Month: December 2007

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I Have Thin Hair Around All Around the Sides – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I started loosing lots of hair right after i turned 21, i’m a male 26 now, some hair has to be growing back because in all these 5 years after all the hair i saw i lost i still have hair, my hairline is intact but i have thin hair ALL AROUND including the sides. What i noticed the most is that i wash my hair daily, but in the morning my scalp is very oily and greasy same as my hair, very itchy too. I can take with my nails the build up thats on my scalp, its oily and kind of yellow colored. I can see when i look at the hair shaft that falls out that there is always this kind of flake or build up attached to the end of it (coming from the scalp). When i pull out hair from my head a lot of hair falls out with the same description. For the itching and burning sensation and the very oily scalp i’m pretty sure it has something to do directly with all the hair lost. I used and try all shampos like t-gel. nizoral , ect, making it worst, more flakes and more irrtitation. What tipe of hair loss do you think i’m suffering or what kind of scalp problem do you think it is???

Unfortunately, I can’t really give you a great answer to your question without examining you. Many people write to me with partial descriptions of things that they recognize, but they often do not understand what they are seeing. A trained eye from a good dermatologist will tell you what you are experiencing. There is no simple way to go on the internet and solve even many of the simple problems.

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Better Diagnosis for Prostate Cancer – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

The diagnosis for prostate cancer is a hit or miss process based upon elevated blood tests for PSA and blind needle biopsies, which are done over and over again until a diagnosis is in hand. This announcement is an alternative way of making the diagnosis with a new diagnostic tool that men need to know about.

So while this isn’t hair related, it is important for men to know about. From the article –

Presently, a new case of Prostate cancer is diagnosed every 3 minutes while 90 men die from prostate cancer every day. Prostate Biopsy, the “gold standard” for finding cancer of the prostate is associated with trauma, infection, bleeding and sampling bias. National statistics show that 10 men must undergo an ultrasound and biopsy to find 2-3 cancers. Translated another way, 7-8 men must undergo a procedure that is unnecessary as documented by a negative biopsy.

Read the full pres release: New Prostate Cancer Technology Saving Lives

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Scalp Pimples Weeks After Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had 2200 grafts in the front. About 6 weeks later, I noticed pimples breaking out on my head. I went back to my doctor and he put me on an antibiotic which helped for a week and then when I went off the antibiotic, the pimples came back. What is happening to me? Will this kill off the transplants?

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After a hair transplant, spicules of hair are left behind after the grafts have shed. These spicules of hair can be like a foreign body and cause cystic reactions. This process is usually self-limiting and with warm soaks, will disappear over the next month or so. I believe that every person has these spicules in the recipient area, but only a limited number of patients have these type of reactions. The differential diagnosis is important here, namely distinguishing it from folliculitis, which can endanger the growth of the grafts.

You may have heard about MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), and if this should occur, a culture of these pimples are important to determine the correct treatment modality. There can be iatrogenic (doctor induced) causes where during the placing process the staff ‘piggyback’ one graft on top of another. This is often due to poor quality control processes and if the doctor sees this often, then the doctor may have a problem with his office staff. In less experienced hands, this is an iatrogenic problem so a good solid surgical team with good quality control systems in place will guarantee that this will not happen to you.

If properly treated, these sores will not cause hair loss. Sometimes local drainage with a needle is needed, but usually they will spontaneously drain on their own with frequent warm compresses.

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Taking Half a Propecia (0.5mg Finasteride) Twice Daily? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

If the half-life of finasteride is 4 to 5 hours, wouldn’t it be better to split the 1mg propecia pill in two, and take one in the morning, and one in the evening?

The half life of finasteride is 4.5 hours. This means that in 4.5 hours, serum levels of finasteride drop to the half of its original level, but the tissue levels will last longer than the serum levels. Finasteride blocks the effect of the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, and the effects of the medication due to the blocking of this enzyme is actually much longer and can last up to a few days. On the other hands, the body can eliminate the finasteride, but the pharmacological effects of the medication persist long after.

Considering long lasting pharmacological effects of finasteride, taking it on a more frequent basis probably does not make any difference in its final results.

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In the News — Rogaine Foam Has Advantages? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

From the article –

Unlike Rogaine solution, “the foam formulation does not have propylene glycol, an agent that commonly causes irritation and occasionally causes an allergic contact dermatitis,” said Dr. Elise A. Olsen, professor of medicine in the divisions of dermatology and oncology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.

“Many patients prefer a foam versus a solution that may drip on application to the scalp. The foam is not greasy or drying,” she added.

Read the full article at Reuters Health: Foaming Rogaine has advantages, expert says

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In the News — Every Man Fears Going Bald – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

History, from the earliest recorded times’ bares out the impact of balding on men, their manliness, and their sexuality.

From the article –

It’s a terror so great that a musical superstar such as Sir Elton John, whose hair has been as thin as a Chernobyl technician’s since the mid 1970s, convinced himself he could fool the world into thinking that he has a mane as lustrous as a teenage beauty queen. It is this kind of susceptibility to mass delusion….

Read the full article by Christian O’Connell: TimesOnline UK – The thing every man fears

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Another Hair Transplant Clinic Called NHI – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello NHI team,
I was wondering if you have heard of another NHI hair transplant clinic in greece and how they can use the same name. They use the choi implanter. Their representative is a man called Malcolm Mendelsohn. Heres their web site www.nhihairclinics.co.uk

I try to refrain from commenting on other clinics unless specifically asked. One can only assume that the NHI name was taken by this man for his clinic, because he wanted to claim some affiliation with us (or give the illusion of such). There is no connection between this clinic and the New Hair Institute. The name has also been copied by others in various parts of the world for hair transplant clinics (from Australia to the UK to even here in the US) with the same nefarious reasons, I suspect.

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Age and Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

At what age will a transplant not work?

I have done hair transplants on children with bad scars and men as young as 89 years old. They really work regardless of age. I perform it with the same basic anesthesia routine, but in children, I often use less systemic drugs if one of the parents comes into the operating room and holds the child’s hand. There is nothing more soothing to a child than the touch of a parent’s warm hand.

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A Case of Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This 24 year old man presented to my office today with hair falling out. He has been on Propecia for 9 months. Upon examination I made the following observations:

  1. His hair density was low all over the scalp.
  2. He is losing substantial amount of neck hair disproportionally to other hair.
  3. He has miniaturization in the donor area to about 30%.

I am concerned that this young man has Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) and that he may lose some of his donor hair in the future. This condition is an absolute contraindication for hair transplants and at the age of 24, what is the rush? As you can see from the photo below, his hair looks full, but just thinner in the frontal area. I told him that he needs to be followed closely over the next few years and that his Propecia is the correct medication to try to hold his condition at bay. Many other doctors with less scruples might transplant him and if they did, he might accelerate his balding pattern in the recipient and the donor area and a see-through look could develop from the sides. The last doctor he visited never mapped out his hair for miniaturization and as such would have missed the diagnosis.

Click the photo to enlarge. Note that the miniaturized hair count is about 30% from the donor area.