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

I am a 30 year old mother of 2. For the past 2 years I have experienced hair loss mostly in the frontal part. In this area my hair is thin, fragile and uncombable. Totally dry. Although my hair fall is under control now, the hair in the front and crown area still falls out, especially the regrowth. I am taking supplements and iron and that has improved the texture of hair elsewhere on my scalp but the problem area. Could it be a hormonal problem as my periods are late and heavy and my hair falls more specially just before and during my periods? I also suffer from eyebrow loss. They grow back and then fall out again. My main problem is keeping the regrowth. Please help.

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With irregular periods, there may well be a connection with the hair loss you are reporting. It is critical for you to get a doctor involved. Please refer to this past blog entry to find a list of tests that should be included in your work-up, which you can show to your family doctor as a start.

Hair Loss InformationCancer and Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Doc,
I have written to you before. For a while I have been “shopping around” for the best techniques, as well as how cost effective the available procedures are. So far by comparison, NHI has the most natural looks I’ve seen. (in the mild or moderate cases, the more severe cases are less convinceing.) However, my question is this: If you have oily skin, is this a problem for surgery or healing. Also, I was close to have the transplant surgery. I postponed further pursuit of the surgery due to possible symptoms of cancer. (Tests were negative thank God). Now if that ever were the case, I am assumeing that if you had a transplant surgery, chemotheropy would cause all hair to fall out. In conclusion, Is scarring so severe, that being bald or even desireing a haircut style cut close (military style) would bring an alarming rate of attention? I thank you in advance for answering my concerns…

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To begin, I am happy to hear that the recents test for cancer were negative. No, oily scalp is not a problem for a hair transplant.

If you drive your life in fear of cancer then you have a problem that needs professional help. Chemotherapy MAY cause hair loss anywhere in the body as chemo impacts rapidly growing cells in the body. Ask yourself what drives your life. When hair is lost with transplants, it almost always returns after the the course of chemotherapy is completed. You can live in fear of what may happen and play into those fears by creating a life around “what if”. Healthy people may have a worst case scenario, but live their lives for meaning, love, happiness, family, friends, and such.

As far as your concerns about scarring, I would suggest that you research the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) procedure. You can find more information about this here, here, and here.

High Forehead in Teenager – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hey,
I’m 15 years old and my forehead is huge, my hair is about 1-1.5 inchs further back then it should be. I have long hair to cover it,but I hate having it, I would prefer having short hair. Is there anything I can do? Is this permanent?

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I’m not certain if you are male or female, so I am assuming your are male. If I am incorrect, please send me another email and reference this response.

There are a series of reasons that can produce a high hairline:

  1. if this is new for you and is an evolving process then it could be a maturing hairline
  2. you could have a genetic high hairline, something that is not uncommon
  3. you may be experiencing hair loss

Youthful or female hairlines: Wrinkle your brow while you look into the mirror. The highest wrinkle reflects the top of the frontalis muscle and both youthful and female hairlines start at this level in all children (male or female). If your hairline is touching this line, then you may have a genetically high hairline.

Mature male hairline: Repeat the above procedure, and if the center of your hairline is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch above that top wrinkle, then the hairline is a normal mature male hairline. For you, at 15, that would be unusual as this hairline usually starts to appear between the ages of 18-29 in most men.

Genetic hair loss: This would be higher than any of the two above hairlines, certainly higher than 3/4 inch above the highest wrinkle. One way to rule out hair loss is by mapping out your head using densitometer or a magnifying video-camera. A good doctor should be able to tell you this.

Too Young for 3 Year Old to Have Hair Treatments? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

My 3 years old son begin lose 3 spot of hair 6 months ago. Local specialist doctor determined he had alopecia areata and suggested to wait and observe becase he is too young. Hair loss problem did not stop. Up till 3 months ago, he had lost more 70% of his hair. Doctor still suggested to wait and observe because his young age even though explaining to me the few possible treatments. My son condition did not improve nor getting worse since then. Should my 3 years old son take possible treatment or is it too risky for such young children to take treatment?

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Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition where your body’s immune system mistakenly thinks it’s own hair follicle is a foreign invader, like a bacteria or a virus. It is diagnosed under a microscope by a biopsy of the scalp. Although it is natural to be concerned about unnatural hair loss in a 3 year old, alopecia areata is not a sign of a serious disease. It is more of a social and emotional disturbance. While some treatment may be available, it is not a cure or a guarantee that it will work. There is no permanent cure for alopecia areata. In addition, the treatment in itself may be more harmful to your child than it does good. For instance, steroids are sometimes used to treat alopecia areata by decreasing your body’s immune system. It is not hard to realize that this may not be the best choice when the main purpose of your body’s immune system is to fight infections and diseases. In short, it is a balancing game of choosing the lesser evil. Thus, for your son, taking the conservative approach of waiting and observing may be in your son’s best interest. Hoping that your son’s hair may grow back on its own (and not be permanent) is the best you can do with this disease.

