February 2007 – Page 11

February 8, 2007

Hair Loss InformationUsing Minoxidil After Surgery – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Doctors,

Minoxidil after Surgery.

Thank you for taking our questions. I just recently had my second procedure done 1 year after my first 2700 FUS. This time we were only able to do 2005 because my scalp wasn’t very flexible. I have two questions and 1 request.

1. You mentioned in another posting that using minoxidil a few days after the surgery might help to speed up the growth process of the new hairs. How long should I wait before using minoxidil after my surgery? I had my surgery 4 days ago.

2. Should I start to do the stretching exercises after I heal to help produce better yield for my next surgery hopefully in December?

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I do not believe that minoxidil accelerates the growth process after hair transplantation. I did a study where I used minoxidil on half the head and nothing on the other half. Both sides grew at the same time and rate.

Stretching exercises to the scalp are good 6+ months after surgery if your tendency is to be tight.

February 8, 2007

Why Is Minoxidil Foam Not FDA Approved for Women? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Why are certain minoxidil products approved only for men and not women?

Do minoxidil products work on the frontal part of the scalp as well as on the vertex?

I have a 21 yr old daughter who has hair loss. The thinning is most noticeable on the front of her scalp so I want to apply there, as well as on vertex. I would like to try the new Pfizer foam product because the topical solution is difficult to apply and makes her hair look greasy. It seems more goes on her hair than her scalp. But the Pfizer web site for the foam product says the foam is for men only and only for the vertex of the scalp. If minoxidil topical solutions work on the frontal part of scalp, why doesn’t the foam? Is it just that Pfizer’s studies on this product submitted and approved by the FDA only looked at application to the vertex?

You guessed it. The drug company can only claim what they can prove. By not making any statements about frontal use or women’s use, it does not mean that it is not safe nor effective. The risk (minimal) is yours for making the decision.

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February 8, 2007

Shaving the Remaining Hairs Before a Transplant? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

hello,
i would like an offer for a hair transplant, i am 24 years old and have good donor hair. I would be willing to visit your clinic in california except, i had a few questions.

what would be the approxiamte price for 3000-4000 grafts if possible?
would my hair remaining hair have to be shaved off to complete the transplant? seeing that i am young and would not like “losing” half a year of my youth.

thanks in advance

You do not need to shave your hair before a hair transplant surgery. There are some doctors that request that you shave, because they want more visibility. From my clinical experience this is rarely the case. We (at NHI) routinely transplant hair without shaving the head. Shaving is more of a doctor’s preference and has nothing to do with the clinical outcome.

Before considering a trip to California for surgery, you should first send some photos and get in contact with me over the phone. You can email photos to the address on the Contact page or call (800) NEW-HAIR. Having a picture would be very helpful.

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February 8, 2007

Female with DUPA, Allergic to Minoxidil – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr.
I am 23 year old female who has been suffering from diffuse unpatented alopecia for the past 9 years. I have tried minoxidil, but I was and still is allergic to it. Although I am not a good candidate for surgery, I underwent transplantation and of course there were no results or improvements. It has emotionally brought me down and I keep wearing extentions to hide it.

Of course, I am disturbed that you had a surgery at all. I hope that your doctor told you that there would be no benefit from such a surgery. You are fortunate if you had no negative effects, because at times people who have surgery with Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) get into real problems both in the donor site and the recipient site. Extensions will produce more alopecia (we call this traction alopecia), which means that for the short term benefit of looking fuller, you will eventually lose whatever good hair you have left. Wigs may work better for you and the use of special products like DermMatch and Toppik may have more value in that they will not cause hair loss. If you are allergic to minoxidil, there is no real benefit to other medications in a woman of your age.

February 8, 2007

Depression from Finasteride? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman,

Thanks for running this blog, it really helps soo many people. My question is concerning finasteride on depression. I am currently in graduate school and losing hair since 6-7 years. The hairloss has been really significant the last 8 months. I started taking proscar, 1.25mg, since a month ago. I stopped once in between because I was feeling down a bit. When I started taking it again 15 days ago with lower dosage, I again felt a little down. I have never imagined that I could get depressing feelings but I am almost positive its the drug.

What do you know on this matter? How many of your patients felt this way? And when I say depressed-its really not that bad but I am not my regular self.

Thanks

I have not seen this side effect and I do prescribe finasteride to a large number of patients. I have received comments from some patients that they do not ‘feel’ the same. I tried to pin that feeling down, but I do not have it surrounded. Clearly, the decision to take the medication must be weighted against the liability of not having it on board. The same recommendation applies to depression, which has been reported in the literature:

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February 8, 2007

Angry Letter to Procede from a Reader – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

This email was sent to me by a reader that wanted to share his letter written to the makers of Procede. I have heard similar stories already about this product. Two patients in the past 6 months developed hair loss that appeared ‘not to reverse’.

