Month: February 2006

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What Can Accelerate Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. I was reading some of the entries on here and saw in one someone had a side effect from propecia and asked about hair system and transplant. You said you thought it might accelerate his hair loss if he used a system. This made me wonder what other kinds of things could accelerate the loss cause it surely seems like I’ve done something that has. My loss started kind of at the temple area and was slow. but seemed like over night the entire top is falling out. I get large amounts on my pillow and in the shower. Even if I just brush my hand across the top of my head pretty softly I usually get a few on my hand. I’m trying to get propecia online. Which I thank you for telling me in a previous post that I could do that because I thought all those sites were scams and didn’t really look at them before you told me about that. Anyway with this rate of loss it seems like it will be completely noticable withing 2 or three months. I would really appriciate anything you might have to say on this matter. Thank you!!

Men go into hair loss cycles; you might just be going into such a cycle. Hair loss is caused by:

  • genes (you are fixed with what you inherited)
  • hormones (the testicles make testosterone, your body turns that into DHT, which actually causes hair loss)
  • time (the longer the time that the hormones and the genes work on the hair, the worse it may become according to your inherited pattern)
  • stress

Men who take steriods, who take testosterone or other similar medications, and men who are stressed (from marriage, school, work, etc.) can accelerate the hair loss process.

Before starting Propecia, you should get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to have the proper diagnosis made and then determine in 6-8 months if the miniaturization was reversing. If you just buy the drug without a proper evaluation, you may never know what you are treating. With regard to Propecia purchases on the internet, I know that they are done, but I can not attest for the products that they are claiming is Propecia. Could be the real thing? It might not be!

The use of wigs tends to produce traction alopecia causing progressive hair loss as the wigs move around on the head, are removed and replaced.

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Native American Indian Female with Thinning Hair – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’m a 50 year old Native American Indian lady living in Phoenix, Arizona and would like to know why my hair is already turning white and thinning out. I’m thinking that I may have an illness that I don’t know about. Because it seem like I’m sick all the time. I am also going through my menopause so I don’t know if that’s triggering it.

I have gone to see the doctors and they taken blood tests, but keep telling me there’s nothing to be alarm about. But the point is I’m so wary about this matter and I see alot of the people in my age group that still have a mopful of dark hair and not going gray/white. Not only this, it seems like my face has age about 10 years older within the last year or two. Am I thinking (stressing) about this to much? What type of herbs or shampoo will help my hair? Or, am I lacking some type of vitamin deficiency? I don’t mind the aging gracefully, but not this fast. Please, let me know. Thank you.

I would have to write a book on what may be the cause of your hair loss. The fact that you feel sick is an indication that something may be wrong with you (such as hypothyroidism, eczema, alopecia, dieting, malnutrition, autoimmune, drugs, infection). Considering that you are an American Indian, genetic hair loss is uncommon, so I would start looking for a medical condition. Also, I would suggest that you get your hair and scalp mapped out for miniaturization, as that may point to genetic hair loss in the case that you are the exceptional American Indian with a genetic cause of it. In non-American Indians, hair thinning is present in almost half of females going through menopause.

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I Like Bald Women! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Doc,
I dunno what the lady who posted the question “I Don’t Want to Be an Unmarried, Bald Female at 28!” feels, but there are a lotta men who like bald women…

Is there any way she could get in touch with me… I would wanna talk to her!

Maybe I should run a dating service. Interesting idea. Any thoughts from my readership? Any women out there who love bald men, or vice versa? Any ideas what to call the service?

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I Had a Scalp Reduction Last Month – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

One month ago I had a small scalp reduction done. I have experienced some telogen/shock loss. Over what period of time should I expect to continue losing hair in the adjacent area and when can I expect that hair to regrow. It has been recommended that minoxidil could help accelerate the regrowth. Your thoughts please.

Hair loss from a single, small scalp reduction is unusual. As you know, scalp reductions have fallen on hard times and the surgery has been largely abandoned because sooner or later, the hair loss will continue and the scar may then become a problem. Scalp reductions stretch the scalp from the sides (it does not bring your ears higher but some patients tell me that it feels that way), therefore they may have a negative impact on hair transplantation by increasing the scar risk from the classic strip harvesting technique because the skin above the ears (some of the donor area) is stretched and gets a reduced density and altered anatomy (which may or may not cause problems). I had three scalp reductions in the early 90s, and became an outspoken anti-scalp reduction doctor because I experienced your complication and a few more as well.

