January 2008 – Page 7

January 21, 2008

24 Year Old Using Propecia and Minoxidil for Years is Still Balding! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi doc! I’ve been on propecia for about 4 and a half years now and i’ve also been using minoxidil 5% for about 3 years but I’m still balding! I’m only 24 and I’ve been balding since the age of maybe 16-17. I always see you answering to young people that they should try Propecia or Rogaine, but that stuff doesn’t work for me. What should I do?

I would love to have a hair transplant so that I can at least enjoy a “normal” haircut for the next 5 years, instead of waiting for my hair loss to stabilize (going completely bald) and THEN have a transplant and still look pretty bald.

While Propecia and topical minoxidil are great medications for male pattern baldness, they have their limitations. Your genetic predisposition will always win. Nevertheless, while you are still losing hair, I am sure the rate of your hair loss is slower than if you are not taking the medication at all. In short, these medications are likely working for you, but your genetic fate is winning the battle.

If you were to stop taking these medications, I am fairly certain you will accelerate your hair loss.

It seems your next step might be a hair transplant surgery. Of course, I couldn’t say for sure as I haven’t examined you, but options are limited if your loss isn’t stopping with medications. If you would like a private consultation with me either directly or by phone, please call our office at (800) NEW-HAIR (800-639-4247) and my staff will be happy to arrange it.

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January 18, 2008

Why Does Stress Cause Accelerated Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Stress is acknowledged to accelerate MPB. My question is how much stress would it take to increase hair loss to a noteable degree. Would everyday stress, for example the stress in which everybody would at least arrive at in work or home cause an acceleration or when you mean stress do you mean a really long drawn out period of total stress. What is responsible in stress which causes acceleration in MPB, raised testosterone?

Medicine is a descriptive science, and the observations that stress contributes to hair loss is something we have observed. I do not believe everyday anxiety (being late for work, for example) is stressful enough to cause hair loss, but I also do not know how to calculate the degree of stress a person has in their lives. People tell me that they’ve noticed their hair falling out with divorce and other severe relationship or family problems, financial problems, and so on. These are the types of long, drawn out stresses that can cause hair loss. If you think about the saying “I’m pulling my hair out” that many people use when under pressure, that describes the stress people are talking about.

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January 18, 2008

Injections to Dissolve Fat Tissue in Breasts After Propecia? – Balding Blog

Body changes, Should I start with finasteride?

Hello Doc. All over the web I’ve read about side effects that can occur with finasteride. Despite a lot of trash talk (..and positive comments..)I find this product worth a try.

I’m 24 years old male and I start to notice more hair on my body and beard – but my head hair is thinning and hairline slightly receding with temples as proof.

Do you think I should start finasteride despite the fact that my body seems to still have some more missions to complete?

I also notice more fat tissue in my chest region, which makes me wonder if finasteride is more likely to cause male-boobs in users already having small ones to begin with?

I read about certain injections which can dissolve fat, if large male-boobs do develope, could such injections be helpful?

This is a forum for general questions. I do not give personal medical advice. I cannot tell you if you should start a medication without an examination or history. Sorry.
While finasteride may cause enlargement of breast tissue or tenderness, the risks are 1 in 300 or less. Again, I do not have the luxury of a examination so I cannot tell you what your risks are just because you describe having more “fat tissue” on your chest. Your fat could be dietary, and finasteride (when it causes breast tissue) is usually in the glands just below the nipple and not the type of fat you build up on your abdomen. Are you over-weight with lots of fat everywhere, including your chest? Or are you thin with just an abundance of fat on your chest? Did you have ‘man-boobs’ prior to starting Propecia? Either way, there really is no way to tell without going into it further.
There are no injections that I am aware of which have been proven to dissolve fat in the human body. That would be too easy. There is an emerging field of mesotherapy which claims fat dissolving capability (see Lipo-dissolve, but the proof is lacking from what I’ve read and much of it seems like hype. There are machines that compress your fat that claim fat reversal. I will admit ignorance in what, if any, ’science’ is reported in mesotherapy and in many of the other modalities being offered.

More on this Lipo-dissolve treatment can be found at the Washington Post. More on mesotherapy can be found at Wikipedia.

January 18, 2008

Did Propecia Screw With My Hormones? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi,

I’m 23 years old and a male. I was on propecia, when I was uncomfortable about my hair situation, though my doctor suggested it wasn’t a necessity. I have more thinning in the temple region (perhaps maturing hairline but I have a large forehead). After awhile, I decided it was not worth it to be on this pill forever and I hadn’t noticed a significant change in my hair. So, I decided to stop taking it roughly 7 months after I started. I have noticed lately some shedding (not of miniaturized hairs, but regular kind). I normally shed during the winter anyway, but I’m wondering whether I should be concerned that Propecia has screwed with my hormones, or I should expect hair growth to resume?

Screw It seems like you are describing a phenomenon called “catch-up” hair loss after stopping Propecia.

Patients sometimes do not understand that having no change is good, as it indicates stability. You may not notice new hair growing with Propecia, but you are also not losing more hair. Once you stop the medication after a few months, all the positive (silent) benefits of Propecia will reveal themselves, as the hairs the drug protected from falling out will be lost.

I do not believe Propecia “screwed” with your hormones. Instead, you likely have genetic hair loss and Propecia (while you were taking it) was keeping your hormones (DHT) from causing hair loss.

