February 2008 – Page 8

February 15, 2008

Minoxidil and Blood Donation – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Doctor,

I have been donating blood regularly. But I have hair loss and would like to try applying topical minoxidil on my scalp. Would my blood be safe to donate? Look forward to your kind response.

Best regards

Always reveal the medications you take when you donate blood. I doubt that a topical like minoxidil will be a problem for blood donation, as little of it gets absorbed, if any. I would suggest that you stop taking minoxidil for two days prior to the donation so that any of the drug that might be absorbed by your body will be gone before the donation.

February 15, 2008

I Have Red Hair — My Dad’s Family Has Red Hair, My Mom’s Family Line Is Balding – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi

I have red hair and it comes from my father’s side of the family only. The men on this side of the family have their hair but the men on my mom’s side (who do not have the red hair gene)all suffer from MPB.

My hair is starting to form into Norwood Scale 2: is it possible I could go bald too even though the red hair gene comes from my dad’s side?

Thank you for your help.

The color of you hair, along with other physical characteristics you inherited, are carried in different genes than the ones associated with MPB. The genetic predisposition for balding is inherited from either your father’s and mother’s sides, with more weight on your maternal lineage (48% for father’s side vs 52% for mom). There is a possibility that you may develop MPB. You need to be examined by an expert, someone who will map out your scalp hair for miniaturization to determine if you will be losing your hair. If you are in the early stages of hair loss, then you need a Master Plan to determine how to proceed with your hair loss treatments.

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February 15, 2008

How Good Are The Chances that Transplanted Hair Will Grow? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr.

What are the chances that transplanted hair will grow?
What is cost/per graft?
How much area 2500 cover ?

Best Regards

If everything goes as planned, you should expect 95+% of the transplanted follicular units (grafts) to grow. I am not sure if you are asking me what the cost per graft is for us at NHI or what the average rate is. Prices do vary per doctor or clinic. There are many variables to consider when evaluating a facility to perform your surgery, and cost should not be the most important factor. There are many places that will charge you per hair, and not per graft. Some clinics cut up follicular units to milk the patient for more money, yet no more hair. The quality of work will also suffer if you choose a disreputable hair transplant surgeon, just because you are attracted to their price for the procedure.

The number of grafts you require is relative and depends on the color of your hair contrasting with your skin tone, the character of hair you have (curly vs straight), and your hair density. In general you should get about 4 sq. inches of coverage with 2500 follicular units. Shear numbers are not the answer — all the other aspects are just as important.

For more, please see:

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February 15, 2008

Hairmax Claims They Formally Challenged Dr Rassman – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hairmax claimed that at the ISHRS they “formally challenged you on the issue and you were unable to justify the accuracy of your hair counts you presented and you therefore had to retract your comments.” Is this true?

I remember that we had some verbal interchange, but I never retracted any of my comments.

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February 15, 2008

Hair Loss Information » DHT, DHT, and Another Thing About DHT – Balding Blog

Hey, i’m just writing in response to a question that has been recently answered about DHT. I recall you said that just because that you’re hairy, oily skin (skin) and i’m assuming any other DHT physical signs, cited as byproducts of DHT, don’t indefinitely mean that you have alot of DHT. I guess I dont follow that notion, could you please elaborate. I only ask out of curiosity, considering any site that talks about DHT, describes these attributes as a indictive of DHT. Granted, I know that some of the “symptoms” listed definitely have alot to do with genetic blueprints. But, most men start to get hairy in their 20′s like the case of my father and others I know of. Then they started to bald around them. I’d hypothetically assume that since they didn’t have enough DHT to fill in their blueprints at the time. I know DHT only has physical characteristics if you’re genetic blueprint follows, but when you’re blueprint does and the DHT feeds it, wouldn’t that be indicative of DHT?

DHT causes many secondary sex characteristics after puberty, such as hair in different parts of the body (groin, underarms, chest, nose, ear, etc…). I really do not understand your questions. If by genetic blueprint you mean a balding pattern in your family line, then yes, you can inherit it. DHT is a byproduct of testosterone metabolism and all men who make testosterone will make DHT unless they have a genetic defect.

