Month: January 2008

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Hair Loss InformationIs Alopecia Areata Like Cancer? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

my son has alopecia. i was woundering if that has a risk on life and is it dangerous. he is barely 9 years old and has extreme bald spots and lots of hair loss. i want to know if its like cancer and what the difference

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Without seeing photos of your son or knowing anything about his medical history, it is difficult to tell, but from the brief description you gave, it does sound like he has alopecia areata. This is a condition that affects about 1-2% of the population with initial presentation in the teenage years. It is not contagious and is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, and not cancer. It is an inherited process. Since the exact mechanism of hair loss is not known completely known, there is no known cure to date, but in the hands of some specialists who focus on this disease, there are some effective treatments. In 90% of cases the hair will ultimately regrow. It would be wise to have your son seen by his primary care doctor to determine if there are any potential underlying causes of his hair loss and a dermatologist for possible biopsy.

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Hair Loss InformationIs Avodart Making Me Angry? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Since taking propecia for three months then switching over to avodart for a further six months, i seemed to be very agrivated all the time and angry to the point were i was arguing and getting into fights. Is there any connection with this and taking avodart.

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Why the switch to Avodart (dutasteride) from Propecia (finasteride)? Propecia is the only FDA approved oral medication for the treatment of hair loss. Avodart is not. If the Propecia was working well for you and had an acceptable side effect profile for you, you should go back to using it. Avodart has not been shown to help with male pattern baldness better than Propecia unless the dose is three to four times higher than recommended dosages and even this information is suspect. Since it may be causing you severe emotional issues, you should strongly consider stopping this medication. We do on rare occasions see personality changes with these drugs. You may also consider talking to your doctor or therapist about your anger issues if in switching, your anger has not subsided.

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Hair Loss InformationNexium, Prilosec, and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 52 years old (male) and have pretty good hair and after taking Prilosec for 2 months and then changed to Nexium for another 3 months, my hair has become quite thin. I have three questions.

  1. if I stop the Nexium, will my hair recover back to what it was?
  2. what alternatives are there to Nexium or Prilosec?
  3. are H2 blockers better to your hair that the PPIs?

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  1. Your hair will probably not come back, but please know that your hair loss may not even be associated with these medications.
  2. Sorry, you’ll need to ask your doctor about any alternative drugs. I am not your doctor and do not know your medical history.
  3. Again, you’ll need to pose these questions to your doctor. I am not a GI doctor or an internist.

If these medications are the cause of your hair loss, stopping them may help to stop further loss, but these are rare side effects. Please do not discontinue or change your medication without consulting your prescribing physician.

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Rogaine Foam Was Causing Increased Eyebrow Hair Growth – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Doc,

I am 27 year old male. I had some degree of success with rogaine foam. But I stopped using it about four months ago as I was experiencing increased eyebrow hair growth. I made sure foam would not drip or reach eyebrow hair and despite this, I still continued to see more eyebrow hair. I am thinking to start the foam again. Do you think rogaine foam grow eyebrow hair? Or Am I seeing increased growth because of genetics?

Thank you

Since it seems you have been careful not to let the Rogaine (minoxidil) reach the eyebrows, it is likely that you are absorbing the medication into your body. Rogaine works by getting into your scalp and hair follicles to stimulate hair regrowth, but from a historical viewpoint, we know that it grows hair when it was used to treat high blood pressure some years ago.

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Is It Normal for Clinics to Pay Patients for Referrals? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I had a Hair trasplant procedure 5 months ago and i recieved a email from the clinic which read;

By now you should be starting to see some of the results from your procedure with us. Please forward pictures for your file, and any questions you might have. What type of hair products are you currently using? Don’t forget our referral program, we will pay you £500 for every patient you refer that has a procedure with us.

My question is, is it normal for a clinic to pay a client money if they refer a patient to there clinic for a procdure.