Going Bald, But Retaining the Widow’s Peak – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello I am only 24 years old and am losing my hair from the front to the back. My doctor said there isnt anything I can do. Is that true? I have a widows peak and I dont think that is even going to last that long.

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If you are a male with genetic male patterned hair loss, Propecia may slow or stop hair loss. The widow’s peak usually follows the forelock loss and when the hair loss occurs in the forelock, it rarely reverses (just like the frontal hairline).

Hair Loss in Young Teen Girl – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’m female and 14 with fine shoulder-length hair and recently i’ve noticed abnormal amounts of hair falling out all the time. i haven’t told anyone yet, but i’m scared it’s something serious. I’m thinking maybe it is the drugs i’ve been taking to clear up a bad ear infection, sinusitus, and conjunctivitous, which has just cleared up and i’ve finished the treatment. Maybe it is because i have a very irregular menstural cycle, having my first and second period over a year. What is wrong with me???

You need to be evaluated by a good doctor. This type of question would be too difficult for me to provide an answer to over the internet, especially without knowing your medical history or even being able to see you in person. There are many causes for women’s hair loss, including hypothyroidism, eczema, alopecia, dieting, malnutrition, autoimmune, drugs, infection, genetics, etc.

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Hair Damage from Very Hot Shower? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I just wanna say that you’re doing an amazing job answering people questions! And also I have a quick question, I came home a little drunk one night and decided to hop in the shower..I could not really feel the temperature of the water I was in, but I expect it was quite warm as I woke up to my hair looking almost twice as thin as it was the day before???? also many hairs in the front are broken in the middle and some are very short broken? Perhaps I had an overly warm shower that cooked my hair? I believe my scalp when I touched it felt a little burnt…If this did contribute to the baldness would it grow back? There is still a fair bit of hair left but it is thined out on the front where i suspect the shower head was nailing it…maybe im wrong maybe im just goin bald but it happened so quick I dunno…Im just turning 19.

Thank you kind sir.

Thanks for your kind words. Hot water from a shower should not cause hair loss. I am assuming that you did not get burns as a result of that shower. Scalding hot water can cause hair loss, but it would have also burned your skin. Wait it out and it should return, that is, unless you have genetic balding and you are denying the relationships of a progressive hair loss over time and just haven’t noticed until this showering event.

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Donald Trump and Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

What is the story on Donald Trump’s hair? He looks like he is trying to hide something?

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Donald TrumpAs I understand it, Donald Trump was a victim of the old hair transplant process starting in the 1980s. The quality of the work most probably resulted in the pluggy look, and he possibly had scalp reductions (which were popular in those days). Between the two, he might have little donor hair left. There may be significant scarring as well if he had many procedures in the ‘old days’. He apparently found the solution to cover up his hair loss problem, with a creative hair styling that he is now well known for. He knows that his hair is the subject of much focus and with people who just love to talk or make their living hosting entertainment shows. That is the price of today’s celebrity.

What he has done is to exploit a ‘comb-forward’ style, maximizing what hair he has to cover what he wants to hide. Like the comb-over, it layers hair from one part of the scalp to another (comb-forward means that the hair is kept long and combed to the front). I call this the ‘Trump style comb-forward’ in my private office practice, because of his celebrity status. This style uses what many people with frontal balding exploit (see the Norwood Class 3 or 4 pattern balding). The less hair that is lost and the more hair that remains, the more effective is the result of styling to hide thinning or balding in the frontal area. When taken to extreme, whether it is the comb-over or the comb-forward, the appearance does not look good.

When any reasonable amount of hair is transplanted in the Class 3 or 4 balding pattern (those with natural Norwood Class frontal balding patterns), a comb-forward can work even better so restoring all of the missing density is not needed. Nobody ever knew that CBS News sports reporter Steve Hartman was balding and he perfected the combing to the front and side enough to hide his thinning hairline. This canopy comb-forward was very effective for him (a common combing style for many men), but he was slowly losing the battle to preserve his look. Many men tell me that they spend more and more time dealing with their hair, not only in the mornings, but throughout the day as well. One man who comes to mind told me that his comb was like his Mont-blanc pen, always needed wherever he went and he carried hair spray with him to touch up the styling in bathroom breaks that he had to take quite often. Steve’s hair, on the other hand, was very cooperative with a strong character that easily laid down the way he wanted it to. Rather than waiting too long and risking an unnatural appearance, Steve decided to take the bull by the horns and had one transplant procedure (see pictures). Steve went for natural fullness as he did not want to maintain any illusion at all, so we put as much hair as we could safely move in just one transplant session. The point between where Steve came from and a really bad comb-over (the kind that everyone sees on TV or at the airport), is a slow, insidious process — so slow in fact, that the person who is doing it never notices the advancing balding nor the progressive failure of the grooming style. I always wonder why family members do not comment on the failure of this styling process, but maybe they are just not saying anything early enough and now are embarrassed to say anything at all so late in the process.

