Month: August 2005

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Hair Loss InformationProstate Cancer Prevention – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I ran into the following article which shows the general direction for exploring the prevention of prostate cancer. The following is the introduction to the the journal article.

INTRODUCTION: If an agent can slow the growth of existing prostate cancer cells, it remains plausible that it may be effective as an adjunct to surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.

DISCUSSION: Level-1 evidence will be needed in order to definitively prove the efficacy of agents as chemoprevention strategies for prostate cancer. Currently, only finasteride fulfills this criterion. Two major trials are underway that will assess the role of soy, vitamin E and selenium in prostate cancer prevention.

CONCLUSION: Tantalizing prospects for effective chemoprevention of prostate cancer exist. Fortunately, well-conducted randomized trials will allow us to answer many of these questions within the next 2 to 8 years.

Source: Can J Urol. 2005 Jun;12(3 Suppl):2-4. Prostate cancer: chemoprevention update 2005 by: Fleshner N, Al Azab R. Department of Surgery (Urology), University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Please note that Finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) is presently the only agent for prevention of prostate cancer so its use in hair loss has clear benefits beyond the ability of the drug to reduce the rate of or possibly reverse the hair loss.

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Are Hair Plugs Still Used? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 32 years old and started balding about 3 years ago. My wife told me that I have about 60% hair loss located in the vertex of my head. The size is about 3″ wide and 2 1/2″ high. Here is my question: Do I need to wait until I lose more hair or all my hair in order to qualify for the transplant or can I start the transplant and make it a smooth transition so that no one will even notice a change?

Another question: Is hair plugs still used in hair transplants? or is this an old procedure? I do not like the look of hair plugs and it is obvious when someone has them.

Thanks.

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You should be evaluated first to see if you are a potential candidate for hair transplantation. You should also consider the use of medications that will slow or stop the hair loss, possibly even return some of the lost hair.

The hair transplant methods have advanced light years since ‘plugs’ were the norm. Although there may be physicians who still use the ‘plugs’ you are talking about, they would be practicing outside the standard of care and as such, it could be considered malpractice.

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Hair Loss InformationDateline NBC on Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

There was a great story on NBC last night, where Dateline followed five men on different hair treatments for 12 months. It compared Propecia, the laser comb, Minoxidil, a European fish oil claimed to grow hair, and hair transplants.

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Best Time to Take Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Is there a better time of the day to take Propecia?

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I am under the belief that there is a diurnal variation in testosterone levels which are higher in the early morning than other times of the day. That might suggest that the best time to take Propecia is in the morning as the half life of the drug is only 4 hours. The half life of a drug is the time it takes for the body to reduce its concentration to half of what was taken.

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Can Hair Grow In Scar Tissue? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I would like to shave my head, but have a donor scar about 1/4 ” in width….. We communicated in the past about 2 choices:
1) Scar Revision, Not sure about this one, since, it seems my scar will just stretch again…the scar reaches the lateral side of my head, about the top of the auricle apex.
2) FUE into scar….This seems like the best shot…but will I really be able to shave my head…I would think you would still see a scar even if their is hair growing through it….and can hair grow into scar tissue?

Thanks for answering my concerns

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Yes, hair can grow nicely in scars. The question then becomes, “Where will the donor hair come from?” If the scar is very wide, then the ability to produce donor hair (even with FUE) may be difficult. Some of the worst scars I have seen are very wide. In those patients with a collagen defect, the tendency for the scars to return is very high.

There are two causes of scars. The first is your body’s ability to heal. Some people with the same surgery that you had, developed no scars. The second cause may be technique-related and there are a number of techniques that work well in those patients with wide scars. These techniques include a) limited fascial repairs, b) balloon and expander use. Provided that there is no defect in the healing ability of the patient and the presence of non-stretchable collagen (no Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) then there is a probable solution to your problem. As you appear to be in the Los Angeles area, I would be happy to meet with you to discuss your options.

With regard to shaving your head, even under the best of end results, some scar will remain, albiet small, so I would not recommend the shaving option.

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Hair Loss InformationBalding in Young Man and Shampoos – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i am 21 yrs old, and am experiencing receding hairline. in no means am i bald, but i suspect i will be in a few yrs time. for now, i have been using propecia daily. i just wanted ur opinion on what products i should use for hair care-shampoo and gel. for shampoo, so far i have been using pantene pro v, and instead of gel i use coconut oil everyday. are these products ok to use, or is there something better u would suggest? also, is it ok to shampoo and style my hair daily, or is that bad for u hair? please let me know. thanks dr.

