digestive problems but this seems to really mess with my sleep), meditation and trying to control inflammation (again, partly through being very…

What foods were causing you problems?

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#53

Post by codeulike »

Reason077 wrote: post #46

I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK! The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

It's not illegal as such, it just not licensed and no drug company has bothered to go through the process to get it licensed in the UK. You can get it on prescription in certain rare circumstances.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#54

Post by zuminator »

abainbridge wrote: post #51

> administering melatonin prior to exposure to UV radiation increases cell survival and reduces oxidative damage. Topical melatonin applied to skin 15 minutes prior to exposure to UV radiation completely prevented skin redness (erythema) in a small randomized double-blind study of human subjects This isn't necessarily good news. Sun burn is your body's way of reducing skin cancer. When your body detects too much expo…

Are you saying this as a medical research professional or just spitballing? Because the article send to be straightforwardly claiming that melatonin is reducing oxidative damage, not just disabling the visible effects. One of the referenced sources is entitled, "Melatonin as a major skin protectant: from free radical scavenging to DNA damage repair," which seems to be saying that the "more research needed" has already been done, like 10 years ago.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#55

Post by rollulus »

canttestthis wrote: post #5

Tangentially I'm interested to know whether taking melatonin for long periods of time (years) reduces its effectiveness. I've been taking it for nearly a year but I've heard stories about how you need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect.

A while ago an article [1] was posted here [2] with focus on its effects on sleep. Might be useful as well.

[1]: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/E4cKD9iTWHaE7f3AJ/melatonin-... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17632668

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#56

Post by scotty79 »

taneq wrote: post #17
qwerty456127 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is bad in melatonin except the tolerance development. If I wasn't afraid of developing tolerance to endogenous melatonin I would take huge doses of it every evening.

So you're saying it's pretty much a free lunch?

Not sure if it'll do anything for you but it surely is safe. My SO is taking 20mg per day for years (for glioma, not insomnia, it's way too high dose to work for insomnia). She had a break from it for few months during which her tumors started regrowing, might be coincidence.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#57

Post by inciampati »

newsbinator wrote: post #24
qwerty456127 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is bad in melatonin except the tolerance development. If I wasn't afraid of developing tolerance to endogenous melatonin I would take huge doses of it every evening.

I find small doses work better than huge doses anyhow.

I agree. Also, slow release can be similar to small doses in effect.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#58

Post by inciampati »

taneq wrote: post #17
qwerty456127 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is bad in melatonin except the tolerance development. If I wasn't afraid of developing tolerance to endogenous melatonin I would take huge doses of it every evening.

So you're saying it's pretty much a free lunch?

It seems like a free lunch because we are starving ourselves for it. We need a lot more than we produce endogenously under artificial night lighting.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#59

Post by oskarpearson »

Reason077 wrote: post #46

I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK! The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

You can easily buy it on eBay. A USA company which has local dropshipping sells it, and manages to skirt the regulations.

My understanding is that it’s not sold over the counter (otc) is because it’s a hormone. The class of drugs isn’t available otc.

Also: I think many people use it in completely the wrong quantities and in the wrong way. I’ve heard of people in countries where it’s legal giving their kids 30mg to get them to sleep.. “it’s otc so it must be safe”. I don’t blame the NHS

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#60

Post by Reason077 »

codeulike wrote: post #53
Reason077 wrote: post #46

I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK! The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

It's not illegal as such, it just not licensed and no drug company has bothered to go through the process to get it licensed in the UK. You can get it on prescription in certain rare circumstances.

Apparently, it was previously available in health food shops (like Holland & Barrett), as in many other countries, but was banned around 1995 and is now considered a prescription-only medicine.
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