Some men with bad comb-overs deny their evolving look, putting a mental block on the unnatural appearance they evolved, and others just stop going out into the public arena. Hats and wigs solve the problem for some, a type of cover-up that does not work for everyone and I have seen a few take it to extreme levels, creating a bouffant style with hair that is one or two feet long and combed into a circlular pattern, layered hair by hair to mimic what the person thinks is normal.

I have been asked many times why the rich and famous who can afford the best doctors don’t just get the best surgical hair restoration money can buy. Ignorance is part of the answer. I believe that many men with the old deforming hair transplants find themselves in a difficult situation. They may not know that they were going down that road when the process initially started. When they found out, they may have come to the conclusion that it was too late to do something about it. With luck, men in this predicament may find some solution that they learn to live with when it works (comb overs, hats, wigs, scalp coloring agents, and the like) or they may find their way to a good hair transplant surgeon who can fix the problem.

With today’s modern Follicular Unit Transplant and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) techniques, some amazing work can be done. With FUE in particular, it is virtually for all practical purposes scar-less and the procedure is minimally invasive. Not everyone can be brought back to “normal” if too much of the hair has been squandered, or if scarring has gone too far. If Mr. Trump had old type plugs, he can have that hair redistributed so that the big bad plugs are no longer present. Any hair that is moved can be put to better esthetic use in other scalp locations under the guidance of an artistic hair restoration surgeon (see Dean’s Story for an example of this).

Had Mr. Trump been a patient of ours, I could never have written anything about him because patient privacy is central to the way doctors operate their business today. I hope that by writing this piece in answer to your question, I have not offended him in any way.

Hair Loss InformationWigs vs Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

WigWigs, when worn by men, can look great at times, but if you’ve ever spotted someone wearing a wig, you know that they also can stand out as pretty bad (the old rug on a head look). Good hair systems are costly (possibly thousands of dollars a year). They require constant maintenance and they do wear out. Everyone having them must have at least two of them, each often costing over $2,000 and those that are made for the ‘upper class wealthy people’ are significantly more, I am sure. The hair grows under the wig, so these wigs must be removed and repositioned with fresh glue after the scalp is shaved. Eventually, the glues used will produce traction hair loss so that all of the hair in the glued areas will be lost. As many as two or three maintenances per month are often required and that costs $$$ if you have your special stylist folks do it for you, pushing up the annual costs substantially. To avoid odor from developing, the wig and the scalp must be washed regularly. Can you imagine wearing a T-shirt day after day and what it might smell like after just a few days? This is a characteristic odor that reflect body oils in decay. The scalp is no different, as it sheds skin at a high rate which also undergoes decay, so it must be scrubbed off with frequent washings, taking off the hair system and replacing it regularly. Many men with hair systems are tense when in intimate situations, as they have a no touch zone around their head. Can you imagine a woman running her fingers through your hair and have the piece come off in her hand, or her finger nails catch on it. No way! So men with hair systems do not allow intimacy to go as far as to let a woman touch their hair.

Hair systems and hair transplants often run neck and neck with regard to costs for the first few years, but after a hair transplant has grown out, the costs end, while those people with hair systems continue to contribute to the profits of a ‘hair club’ type organization to the tune of about $15,000 every 5 years or so. The good rugs probably cost more and I suspect that celebrity costs might be equal to the annual salary of many of my readers. To the credit of many hair system wearers, these systems can look damn good; as good as any transplants I have done. Of course, my hair transplant patients can let their ladies run amuck in their hair. Add the smells and additional maintenance required for a hair system, and there is just no comparison to what a great hair transplant can accomplish.

Shock Loss? – Balding Blog

I had my hair checked about 18 months ago as it was receding a bit in the frontal area. I am 52 years old and have no issues anywhere but the front. I started Propecia at that time and it worked. No real regrowth in the front, but no more loss and some thickening everywhere else. I was told by the Doctor that he didn’t think I was a good candidate for a transplant because I still had some frontal hair and that it would fall out if I had transplant and the overall gain would be the same as before. There was a name for this, but I can’t remember it. Have you heard of this?

Shock loss occurs when pre-existing hair is shed after hair transplant. This event occurs mostly in patients who are younger (often less than 30 years old) and a first time surgery patient. Although this event does occur with men who are on Propecia, it is more common for the young men not on the drug. With that said, those are two factors going for you which decreases the chance of shock loss following a hair transplant. Just being 52 years old, the chance for you makes shock loss is unlikely (less than about 2%). Using Propecia protects most people from experiencing the problem. It sounds to me like your doctor just does not know enough about today’s risks. Maybe we should educate him.




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