Month: March 2007

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Could Too Many Vitamins Cause Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

5 months ago I had my hair dyed back to my natural color brown. Since then, I have been shedding hair. I went on pre natal vitamins to see if it was a vitamin defeciency. But still no end. Could too much vitamins cause hair loss and should i stop taking them? I also tried biotin and noticed I would lose more hair? Also all my blood tests came back normal. After the hair dye I was diagnosed with sebrohheic dermatitis. But I don’t scratch my head, i just have dry scalp and little flakes. Could that be causing the shedding throught the day? Also when I applied a medicated shampoo to my scalp it irritated it so bad that I could’nt be around cleaning agents or strong perfumes, it made my scalp burn just smelling the fumes? What should I do? No dermatologist can come up with a solution for me? Should I just stop taking the prenatal vitamins or is the cause from the sebrohheic?

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Very high doses of vitamin A could cause hair loss. Remember that this is for the very high doses and regular doses that are necessary for our daily maintenance should not affect the hair growth/loss. I don’t think your vitamins have been responsible for seborrheic dermatitis and I don’t think usual doses of vitamins in prenatal pills can cause hair loss.

Inflammation of skin or dermatitis can cause hair loss if you scratch it. It can also accelerate the hair loss due to other causes such as androgenetic alopecia with vigorous brushing.

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Minoxidil, Pregnancy, and Nursing – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m a 32 year old female who is experiencing generalized thinning on the top front portion of my scalp. I had micrografting done 18 months ago and have been using minoxidil 5% topical since. I’m content with how my hair looks now, but I’m considering trying to get pregnanmt with our third child and I’m concerned that I will lose a lot of hair when I stop taking the Minoxidil. I know that woman’s hair generally thickens during pregnancy and then falls out afterward; in your experience, would my hair remain the same (or thicken) during pregnancy, or would it still fall out due to discontinuing the minoxidil? If the hair didn’t fall out and I began the minoxidil after the birth, would the extra hair stay as well? And lastly, I have heard conflicting stories about using 2% and 5% Minoxidil while nursing – is any strength ok to use? What are the effects on the child? Thanks

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PregnantAlthough hormonal changes during pregnancy are in favor of promoting hair growth, we don’t have enough information to compare its positive effect with catch up hair loss that may occur with minoxidil withdrawal. We also don’t know whether you can hold on to the extra growth of hair with topical minoxidil.

Topical minoxidil can have systemic absorption and be secreted into the milk. It should be avoided during both pregnancy and nursing.

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Shouldn’t I Take Propecia Twice a Day? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,

Why is it not necessary to take propecia more often than once a day??? If I take 1mg at 6am, then 12 hours later, I only have 0.125mg in my bloodstream which has to last me another 12 hours. Since 0.125mg doesn’t block hair loss—aren’t I losing hair for the second half of the day??????

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The studies done by the drug company for the FDA showed that the value of the 1mg daily dose was as good as twice the dose. The goal was hair counts, and the benefit on hair count was the same for 1mg as it was for 2mg.

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How Much Avodart Should Be Taken for Treating Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

if i were to take avodart, what do you recommend as far as dosage on a daily basis. Im reading online that it should 2.5mg.

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At this point, we don’t know the optimum dose for this medication, but most doctors that do prescribe this are prescribing 0.5mgs a day for treating hair loss. Where I have a problem is that since the half life of the drug is 5+ weeks, a daily dosing does not seem reasonable. Let us leave the answer to this question until the time that we have more results available from clinical research.

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12 Days After Transplant, Will Running or Weightlifting Harm the Grafts? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I recieved a hair transplant and on the 12th day after the transplant worked up a heavy sweat br running. Could that have harmed the grafts? I was also wondering when I can lift weights again. Will lifting harm the grafts? Thanks!

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At 12 days after a hair transplant, nothing can really damage your grafts. The only thing that may be affected by heavy exercise is the donor area scar. You need to avoid heavy weight lifting activity or exercise that increases the tension on the closed wound edges if you had hair transplant through a strip procedure.

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FUE for 21 Year Old – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I was Just wondering why you wouldn’t advise FUE at the age of 21 ? What is your advice? Kind Regards!

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There is no recommended age for FUE, as opposed to a regular strip hair transplant procedure. The issue for a 21 year old is knowing what are we treating and finding out where the is balding going. In most 21 year olds, we really do not have a clue.

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Propecia Half-Life Question – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman, I had a few questions about the use of Propecia: You claim in other posts that the half-life of the drug is four hours, and that by then it will be out of your system – and while I claim no knowledge of drugs or physiology, it seems to me that if the drug had a half life of such a small amount of time the dosage would be more freqent than 1mg a day. Wouldn’t the beneficial effects be flushed from your system well before 24 hours? And wouldn’t any side effect (in my case: low libido, dull groin/testicle pain) go away the first day you skipped the pill? Thanks!

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Although a half life is 4-5 hours, there may be tissue levels that exceed the half life. I believe that there are such tissue levels and that these are maintained for a few days after you stop taking the pill. However, I do not know if anyone knows the effectiveness of these tissue levels. Some people who have negative sexual side effects do tell me that it took a week or two for it to go away. Is that psychological? No one knows for sure. I would imagine that a half pill twice a day may be better than a pill once a day. There are suggestions that even smaller doses work. The science is lacking so we have little help in understanding anything that the FDA does not validate as safe and effective. You will have to trust Merck, which is a good company, but obviously biased.

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Which One Is More Effective in Male Androgenetic Alopecia: Finasteride or Minoxidil? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

A lot of our patients who are debating to take finasteride (Propecia) vs. minoxidil (Rogaine) ask about the effectiveness of one treatment regimen vs. the other. These two medications have been compared regardless of their side effects or their ease of use. The result of this randomized study that was done in Turkey indicated both medications were effective, but oral finasteride 1 mg/day was significantly more effective than topical solution of minoxidil (5%) in the treatment of mild to severe AGA.

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I Didn’t Notice Many Balding Men in a City in China – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I spent the last week in a really poor city in China and realized that very few people were suffering from hairloss. At first I thought – this can’t be the case, maybe I was just applying some sort of subconscious filter? Or maybe the area I was in only consisted of younger people? But after a week there, I came to the conclusion that there simply weren’t that many bald people in this city. It was very confusing, I really have no answer for this, and I don’t even know what question I’m trying to ask you…I guess if anything, have you come across something like this before?

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China flagMale pattern hair loss has a strong genetic influence, but we have never compared race by city. From the literature I have read, there is no suggestion that the people of China have less balding than Europeans. One Chinese friend of mine has hair like former US President Bill Clinton in hairline shape and location. The hair is very wavy, not straight like many Asians and he says in his home town in China, this is the way all of the people there look. I guess it is possible to find a population of people with isolated gene pools, especially in geographically protected or isolate areas where inherently the population does not carry a specific gene for baldness. Someone should study it.

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Phytotrixil and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m 21 yrs old and losing hair frantically. I’m not bald yet but even my hairstylist commented on the obvious loss of hair and visible patches of the skull, an said i’ve got an oily skull. I suspect its becoming more and more visibly obvious. While i’ve managed to slow down the loss a bit with vitamin b, there is no hair growth yet. i’ve heard of this product phytotrixil but don’t know if its effective. I’ve started using oil control shampoo. What would you recommend for my problem?

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I’ve written about this before — Phytotrixil to Prevent Balding?

I would not recommend some strange potion like phytotrixil with promises and no proof of value. Get your diagnosis properly by getting your hair mapped out for miniaturization and you will know what is happening to you and a good doctor will tell you what to do. At 21 years old, you must learn not to believe everything you read or hear.