The hair loss you are experiencing may last a few months. It should peak by 3 months, but in some patients progressive hair loss may still occur. The scalp manipulation can cause hair loss and the stretch that is produced is one of the traumatic causes of hair loss. I would want to understand the Master Plan that you and your doctor worked out to understand the significance of the problem you are now having in the long term. Minoxidil may help in the short and long term, but it rarely can reverse the hair loss you have experienced if it not going to reverse on its own.

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Hair Transplant in Young Adult – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

When I turned 18 I noticed that my hairline began to recede a bit and as the months went by my hair got thinner in the frontal area of my scalp & still getting worse. I tried Rogaine for a while but it irritated my scalp and caused flaking and I didn’t see any results, I was also on propecia for 2 ½ months then later stopped (kinda expensive). A month ago I saw an ad on tv about this product called scalpmed, (& it looked really convincing believe you me) they say its better than propecia & rogaine with no side effects. When I told my parents about it they were willing to support me but when we visited the website there was no return address, and I tried calling their customer care # and there was no answer. Now my mom gets the impression that it must be a scam or something. Basically I am just frustrated, but I would like to know the procedures taken in your hair transplants? is it safe for my age? How much will it cost? I hear its expensive. I just think transplant might be the only solution right now. Finally I hope I didn’t take up your time Dr and am looking forward to hearing from you.

When tackling male pattern balding, do not experiment and lose valuable time. Drugs like Propecia work best if early hair loss is treated, so time works against you and transplants in a person under the age of 24 (mostly) may be too soon to develop a good Master Plan for your eventual ending hair loss pattern. I generally discourage transplants in some men when I can not ascertain the final hair loss pattern. You need to have a diagnosis, so mapping out your hair for miniaturization is critically important to get a base line for the diagnosis and treatment. After 8 months of Propecia, you can get another assessment for miniaturization and see if you gained hair numbers and hair bulk.

If you are in California, come by for a consultation. Then we will put the entire power of what I know to work for you.

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Hair Loss and an Enlarged Prostate – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Sir: I am 60 years old with enlarged prostate. I am taking the following: 5mg proscar, 5mg avodart, 4 gel caps saw palmetto, 81 mg aspirin, also terezin for blood pressure. My urine flow is back to normal, however I have not noticed much hair growth in 3 months on these drugs. I have typical male pattern.What do you recommend?

Many men with hair loss, when starting the types of medications you have, will grow hair as a side effect of these medications. The converse of your presentation is also common. In patients we start on Propecia, they get improvement on their prostate problems and their urinary retention improves with the hair treatment. In your case, if the medications failed to grow hair, then only hair transplantation may solve your problem.

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Hair Loss InformationWound Problems After Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman:
You recently responded on 1-9-06 on this website to a male that had some questions regarding the possibility of taking a jacuzzi soon after having a hair transplant. He had then undergone hyperbaric therapy and succesively (evidently) underwent hyperbaric therapy. You asked him to respond as to whether or not the hyperbaric therapy allowed him to possibly avoid the approx 60 days hair loss that typically follows such surgeries.I recently underwent a 2 day megasession of 3800 grfts. I had 3 small hair transplants 10, 9 & 7 years ago (Only 300, 300 & 400 grafts then). The right side donor incision was very tight and when the stiches were removed – huge opening 1″ x 2″ now. Hyperbaric Candidate?

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The posting you’ve referenced can be found here: Can I Go in a Hot Tub Days After a Hair Transplant?

One of the challenges of megasessions (you had 3800 grafts) is to harvest large numbers of grafts safely. The physicians must make judgments with regard to balancing an aggressive approach to harvesting hair and complications (safety issues) that will put you at an increasing risk. This is actually true for any harvesting process of almost any number of grafts (even small sessions), but it is particularly the case with megasessions. In your case, it is not a long stretch to assume that this delicate balance was tipped such that a tight scalp produced a wound problem because, in hindsight, the harvested strip may have been too aggressively pursued.

