Month: May 2006

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Chemical Burn Caused Chunk Of Hair To Fall Out – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I burned my scalp from chemical dying of my hair. I had patches where it burned and scabbed pretty good. A few weeks ago, a chunk of my hair fell out with the the scab, and now there is a smooth surface where that hair was. What can I do? If feels like a crater on my head.

Chemicals may cause temporary hair loss and the chunk of hair that came off with the ’scab’ is what I would expect. You should allow your scalp to heal and the hair should start growing back within 6 months of the initial injury, hopefully earlier. Sometimes, the hair may not return. In any case, wait a few months to see if hair grows out of your scalp. If you prefer not to see a doctor now for the best advice, expect hair growth after 6-8 months and then see a good doctor if there is no return of the hair.

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Can I Use Minoxidil To Keep Hair Saved By Propecia? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Dr. Rassman,
You are true credit to the Medical Community, and your blog, and expertise are greatly appreciated by many.

Two quick questions…If after using Propecia for 2 years, and going off of it at that point (the point of diminshing returns) would continued use of Minoxidil support the hair that was produced by the Propecia?? I’m 53, have been using Minoxidil for 8 years, and Propecia for 4 months, and the Propecia is already working well on my thinning crown area. I thought after the propecia loses its effectiveness, I would just stay with the Minoxidil, & let the Minoxidil take over. Please advise

Also, are FOX grafts more expensive, than the more established FUT grafts, since this procedure is more difficult for the Surgeon?

If you are getting a benefit from Propecia and then maximize it, whatever benefit you received will be lost when you stop taking it and minoxidil will not save that benefit for you. I assume that you are trying to save money. That would make your investment to date valueless as you go backward.

FOX/FUE grafts are more expensive than standard FUT harvested through the strip method. In my opinion, they are not better, just different.

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From Bowling Ball to Gorilla (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Patient ZU is in his mid 60’s and he is what we call a Class 7 Norwood scale balding person (click name to see his before picture). He came to an open house last week and he has now filled out nicely. He told every person at the open house that he looked like a ‘bowling ball’ before his hair restoration, smiling as he made that reference. I talked about him before on this site (and posted some photos), but when last I spoke of this patient, I had said I’d post updated photos of results from his last procedure when I got the pictures. Well, now I have them. He had a total of 8,300 grafts. Would you believe that he still wants more hair? The crown area needs more fill and his comb-back styling is now working well for him, but he believes that with more hair it will work better. I guess when you have been deprived of hair for 40 years, you may over-react. Patients continuously tell me that when it come to hair, like money, more is better.


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Thin, Colorless Hairs In Front and Crown – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’m 26 and a Norwood IV. I have many tiny, thin, colorless hairs on the front and the crown. In fact, I can still see quite a few follicles on my scalp that just aren’t producing hair. I just started Propecia a couple days ago. Can I expect these follicles to start producing hair again? Or are they more or less dead? If I can grow hair from them I might not need a transplant.

Thanks in advance. Your blog is a great source of information.

What you are describing is miniaturized hair which tends to be colorless. If you look at it under magnification, you will see very small hair shafts there, showing that the hair may still be there, but not producing enough bulk in the hair shaft to produce visible color. When we map out the hair for miniaturization, this is just what we look for. If it is present, then Propecia may reverse it if it is caught early enough. The longer the process goes on, the less the impact of Propecia for reversal. The younger you are, the better is the prospect for reversal, particularly in the back of the head. Most men will find, however, that Propecia will stop or slow down the loss. I have seen great result in young patients taking Propecia. Remember Propecia tends to produce better result in the crown area than the frontal area.

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Shaved My Head for Years, Now Its Growing In Thin – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My hair has gotten sparse the last couple years…Not a receding hairline but it is not as full and I can see through to my scalp…I had been shaving my head bald for a couple years. Could that have caused it and if so is there a way to fix it?

Shaving the head does not cause hair loss. If there is a change, you may be looking at miniaturization of the hair, a telltale sign of genetic hair loss. By mapping out your scalp for miniaturization, you may be able to predict the pattern of hair loss that you are heading for. Most men think that it is important to understand what is going to happen and the ability to predict the degree of hair loss through the mapping process will point in that direction. There is an ‘old wives tale’ that if you shave your head the hair will grow in thicker. Clearly, your report indicates that such ‘tales’ are false.

