Month: March 2006

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My Hair Keeps Breaking – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My hair keep breaking off in the same place (back and top of head); what can i do to stop the breaking?

It is normal to lose 100-150 hairs a day. However, if you are experiencing abnormal hair loss, you should consider being evaluated by a hair transplant doctor or dermatologist. If what you are talking about is that the hair only grows to a particular length and then breaks off, then you might work with your hair stylist and try to address the cause. Dryness could be the cause, so you might have to use a wetting agent, or if it breaks because you are rough in brushing it, use a thicker wide-tooth comb and be more gentle. Try various shampoos and conditioners, as there are many out there that may help.

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Massive Hair Loss After Stopping Propecia – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I wrote to you a few months ago and unfortunately my situation has worsened.
I have suffered a massive TE since discontinuing Propecia six months ago after six months of use.
I suffered intolerable sexual side-effects while using the drug.

Recently, the shedding has slowed a great deal but I have lost at least 50% of the density via diffuse thinning. And most troubling, ALL of my hair has become fine and wispy even the back and sides. It appears that all the follicles have miniaturized as a result of a hormonal backlash after abruptly stopping Propecia.

I am terrified that I am going to lose all of my hair. I am 46 and a diffusely thinned NW 2.

I really don’t know what to do.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

My quality of life is deteriorating, and my anxiety and stress are off the charts.

I often see men like yourself very upset when they come to my office after stopping Propecia. I always tell my patients that if they stop taking Propecia, they need to plan for ‘catch-up hair loss’, meaning that the time of taking the drug is wiped clean and the hair loss accelerates to where it would have been without the drug. There are other ways to deal with the negative sexual side effect than just stop taking Propecia (taking 1/2 pill per day works for many people). But the die is cast and you have lost your hair. You can try to take it at 1/2 pill per day and see if the side effect is still there.

One part of your information that troubles me is that you categorize yourself as a Norwood Class 2. There is an inconsistancy here between your statement “massive TE” which certainly does not make sense in a Norwood Class 2 patient. See a hair doctor in your area (use the physician search at ISHRS.org) and have your hair mapped for miniaturization so that it can be determined your true classification of hair loss, and so that hopefully a Master Plan can be made to help you along the way.

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Blood Levels and DHT – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

hey doc, i recently had blood work done to check levels of dht. in a range of i think 25 to 75, mine was a 31. does this still mean im losing my hair or not? and at what levels of dht in the blood create hair loss?

Blood tests are not done to check hair loss. There is a much simpler way: a mirror! Seriously though, if you want to know if you are really losing hair you should have your scalp mapped for miniaturization to see if there is a pattern to your hair loss.

While drugs such as finasteride (Propecia) works by blocking DHT, there is no correlation with the DHT level and hair loss. Someone with a very high DHT level and without the balding gene, will probably never lose hair.

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Any Essential Supplements For Hair Growth? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i was just curious if there there are any foods, vitamins, supplements, minerals that actually dont grow or restore hair (because that cant happen) but are essential in the growth and building of hair that maybe i could buy from a health foods store or take? thank you once again.

If you are healthy and have a normal diet, your dietary intake of vitamins and minerals is more than enough. A doctor will regularly recommend supplements for pregnant women or the elderly. There are no particular vitamins that I expect will grow hair if these vitamins are not deficient in your diet.

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Finasteride for Female Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Ok doc, I just saw on the news (and the found it on the web) where it says Propecia is basically ok for women. Please comment on this new study.

Female hair loss treatment hope
Oral Drug for His Hair Loss May Also Help Her

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My concerns for this treatment are the following:

  1. The study is very limited to only 37 women.
  2. The “new pill” is finasteride 2.5 mg (which is 2.5 times the strength of Propecia for men) with an added birth control pill to prevent pregnancy because of the high risk of producing abnormal babies, a known side effect of finasteride in pregnant women.
  3. Finasteride for women is not approved by the FDA for female hair loss. We know that in 1 out of 200 or so men who take the 1mg dose of finasteride, that there is some breast nodules (gynecomastia) as a side effect and this makes me wonder what the effect might be on women who carry genes for breast, ovarian or uterine cancer or who may have an early version of these cancers already growing in their body. If they take finasteride as used in this study, what will happen here? Safety is critical to FDA approval for a particular use, so I would worry that without adequate statistics, we will not know about this risk.
  4. The study was not a double blind randomized control study. Which in short means there can be a bias in the study.
  5. These stories are sensationalistic at its best, causing great interest for desperate women and providing misinformation to the non-medical population. Another example of media hype was this story from a few years ago: Lemon juice ‘is HIV-killing spermicide’.
  6. These articles will, without a doubt, drive doctors and women to gather and exploit finasteride for the treatment of hair loss. We will know, the wrong way, about cancer and other such risks in these women when it appears in the courts.

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Warfarin and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

will warfarin cause my hair to come out ?