This may be different depending upon the country, but to my knowledge it is illegal in all of the United States. Despite this, the practice is unfortunately common not only for patient referrals, but for hair dresser and other stylist referrals, though if a doctor is caught, he/she could lose their license to practice medicine.

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Could a New Breakthrough Mean Using Hair Transplants from Another Person as a Donor? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I understand that hair cannot be donated from another person, yet why is it possible that organs can be?

I was reading an article today, Doctors Report Transplant Breakthrough, that mentions the possibility that organ recipients could one day not have to take anti-rejection drugs the rest of their life. If this prove to be true, can hair transplants from other people be a reality?

Unless the genetics are a perfect match, any organ that is transplanted (including hair, which is an organ) has until now forced the patient to take drugs to knock down the rejection process. The reason that a hair transplant works is that each person is his own donor and therefore has perfectly matched genetics. The drugs that you take for controlling organ rejection from a heart or kidney can kill you, but not having a heart or a kidney will kill you anyway. Rejecting hair from another person won’t kill you… just leave you bald and it it 100% certain that the hair from another person will reject.

The five patients in this article all had kidney transplants and were on anti-rejection medication for a period of time and have received marrow from the donor. I would not want to be the first volunteer for such procedures, and the relationship between these patients and a potential to harvest hair from others are decades away.

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Hair Loss InformationHairDX Genetic Hair Loss Test System – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Just wondering if you could speak about the HairDX test and whether it is useful to use for men who want to know how severe their future hairloss will be.

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HairDXMy knowledge of HairDX is limited to what I can find on the Internet (not much outside of their official website and official press releases). Assuming HairDX works and does give you an accurate genetic testing profile, why would you want to spend $149 when you can get a free consultation with a doctor? I guess some people just don’t want to meet with a doctor at any cost. Furthermore, I personally base my medical and surgical recommendations on a physical examination, history, and a miniaturization study. I would have a hard time recommending surgery or medication (Propecia) for men who show no signs of balding, but do have a positive genetic test.

It is nevertheless an interesting test from a marketing and consumer perspective and as more genes are identified that contribute to the hair loss process (MPB), then this approach may help us find better treatments and possible cures for genetic hair loss.

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Hair Loss InformationBull Semen and Katira Plant on the Scalp – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Doc.
I’ve heard that anciant greeks used semen on scalp to regrow lost hair and also I just recently saw a hair salon in the U.K. charged people up to 55 British pounds to put bull semen and a high in protein plant called Katira on peoples scalp and hair. Now I lost hair all over my scalp because of seborrhea dermatitis and now im left with bold spots. Now I use Nizoral and its under control but not I want to re-grow my hair. what do you suggest. Also would putting semen on scalp interfere with the levelin scalp. Would semen of DHT already help to regrow my hair. Would the DHT level go down if I were to have excessive sex. Thanks Doc

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BullI briefly wrote about this a year ago, and much like now, I didn’t have any real information to provide — Bull Semen Hair Product. There are people (apparently only at Hari’s Salon in London from what I can find) that pay good money to get this bull semen put on their scalps.

This bull semen isn’t going to regrow your hair — even the makers of the treatment don’t claim that (see HarisSalon.co.uk).

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Hair Loss InformationCan I Switch from Scalp Med to Rogaine and Maintain Benefits? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

hi, im 68 yrs old. had a hair transplant 10yrs ago and purchased scalp med and have been using it for 5 months. i was hoping to fill in sparse areas and the back of my head. so far the scalp med has been growing hair slowly but working. it is also to expensive for me. i would like to know if i discontinued scalp med and started to go back to rogaine would i lose the hair ive gained from scalp med? same question if i switched to PROVILLUS. THANK YOU!

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If it is between ScalpMed, Provillus, and Rogaine, I’d say the Rogaine (minoxidil) is the best way to go. As ScalpMed and Provillus both contain minoxidil, either should carry the same benefits over and Rogaine or generic minoxidil is also the least expensive of your options. Go for it!