I question if this letter should also be sent to the FDA, whose job is to investigate substances that have deleterious side effects, therefore protecting the public.

I’m not sure where the reader got the address that he mailed the letter to. I tried to verify the address and came up with nothing. The makers of Procede, Youth Enhancement Systems, Inc, do not list an address on their website at all, and all of the phone numbers I can find there appear to have a Florida based area code. Nonetheless, I hope your letter reaches its intended destination.

Update: A reader sent this in –
Regarding the letter about Procede, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has the following address and phone:
4770 BISCAYNE BLVD, SUITE 1400, MIAMI FL 33137
305-576-6889 (tel), 305-576-6997 (fax)

Please read the following letter I wrote to PROCEDE. Beware!!!

02/05/2007

Procede
4201 Kellway Circle
Addison, Tx 75001

To whom it may concern:

I ordered your product and received it the beginning of January. I travel often for my work and was unable to use the product until this past weekend, February 2, 2007.

I followed the instructions to the letter. I waited the 48 hours recommended before washing my hair. During the first few minutes in the shower I saw hair circling at my feet and around the drain. By the time I got out of the shower and towel dried my hair I must have lost hundreds of hairs. My towel was covered with hair along with my shower and bathroom floor.

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am in the results. I went from thinning hair to contemplating shaving my head, because I have lost so much additional hair. The texture is that of a bad perm and it has been falling out all day!

I called your customer service number and was told that you would send me Minoxidil to help with the hair loss. Didn’t I buy your product to thicken my hair? I have lost 25% of the hair I had and your solution is to send me minoxidil.

Your product is a farce! It has done more damage to my hair than I can even come to grips with at this point. I expect a refund of my money in full and that’s just for starters.

My wife works for one of the largest Law firms in Philadelphia. You will be hearing from someone there shortly. I have asked her to make sure he is a balding man, so he can appreciate the way I feel.

I will expect a timely refund to the credit card you have on file.

Sincerely,

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February 7, 2007

Hair Loss InformationBull Semen Hair Product – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Semen Hair

Um, I just read about this and a little weirded out. I thought you mind get a kick out of it, doc.

Metro.co.uk – New hair product uses bull semen

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I guess that buying this product is safer than going to the source of the semen. I don’t know anything about putting semen in hair, aside from the joke in the movie There’s Something About Mary, but then again, I’m not a hair stylist.

February 7, 2007

Which Is Better — Apple Polyphenols Topical or Capsules? – Balding Blog

In purchasing Apple Polyphenols what would be more affective topical or capsules? I can’t afford both.

Thanks

There is no documented research on comparison of the topical vs. oral use of polyphenols that I know of. Most research on polyphenols, particularly on procyanidin and hair growth in humans and animals, is done on the topical procyanidin rather than the oral pill.

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February 7, 2007

Retained Hair Fragments 6 Months After Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I just read a post by a doctor on one of the hair loss forums saying that retained hair fragments post op can interfere with transplant growth. I’m coming up on six months out from my procedure and haven’t seen a lot of change — still very sparse. I have noticed that I do seem to have a lot of these retained fragments where new hair should be sprouting. I had my wife tug on a few with tweezers last night and they just slid right out. Could these be interfering with my growth? Is it okay to go ahead and remove them this way?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Some people retain the hairs (beard length) for months. I generally do not remove them, particularly at this stage, as they may be the new hair growing in and you would not be able to tell the difference between new hair in its initial growth spurt and the fragments. These retained fragments that go through the skin and look like a beard have no importance and will not impact growth of the new hair. You need to wait out the full 8 months and then set up an appointment to review where you are. Patience is a virtue.

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February 7, 2007

My Transplanted Hair is Brown, While My Hair is Normally Blonde – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I had a hair transplant and the new hair is dark blonde/light brown color, but my top hair is light blonde, so every transplanted hair is much darker and is freaky. I was told this would lighten over time and would eventually grow in the same as my normal top hair color which is light blonde. Can I believe this?

When hair is transplanted, it will be thick shafted, just like the original hair in the back of the head (which usually gets less sun than hair on the top). Your blonde native hair in the recipient area will be miniaturized, so they will be blonder than the transplanted hairs, simply because miniaturized hair has less pigment and is easily bleached by the sun. You may have to dye the transplanted hair just to make it match. Assuming you are a typical summer blonde, the transplanted hair may blonde during the summer months. If you fill out the balding area eventually, then the blend will return more to a normal, where frontal hair gets sun exposure and more blonde as a result.

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