October 2005 – Page 2

October 27, 2005

Hair Loss InformationFemale Genetic Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,

I am a 25 year old woman and I have been losing my hair since the age of 12. All of the women in my family have been affected, but I am the first to lose it as such a young age and actually have it the worst. I am generally bald in the front and have thin hair everywhere else, but it’s not bald. I currently am using a weave, but I’ve noticed that is has actually become worse and I’d really like to lose the weave and have a natural hair line. Is New Hair catered for men only, and if not, can I be helped?

Desperate in Brooklyn

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First of all, you should see a good doctor who knows about hair loss in women. Since you are in New York, I would recommend you set up an appointment with Dr. Robert Bernstein at (201) 585-1115. He has offices in Manhattan and New Jersey and can address your unique problem. It sounds like you do have genetic female hair loss, but first let’s get an expert to determine it. You must have a full check-up to determine if you have any metabolic diseases as well. For more questions and answers about female hair loss, please click here for previous blog entries.

October 26, 2005

Hair Loss InformationHow Long Until Hair Regrowth with Medications – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi DR,
i have been through all the entires in the blog and find it quiet useful… here is my problem/question…

I am almost 26 yr old male and experiencing considerable thining. This probably started 7 months ago although it was not that noticeable and there was considerable self denial on my part. My frontal hair are thinning althogh my hairline is maintanied and now even the crown area is thinning considerably. It a very emotional rollercoaster for me and i’m feeling depressed. today I started on propecia and saw palmetto and maybe i ll use nizoral shampoo too. I want to know how long will it take to see a complete stoppage of hairloss and regrowth of new hair ? I may be a BIT late in starting but the thinning started occuring 6 months back and considering that I had a head of full thick hair until october last year… I was in total self denial that my hair was thinnnig. My dermatologist confirned its a case of MPB since my dad started losing his hair in his very late 20s. I am not even married and its very emotionally distressing :(. What are my hopes ?? Also will a sinus surgery(with local IV sedation) cause any further hairloss on me or contibute ?

Please write back. Thanks

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With a 7 month history of hair loss, there is sill a possibility of controlled loss or reversal of some or all of the hair loss within the first two years you are on this medication. You must wait this out. I would recommend against taking Saw Palmetto with it, as there may be competition for the DHT enzyme sites between the two medications making the Propecia less effective. Any added stress can impact the rate of hair loss, and sinus surgery is no exception. Still, if you need the sinus surgery, do it and continue to take the Propecia regularly.

Good luck.

October 26, 2005

Hair Loss InformationScotland Doctor Recommendation? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i am a 26 year old female from scotland, and i would like to know if you could recommend a clinic in the UK who do the hairline lowering procedure. Please say there is one!

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I don’t have any personal Scotland-based recommendations, but I would check the International Society for Hair Restoration Surgeons (ISHRS) site at ISHRS.org. Use the physician search section to look up doctors in the UK. You can then call and get a direct referral from someone within the United Kingdom.

October 26, 2005

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

Hi Dr. Rassman,

About two years ago, I started taking Propecia for my hair loss and stopped after three months because at that point i noticed a drastically increased rate of hair loss, and assumed that I was reacting negatively to the drug(one hair loss specialist suggested that it is possible that my tissue became hyper sensitive to DHT because of the drug, but I did not experience any increased acne or libido, which he said would also be indicative of that rare kind of reaction to Propecia). Eventually I decided to try Propecia again, and now I have once again reached the three month mark, and once again, like clockwork, I am seeing significantly more hair on my pillows, in the shower, etc, than what I had when I was off the drug, but no acne or increased libido. I am wondering if you think this means the drug wont work for me or if it is just a temporary phenomenon that I should wait out, and that I will probabely still benefit from Propecia. I understand that some people experience sheds while on Propecia that are a sign the drug is working, but have heard that this should happen within the first two weeks of using the drug, not so long as three months into it. Thanks very much for your time.

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I believe you must stay on Propecia for 8-12 months. Stopping and starting your taking of the drug is not a good idea. There have been some reports that hair cycling changes in a small number of people with Propecia, such that more of the effluvium (loss) side occurs at the beginning but the anogen (building stage for hair loss) will follow in 6+ months. It does not sound like you have given it enough time. This is a most unusual complaint, one that I have personally not seen in my practice but one that has been reported by some of my colleagues.

October 26, 2005

Hair Loss InformationHair Grew Back After Many Years – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have been bald since I was 30. I am now 73. There was no hair to speak of (you call it a Class 6 Pattern according to your book). I finished my chemotherapy for prostate cancer and my hair grew back. Any comments?

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The chemotherapy must have taken away your ability to make testosterone and it’s byproduct, DHT. That would account for a regrowth of your hair (as if your testicles were removed, in the chemical sense). It would be unusual to grow your hair back completely if you have been that bald for so many years (I’m assuming it has been at least 20 years), unless there was still hair present that was heavily suppressed by the testosterone you had circulating around. I would love to see before and after photos of your hair growth.

October 26, 2005

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplant Density – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

what is the most you pack per cm2 when you do a transplant????? please let me know .. thanks

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Density of the average person is about 200 hairs per square mm. A doctor can transplant as high as 10-50% of the original density. It is important to focus more in the issues of fullness. This is not a ‘weight lifting contest’, which is unfortunately what some doctors are pushing for. I could transplant as much as 50% of the original density, but the real issues are:

Will it grow? There are many factors that will determine this: the health of the skin, the amount of atrophic changes in the skin caused by sun damage and the advanced level of balding, scarring that is present, etc. We generally expect that growth will approach 100% of what is transplanted, but that is only true when everything is right-on — and that rarely happens.
What is needed? This is the most important question that must be asked. People with low hair to skin color contrast, good texture, good hair thickness, etc. do not generally require the greatest densities to achieve the look of fullness.

