Scientists Found a New Way to Stop Wrinkles and Graying Hair

Scientists are uncovering the powerful role hormones play in skin aging, revealing new potential treatments for wrinkles, hair graying, and overall skin health.

While traditional anti-aging hormones like retinoids and estrogen have been widely used, new research highlights a broader range of hormones that influence skin structure, pigment, and resilience.

Hormones and Anti-Aging Potential

Hormones could play a key role in preventing and treating visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles and graying hair, according to a new study published today (February 25) in Endocrine Reviews, a journal of the Endocrine Society.

Until now, only a few hormones have been widely used in anti-aging skincare, primarily topical retinoids like retinol and tretinoin, as well as estrogen, which is mainly prescribed to manage menopause-related symptoms. This study explores a broader range of hormones with potential anti-aging benefits.

Key Hormones in Skin Aging

“Our paper highlights key hormone players that orchestrate pathways of skin aging such as degradation of connective tissue (leading to wrinkling), stem cell survival, and loss of pigment (leading to hair graying),” said lead author Markus Böhm, M.D., of the University of Münster in Münster, Germany. “Some of the hormones we studied have anti-aging properties and may be used in the future as agents to prevent skin aging.”

As the body’s largest organ, the skin undergoes both natural chronological aging (intrinsic aging) and aging caused by external factors like sun exposure (extrinsic aging).

“Skin is not only a target for various hormones that control pathways of skin aging but itself is certainly the largest and richest site for hormone production besides classical endocrine glands,” Böhm said.

Exploring Hormonal Influences on Aging

To better understand the connection between hormones and skin aging, the researchers studied the pivotal hormones controlling skin aging, including insulin-like growth factor 1, growth hormone, estrogens, retinoids, and melatonin. Melatonin is especially interesting as a potential anti-skin aging substance as it is a small molecule, inexpensive, well-tolerated, and a direct and indirect antioxidant as well as a regulator of mitochondrial metabolism. Some of the studied hormones, moreover, have astonishing and unexpected biological effects on skin function and hair aging as highlighted by distinct genetic deficiency syndromes.

Unexpected Players in Skin Rejuvenation

They also reviewed the emerging roles of additional endocrine players, including α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (responsible for skin pigmentation), members of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, oxytocin, endocannabinoids (found in CBD products) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor modulators and found they have very promising effects, e.g. on UV-induced genotoxic stress crucially involved in the development of photoaging and pigment synthesis within skin and hair.

Future Prospects in Hormonal Anti-Aging Therapies

“Further research into these hormones may offer opportunities to develop new therapeutics for treating and preventing skin aging,” Böhm said.

Reference: “Endocrine Controls of Skin Aging” 25 February 2025, Endocrine Reviews.

Other study authors are Agatha Stegemann and Konrad Kleszczyński of the University of Münster; Ralf Paus of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla., the University of Manchester in Manchester, U.K., and CUTANEON – Skin & Hair Innovations in Hamburg & Berlin, Germany; and Pallab Maity, Meinhard Wlaschek and Karin Scharffetter-Kochanek of Ulm University in Ulm, Germany.

The researchers received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, the International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm, and the Medizinische Fakultät, Universität Ulm.