The tight scalp and the wound problems that occur as a result, are what has brought a focus on donor wound scarring. In people who have had three transplant sessions (as you did) tighter scalps are often present. Most of the time, the desire of the surgeon/patient to get large enough quantities of hair to cover areas of high demand (recipient area), has been the cause of the scarring problems. The actions and techniques used by the surgeon may compound this problem. The amount of hair (scalp) that is safe to move, depends upon the ‘looseness’ of the scalp, the density of the hair in the proposed strip of scalp that is removed, and the amount of scalp that is actually removed. The more scalp that is removed (in the patient with a tighter scalp), the greater the risks, such as what happened to you. When wound problems exist, they start off with unusual prolonged pain along the wound edge and develop a pink, purple, or dark color of the skin (indicating possible vascular problems to the skin). The darker the color, the worse the risk and the worst short term risk (that of gangrene of the skin). The long term risk is of hair loss extending back from the wound for a distance of one – two inches above and below the tight parts of the wound occurs not infrequently when a wound is too tight. What will happen to you will be determined by the degree of blood supply compromise brought on by the tightness. If these problems are only mild, hair loss often follows. The hair will generally, but not always, return in 4-6 months (along with the timing of the growth of the transplants in the recipient area). You will know the full impact within approximately 6-8 weeks, but the risks of gangrene should have been passed in a week or two. Patience is a virtue here and a good communication with your doctor is critically important to deal with any and all of your concerns. Ask your doctor about hyperbaric oxygen as well.

To avoid this problem, the experience of the doctor is important (especially when it comes to safety in these megasessions). Decisions made at the time of surgery are many. Sometimes I get a feeling from patients that hair transplantation is all about price so discount shopping is very common. But is a megasession in the hands of a very experienced doctor equal to the same in a doctor with much less experience? That is the question! The answer is clearly that doctors are not equal, even if prices are.

Now to get to your question: I have no experience with hyperbaric oxygen in situations like yours. Theoritically, it might help, but timing may be everything and delays in administering this therapy along with frequency will certainly work to your disadvantage if this modality was to work at all.

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Tidbits: Dreadlocks and Felting – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

A few times each month, I will post some random hair-related information, which I’m calling “tidbits”. I spend hours each day writing responses to questions I receive on this blog, so it is a nice change of pace. This one came from guest writer, Dr. Jim Arnold…

Dreadlocks

Many rastafarians and others with dreadlocks notice that hair which is not in a dreadlock never grows as long as the dreadlocks do. If you have ever examined a person with dreadlocks, you would have probably noticed this yourself — the “dreads” are longer than the the rest of their un-cut hair or beard.

The occurance is related to felting. Felting is the phenomena of hair (or fur as in the making of hats) matted together in a complex entanglement which is almost impossible to separate back to individual hairs. It occurs as a result of the scales on the exterior of each hair. All the scales point in one direction, back toward the follicle. In entangled hair, the rearward pointing scales allows each hair to easily move forward but not backward. With the hairs moving in only one direction, the mat gets tighter and tighter. Beaver hair, which is fine, demonstrates this phenomenon extremely well which is why beaver pelts were of such great value in making hats. Some hats, especially American cowboy hats, still mark the quality of a hat with the amount of beaver fur in the hat, ie “Beaver X” for a little, and a high quality hat having more X’s such as “Beaver XXXX”.

By Dr. Jim Arnold

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Balding at 21 – What to Do Next? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Thanks for the blog. I’m male, 21 years old and started taking propecia at age 18 when I noticed some receding in my temples. I’m not exactly sure when the hairloss started but I did notice junior and senior year in highschool that I was shedding large amounts of hair which I thought at the time was normal. Although it is not yet “socially” noticeable as you put it, it still bothers me a lot and I feel that it is only getting worse even with the propecia. I don’t want to have hair loss be a problem or something I worry about in my life so I was wondering what I should do at this juncture? If I feel like it is only going to get worse, should I consider a hair transplant? Or should I start taking other medicines like Rogaine or Revivogen?

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The key is first getting a diagnosis by having your hair mapped for miniaturization. This is when you have a doctor examine you to determine if you have genetic balding in the first place. There is no point to treating yourself, because you will never know if you actually are balding and whether the hair loss is getting better or worse.

Rogaine or Revivogen may have a place in your regimen, but in the unknown place you are presently at, you need to get a diagnosis first. Transplants on any 21 year old, except in extreme circumstances, would be inappropriate.