Hair transplantation is as much an art as it is a surgical process. The judgments of a good surgeon with years of experience will make the correct decisions that are in the best interests of the patient.

October 25, 2005

Hair Loss InformationKidney Stone Medication and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had saline breast implants in June of 2004. Six weeks later, I went through a terribly stressful period (unrelated to the surgery). Four months later, I began to lose my head hair AND the hair on my legs stopped growing. I went to a dermatologist and was told I had Telogen Effluvium and it would resolve itself in a few months. It has been over a year since the initial loss began and still I am losing the hair on my head in greater volumes (still a diffuse spread though). The leg hair began to regrow four months ago. I do take Urocit-K for kidney stone prevention and I had 3 surgeries this year for stones. Is that the reason? Will my hair ever get back to normal? And, could the implants be responsible for the hair loss? Thank you.

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Dr. Moldwin is Assistant Professor of Urology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and is Director of The Interstitial Cystitis Center at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY. He is actively involved in IC research and is a member of the ICA’s Medical Advisory Board. During the December 1998 meeting at the Southeast Florida ICA Support Group, Dr. Moldwin addressed a similar question to yours. He stated: “Most of the side effects that patients encounter occur about 3% of the time. One problem people often worry about is hair loss. It is not a generalized hair loss. It tends to be in spots. Keep in mind that everybody has some daily hair loss. It’s probably a wise idea to monitor your ‘normal’ hair loss on your hairbrush for about a week prior to starting Elmiron. Significant increases in hair loss beyond your ‘baseline’ might be due to the medication. I think that in the past many people had stopped their Elmiron needlessly since they looked at their hairbrush for the first time 2-3 weeks into therapy. They saw hair in their brush (which was, of course normal hair loss) and immediately related this finding to their medication. By the way, in the unlikely event that hair loss occurs, it’s recovered with stopping the medication.”

I think that he said what you needed to hear. You should have your scalp hair examined by a competent hair specialist to determine the degree of miniaturization that is present through the various areas. This is an important baseline to establish for long term planning purposes.

October 25, 2005

Spironolactones and Hair Loss in Women – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Are you familiar with using spironoclactone topically for hairloss???? one DR. said it might be the closet thing to cure we have. IT is antiandrogen , which stops DHT at the point on scalp with attacking the follice. I would like to know if you think it worth trying in a lotion on the scalp??? Please respond With you professional opinion. THANKS

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Yes, I am familiar with Spironolactones use for hair loss. They have been around for some time. Medline states “Spironolactone, a ‘water pill,’ is used to treat high blood pressure and fluid retention caused by various conditions, including heart disease. It causes the kidneys to eliminate unneeded water and salt from the body into the urine. Spironolactone is also used to treat certain patients with hyperaldosteronism and in certain patients with low potassium levels.”

This is a potent medication and has had some reported impact on fascial hair in women. There are some doctors who use this in conjunction with other medications including Minoxidil, which is an anti-hypertensive medication. Although side effects from spironolactone are not common, they can occur and include: upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, frequent urination, dizziness, headache, enlarged or painful breasts, irregular menstrual periods, drowsiness, muscle weakness or cramps, rapid, excessive weight loss, fatigue, slow or irregular heartbeat, sore throat, unusual bruising or bleeding, yellowing of the skin or eyes, skin rash, vomiting blood, fever, and confusion. I do not believe that this is a viable treatment for hair loss as there is no objective evidence that it works in female hair loss, but it is used by some doctors to treat women with hair loss.

October 25, 2005

ViTrichol – Balding Blog

Hi Doctor Rassman; I am a happy patient with NHI and have a couple of questions I would like to pose to you.

Do you have an opinion on a new drug called ViTrichol? Dr. Randall Sword backs the product and information can be found on his website.

Have you heard of a new topical based solution called Scalp Med? I saw an infomercial about the product.

Thanks.

I have reviewed the websites reflecting your questions. The FDA does not allow claims that suggest an effective treatment for hair loss without substantiation with good scientific research. If such research was done for ViTrichol, where is it? Could there be some get rich quick scheme to promote an unproven treatment? Doctors are entitled to give opinions on everything and anything. For example, I have opinions on why my dog’s ticks & fleas go away when I scratch his head, rub his belly, or when I use some of my deodorant on him. However, I do not think that I could substantiate my opinions on how to influence my dog’s ticks & fleas or bottle my deodorant with what would be an honest representation of a cure for my dog’s fleas. I would ask the person who backs the product what the benefit to him/her is if you buy the product? I am suspicious until I read the supportive science behind it. ‘Let the Buyer Beware’, so the saying goes.

As for ScalpMed, I’ve posted recently about this here: Scalpmed.

October 24, 2005

Hair Loss InformationHair Not Growing Back After Chemotherapy – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,
I am a woman who finished an intense bout of chemotherapy and radiation about a year and a half ago. Since then most of my hair has grown back on the sides and back of the head. The center top and crown is still very bald. My dermatologist says it is a typical female balding pattern. Can you give me feedback on this subject? Is it possible I could be a candidate for hair transplants? Thank you.

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Your dermatologist sounds correct. Some women develop patterned loss, which is less common than unpatterned loss. Hair transplants work better in patterned loss, assuming that your donor hair is adequate in quantity and quality. If there is diffuse thinning in the sides and back, you may not have enough supply for a transplant. A good assessment by a competent hair surgeon will give you insights into your supply for quality hair transplants.