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For MPB (Male Pattern Balding) Propecia is the best way to prevent or retard its progression. With regard to the various shampoos, none that I know of has proven to be a greater value than others, when it comes to hair loss. I generally tell patients to use what they like, what works for them, to experiment with many until you find the right match and to follow the recommendations of the product manufacturers for dry or oily hair. Frequent shampooing does not hurt, but aggressive massaging during shampooing and rough brushing will cause fragile hair to break easily. I personally like the smell of coconut shampoos and use them often!

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Rapid Hair Loss on Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr Rassman
Ive been on propecia for over 6 months and in that time my hairloss espically in the front has thinned dramtically much faster than it did in the previous 2 years. Could I be having a bad reaction to propecia?..Would you recommend me quitting trying another product? Im thinking the increased testorone in my body due to the lack of dht may be cuasing me to have a faster rate of frontal loss..its much worse than it was when i started..could it still reocver on propecia? Im just very down about it and regret going on the drug as recommended by a derm i saw this past november..does propecia increase androgens?

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You did not state your age, so I am assuming that you are under 28 years old or so. Assuming that you have genetic balding, you probably are seeing an acceleration of the process. If you are in the early 20s, you may be in rapid hair loss and stopping the Propecia may be the worst thing you can do. You need to see a good doctor, document the degree of miniaturization of the scalp and then lay out a plan. It is very hard for me to react to what appears to be a real crisis, without having you in front of me to ask you all types of questions and having the chance to examine you thoroughly.

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Balding By Age and Race – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have seen documented incidences of pattern baldness, they suggest 20% suffer in their 20’s, 30% in their 30’s, 40% in 40’s, and 50% in their 50’s and so on usually with age. But it seems these calculations are taken including all races such as asians, black american indian, hispanic specifically mexican man all of which have much lower incidents of male baldness.

I am a white man and it seems to me many white man experience some loss when they hit age 40, do you have any idea what the numbers would be if it was strictly white males and not other race.

These would be my guesses if just taking into account white males :

30% suffer in their 20’s, 40% suffer in 30’s, 60% suffer in their 40’s, 65-70% suffer by they reach their 50’s. And if a man doesnt experience any male baldness when they are in their mid 50’s near 60, in most cases these are the males that die with most of their hair.

Maybe my projections are inaccurate but i rarely see a white man with a full head of hair in their 60’s, 70’s. On average, i would say by age 70 8 out of 10 men suffer MPB. WIth the remaining 20% after age 70 escaping the god awful disease we know as MPB.

What do you think?

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Breakdown of racial variations by age and degree of hair loss is not well documented. There are suggestions that Caucasians may have more hair loss than non-Caucasians. As a person ages, the first appearance of hair loss lessens in severity. If you reach 40 without any evidence of hair loss, chances are you are not going to bald. With that said, actor Don Ameche had a full head of hair at 50, but he had a nearly complete Norwood Class 6 pattern balding pattern by the time he appeared in the movie “Cocoon” in his mid-70s. So, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to balding by race. There has been interest recently in obtaining better documentation of this by geography (i.e. race) and studies may be coming in the future. Of interest, the American Indian (those that came from the Alaska migration) do not have balding at all. This makes the American Indian unique for racial groups. There is no explanation of this.

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Propecia vs Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

thanks so much for your reply i really appreciate it. i dont mind taking all the medication for the hair loss but i would rather prefer to get the hair transplant because it will last forever and then i dont need to worry about taking a tablet or putting minoxidil on twice a day. i would rather just get it over and done with so i dont have to worry about it anymore and it will also be good for my self esteem and confidence. what do you recommend?

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Here, my age and experience come into place for value. If you are not going to get really bald because your final hair loss pattern is a simple Class 3, 3A or 4A, then you can take the view you discussed. If however, you eventually bald to a Class 6 or 7 pattern (advanced balding), then you will run out of donor hair before the process is complete, unless you are unusually blessed with very high densities. None of us have a crystal ball into our future. The question you should have is, “How bald will I become?” Hair loss is progressive, so chasing hair loss can be a losing proposition for some men. For that reason, I strongly suggest the use of Propecia because there is almost no down side to it, and it will slow down or stop the hair loss for some reasonable time so that you can enjoy your hair. Getting hooked on having expensive hair transplants surgeries on a yearly basis to keep up with progressive hair loss, until you run out of money or donor hair is not what you need.

Propecia is a simple, safe way to make sense of this entire genetic hair loss process.