Warfarin is one of many drugs that may cause hair loss. The important point is that you are most likely on warfarin for a very serious medical condition and you should not stop taking warfarin because of a possible hair loss. You should first seek out other causes of hair loss. Follow up with your doctor or follow up with a hair transplant surgeon to map your scalp hair for miniaturization and pattern of hair loss.

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Using Styling Products with Toppik – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’m a 25 years old male, been losing some hair (in the front part of my scalp) over the last few years, but started taking propecia about 4 months ago and it seems to be working really well! Was wondering if using Rogaine as well would improve or accelerate the results…what would you recommend?

Also Toppik was just launched here in Mexico and I think I’ll give it a try to help the spots with thinning hair look thicker. However I’ve been trying to find information on whether I can use styling gel or wax after applying Toppik and I don’t seem to find anything. Do you think that would work?
Thanks a lot!

I generally do not recommend both Propecia and minoxidil at the same time in a young man. Start off with Propecia and wait 8 months or so before giving up. If it does the job, you have no need to use minoxidil. I don’t recommend using both at the same time, because then if you do see results you will not know which of the two gave you the results. Its just a matter of cost then, as you will end up staying on both just to keep what you have regrown. If you know which one works by trying them separately, you’ll save money in the end.

Topical scalp coverings like Toppik are great to accomplish the appearance of fullness behind hair that already exisits. Use any styling aid that works for you.

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Regenix, Avodart, and Minoxidil – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i’m 22 and have been thinning in the crown/back/top for about 3 years. i’ve used minox 5 % and propecia for a couple of years, switched to dutasteride 10 months ago…with no results.

i am going to continue the avodart…but i’ve recently started a regimen from Regenix out of LA. i was wondering if using minox 5 % once a day is enough to avoid a major shed? regenix took some hair samples and ‘formulated’ a treatment just for me. do you know if Regenix is worth my time and money? also, could it be that the avodart takes a while to start showing results? any advice is much appreciated.
thanks.

I am assuming that you are a male, not female. With that said, if you have genetic hair loss and it is progressing rapidly, then it sounds like you have real problems. I may sound like a broken record here, but you need your scalp mapped out for miniaturization and then get a working diagnosis.

Avodart, in theory, is as good or more potent than Propecia. Minoxidil must be used twice daily to get any reasonable effect. I do not know about the special formulations of Regenix you asked about. To me, it sounds like you are playing with fire with a blind-fold on. Please get a working diagnosis first so you will know what is really happening.

Balding Forum - Hair Loss Discussion

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Is Hair Transplantation a Slippery Slope? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

hi there . my question is why every time i have had transplant work done it has caused the hair around the transplanted hair to permantly go to sleep or fall out. i have even met doctors over the years who stopped doing tranplants for this reason.it seems like a slippery slope getting transplants done. thanks

I do not understand what your situation is, so before I dive in, let me make some general observations and pass on particular messages that I feel are relevant.

  1. I don’t like the idea that you used the term ‘every time I had transplant work’. Why is there so many times? That is not the modern approach used today and something that I would not want to hitch my wagon to. Was your work started many years ago? How many procedures did you have?
  2. Hair loss in previously transplanted hair is very, very unusual. Generally its incidence is 1 in 500 people who may temporarily lose previously transplanted hair. For men, hair loss in non-transplanted hair often does not grow back if it is well along in its miniaturization process. In women, it usually grows back when it does happen and it is present in less than 10% of women transplanted.

What you are describing in non-transplanted hair is a well known phenomenon called shock loss after a transplant. In men, it only happens once, usually after the first transplant on young men not on the drug Propecia. This can be minimized by taking Propecia and it does not happen to all patients who undergo hair transplants, particularly men over 40. Hair loss may also have occurred even without a hair transplant if there is an accelerated phase of hair loss, or the hair transplant may have just accelerated it (again, more common in young men not on Propecia). It is very troubling to me that the doctors you met have stopped doing transplants for this reason, because it signifies that they do not know the intricacies and the physiology of the hair transplantation process. Or there is possibly other factors that you’re not mentioning.

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I Want To Buy Your Products – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have been to a couple places and cannot probably do a hair transplant because my donor area has receded. I tried minoxidil (5mg.) and prostar but quit. Give it to me straight, your product will regrow hair on neckline and bangs beside crown, and its money back gaurentee. I just hit 50 what are my chances and my brothers are worse than I am.

I get emails like this every now and then, but I just wanted to point out that I do not sell any non-FDA-approved products for treating hair loss and what I do sell (Propecia) I sell at cost only to my patients as a courtesy for them). I am a physician taking great interest in my patients and in this field of hair transplantation. I make my living moving hair around from one part of the head (donor area) to other parts of the head (parts that are bald with the state of the art hair transplants that I pioneered) and I do it artistically. If you want frontal hair, filling in a bald area, or just a touch up, I might be able to help. See my website at: newhair.com