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Seborrheic Dermatitis Recovery? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi, Dr. Rassman,

I would like to say that it is extremely generous of you to be extending help to thousands people out there who are troubled with hair problems.

I just have one short question for you and hope you may help me with it: do people generally recover from seborrheic dermatitis? It has been plaguing me for nine years, and I sometimes wonder if I will ever recover from it.

Thank you for your kind attention!

Yes, people do recover from seborrheic dermatitis if they are compliant with the treatment plan devised by their dermatologists. Some people heal slower than others and some of them do get better. Maybe the question you are asking is if there a cure for it? To that question, I would say “no”, but there are treatments that make it better and more manageable.


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Post-Transplant Shock Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

First off you give excellent advice! I recently had a hair transplant.

1) How long should one wait before engaging in:

  • Running (2k)
  • Chin ups / Push ups / sit ups
  • Light weights

2) How long does it take for the shock loss around the donor area to grow again?. Is this normal?.

Thank you kindly.

Generally after a surgery with the small wounds we create, I tell the patient that they can engage in full aerobics within 5-7 days after the surgey and can even run a marathon at a week. Chin-ups, push ups, and sit-ups are out for about 6 weeks in order to avoid stress on the neck muscles for a strip harvesting procedure. For an FUE harvest, there are no restrictions after 5 days. For FUE, full weights are ok after a few days, but for a strip harvest, you will be restricted to light weights provided that no significant stress exists on the neck muscles. One of the keys to prevent scars from forming, is not to stress the suture line. For FUE, there is no suture line.

Shock loss is unusual in you are on Propecia. Men who lose hair from shock loss. lose it in the genetically miniaturized hair and when this happens it may not re-grow. If the hair is not miniaturized, it should return in 4-6 months. For the donor area, when hair loss happens near the suture line and the person does not have Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (in other words has a healthy donor area) and there is not unusual compression stress on the donor wound from the surgery (no significant tension in the wound), the hair loss will almost always return in the 4-6 month time period from the date of the surgery.

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Intense Weight Lifting Causes Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Rassman Buffhello Dr. Rassman

I read on a Wikipedia article that intense weight lifting can increase hair loss. I weight train frequently, and I’m concerned that this may accelerate my loss. Is there any basis to this claim? Please help. Thanks so much.

If you do not take exogenous steroids, being fit will not cause hair loss. Take a look at me. I never got hair loss when I was acquiring that body! HA!

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About to Undergo Chemo — Anything To Minimize Effects on Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Good Afternoon Doc,

This question is not for me, but rather my brother, who was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer and will undergo a fairly strenuous (and stressful) 9 week session of chemo, followed by a major surgery to take out some of his lymph nodes.

He’s 23, has a perfect hairline, and no signs of male pattern baldness or thinning (unlike myself) so far. His good looks are definitely an asset and he’s concerned that his hair may go for good because of the stress and trauma he will soon experience. He’s already buzzed his head in preparation.

Now granted his hair is minor relative to the rest of his health, but is there anything he can do to minimize negative effects to his hair from cancer and stress? Would propecia help at all or would it simply get killed off by the chemo (or maybe the two drugs don’t interact at all and propecia would help)? Any other advice?

Thanks for the help!

There are no offerings that are approved for people on chemotherapy to prevent the hair loss that is associated with the treatment. The reason that the hair falls out is because most chemotherapeutic agents try to ‘knock out’ cells that are growing fast (cancers are essentially cells that grow out of control and that is almost the only thing they do). The cells in the body that normally grow very fast are also impacted by these drugs and these normal cells include: certain blood cells, platelets, intestinal lining (causes nausea and vomiting), and hair cells (causing hair loss). The cancer cells could die (that is the hope) while the other cells that get impacted by such drugs also die, but as these normal cells have a source for new cells (like stem cells) the populations usually recover after they go through their natural recovery cycle. Blood cells are relatively short cycled (they grow from a kind of stem cell), but a person may need blood transfusions while the recovery cycle kicks in. Intestinal cells usually re-grow in a matter of days to a week or so (nausea and vomiting stops at about that time) and hair re-grows when it passes through its normal telogen cycle (3-6 months when it re-grows hair probably from some type of stem cells as well).

I have recently been made aware of two new drugs in clinical trials that will target the protection of hair during chemotherapy. That means we might see some new breakthroughs in the next few years, far too long for those on chemotherapy today, but maybe in time for others who go this path.