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January 18, 2008

Burned Area on My Face Doesn’t Grow Facial Hair – Balding Blog

Hey Doc,

My question is not to complex. I have a facial scar from a burn on my right cheek. When i grow facial hair it grows everywhere but the burn on my cheek. Looks kinda dumb! My question to you is can i have hair transplanted into the burn so that hair will grow and cover the scar? Have yo done this before with sucess? Thanks for your time in answering my question…. Happy New Year!

My answer is simple — yes. Hair transplantation to burned areas work and can disguise the burn on prior hair-bearing skin. The texture and the growth rate may be slightly different than the facial hair, but it should be better than a bald spot.

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January 18, 2008

After Restarting Propecia, I’m Not Seeing the Same Quick Results – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i started on propecia in 06. after 3 months i saw tremedous results and my hair density and quality increased. then i stopped taking propecia for a while and my hair started thining again. now i am back on propecia and its already been 7 months since i started taking it again but i am not seeing the same quick results that i experieced when i took it the first time.Should i stay on it or stop taking it? is propecia not effective for me anymore?

Your experience is common. When you stop the drug and lose the benefits, the process is often not reversible. There is still value in the drug, but the greatest impact is for the initial use period and it must be maintained without interruption.

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January 18, 2008

100% True Sterile Aseptic Hair Transplant Surgery? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Greetings;

We all understand and trainned under sterile surgical technique. We know the importance of asepsis in every surgical procedure. We also have great understanding why the we can do our Hair Transplantation procedures under “Clean Technique”. EX. Vascularity of the head, local immunity, ect.

MY QUESTION IS THIS:

COULD WE ACTUALLY DO 100% TRUE STERILE ASEPTIC HAIR TRANSPLANATION SURGERY?

Thank you for your inquires and your advice.

More power to all the world of Hair Transplant! Give it up to the Hair Transplant Technichians.

Since we are working with hair, one can never really create the type of sterile field one does in an operating room. The presence of hair suggests that bacteria are present. The key is to get the bacterial count down to a very low, acceptable level. The use of hair washes with either Betadine or Hibiclens the night before and morning of surgery is the best way to reduce bacterial count to manageable levels. Even in the operating room, bacterial counts are never zero, as it would require autoclaving, something that would kill living tissue.

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January 17, 2008

Hair Loss InformationI’m 8 Days After Surgery – Can I Do Kung-Fu? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi there,

This will be my 8th day of post-op HT and I have read several blogs regarding what kind of physical activity is ‘allowed’ and which ones are not recommended.

Any movement involving the trapazieus muscle was not recommended, anything with weights heavier than 25lbs was not recommended either. Can I assume that doing something along the lines of push-ups, dips, and squats with no weights other than your own body weight and perhaps yoga is fine?

How about something like Kung-Fu with no contact to either the graft or donor area?

Thank-you v. much

Block Quote

For recovery from a follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure, everything can be done. For recovery from a strip harvesting procedure, always test your trapezius muscle for contraction. The more the tightness created at the neck, the more of a problem that could be created from such activities as sit-ups and push ups. Squats are probably alright.

January 17, 2008

How Can Hollywood Actors All Have Such Great Hair?! – Balding Blog

It seems very unlikely that 90% of the actors in hollywood would have full heads of hair. For some it seems that their hairlines are still similiar to teenagers and the others have a thickness to their hair that is almost unreal. I just can’t believe that so many of these celebrities could be so lucky. My question is what percentage of these celebrities would you estimate have ever used propecia, and/or have had a hair transplant?

Jason Statham I don’t know how frequent balding is in Hollywood actors. We know that people with hair generally get jobs easier and that may apply to actors, as well. Also, not everything you see is what it really is. That’s the magic of Hollywood. Actors have images that they have to maintain, and when they start balding many actors will use a topical camouflage such as Toppik or even a hair system (like the type John Travolta has been seen with) to keep the particular look they are known for.

On the flip side, there are what seems to be a growing number of major actors letting their natural balding looks prevail; action stars such as Bruce Willis and Jason Statham (see photo), for example. Of course, the list goes on and on.

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January 17, 2008

Hair Loss 2 Weeks After Starting Lexapro? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

It could have been coincidence, but I started shedding hair about 2 weeks after starting Lexapro. I was also taking agomelatine with it (a new expiremental antidepressant). I had been on agomelatine for several months without effect. I have taking Lexapro before and this didn’t happen. I stopped both about 5 weeks ago.

My questions is: If a medicine causes hair loss, how long after stopping it would the hair loss continue? I stopped both and I want to go back on the Lexapro for anxiety but i don’t want to start shedding again. How long does it take for medicine to START causing shedding, and how long does it take for it to STOP if it was in fact the Lexapro? I was on a very low dose (5 mg) for only 4 weeks, so it seems unlikely to do this.

I have researched telogen and anagen effluvium and I don’t know if this could be what happened? Or maybe it was just MPB kicking in again after 9 years of being on Propecia and was coincidence?

It seems like you have done your share of research. The hair loss could be coincidence after starting either medication, or it could be telogen effluvium, MPB, etc. Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t see anything in the literature about agomelatine (also known as Valdoxan) and hair loss, but many antidepressants are known to cause hair loss. I’ve written about Lexapro in the past.

If you have genetic male pattern baldness then I would think that would be high on the list of possible causes. If this was due to the medication, nobody would really know when or if your hair would grow back to its normal state. Hair loss and hair growth cycles are in the order of several months, so I would conservatively give it a year. Before stopping any prescribed medication, please speak with your doctor.

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