February 15, 2008

Can NHI Help Balding African American Men? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hey, I came in last summer for a consultation and I had a miniaturization test. The doctor confirmed that I was probably a class 2-3 on the Norwood scale. At the time he prescribed finasteride, which I have taken daily ever since. It’s been about a year now, and although my hair loss may have slowed down, it certainly hasn’t stopped. My hairline is a little suspect at this point, and I’m nervous that if I wait much longer people will really start to notice I’m “losing it.” I am biracial, with relatively coarse hair, and I’ve been able to get away with styling it so that no one can tell, however I think I’d like to solve the problem while I still have a relatively large amount of hair on my head. I’ve heard that there are doctors who specialize in treating African American hair loss patients. I’m wondering if this is true, or is NHI capable of generating the same results? Also, I’ve heard that micro-grafting is the least noticeable transplant procedure, do you perform this procedure at NHI?

Thanks for your help.

We are as experienced with African hair types as any medical group anywhere. We also stand by all of our results. You should be seen yearly, so I would hope to see you again.

The most natural way to transplant hair is with individual follicular units, as these are the natural groupings of hair in your scalp. A micrograft is not the same as a follicular unit and you need to be aware that the gold standard for hair transplantation in any race is follicular unit transplantation (FUT). Propecia (finasteride) is probably working for you, as it is slowing down what would probably be more dramatic hair loss. You are welcome to come back and have one of us take a look and further answer any questions you have.

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February 14, 2008

Use of DermMatch for Managing Thinning Hair in Women (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This patient has classic female patterned balding with hair loss behind the frontal 1/2 inch. The thinning is worse in the frontal area and is more manageable in the top and back, but still thin and see-through. I have given this patient DermMatch, which is a cosmetic powder that colors the scalp and sticks to hairs to make them thicker. The contrast between hair and scalp is lessened with this product and when combined with good styling, products like this (see also, Toppik) can work to make the transparency of the hair less so. The photos below show how big of a difference a topical camouflage can make.

The photo on the left is before, on the right is after DermMatch. Click photos to enlarge.

February 14, 2008

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplant Tools – Choi Implanter vs Carousel – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have sent this question to this blog several times, however have had no response. I understand you have extremely high volumes of email, but i feel i might of had no reply due to the question its self as it may be considered that i am being purposely insulting. My question is as follows. The carousel i think is an extremely well designed implanter. And i imagine its results are alo very good, however i have seen in one of your replies to a question about the choi implanter were you said, ‘The Choi implanter is just a surgical tool. It makes some aspects of the transplant easier to perform, especially for those people who did not develop the difficult placing skills with the more traditional transplant tools used throughout the world.”

This to me seems a contradiction when the carousel is also an automated surgical tool, which also makes some of the transplant easier to do. I admit that the carousel could be considered to be better in the sense that it may harvest the hairs better, however its still like the choi implanter. One could say the carousel is a better evolved version of the choi implanter. The carousel and the choi implanter do the same job in almost exactly the same way. Please will you reply as i would find an explanation really interesting. Thanks.

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Caousel Practically speaking, the Carousel and Choi implanter are similar in that both make a recipient site directly into intact skin and then place a follicular unit into such sites. Mechanically speaking, the way they place the follicular unit in the site is different. The main limitation of the Choi implanter is that you have to load one follicular unit at a time, make the site with the implanter, place the FU in the site and load it back again before you can continue. For the Choi, a single hair graft is pulled into the instrument by a hair (being backed in). The advantage of the Carousel implanter is that it holds 100 follicular units, making the process smoother. The discussion is moot, however, because the Carousel is not currently on the market and can not therefore be used by any surgeon.

Note: The image to the right is of the Carousel implanter.

February 14, 2008

Dissecting Cellulitis of the Scalp – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a family medicine resident finishing up my last year. I unfortunately have a condition which I discovered doing my own research called Dissecting Cellulitis of the Scalp. It is horrible!!! This is a rare condition that usually affects black men in their 20’s. It is a very painful, cosmetically disfiguring disease that I have dealt with for about 4 years now. I have tried all of the antibiotics and medical treatment that you can think of and have seen many dermatologists that in my opinion, are not really aware of how tough this is to treat. I have read some studies that state that Laser therapy has been used with some success and others that state that complete scalp excision is successful. Of course, I don’t want my whole scalp taken off, but I am willing to try Laser therapy if it really has good results. At this point, I am really ready to try anything. If you are familiar with this or can even refer me to someone who is, I would really appreciate it.

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This is a rare condition and as you said it is very difficult to treat. Before going as far as having surgical excision of your scalp, I found a case study in which they had success in treating recalcitrant dissecting cellulitis with Nd:YAG laser. The study was published in Dermatologic Surgery in August 2004, Volume 30 Issue 8, and was written by Eric C. Parlette MD, Nathan Kroeger, EVictor Ross MD — Laser Treatment of Recalcitrant Folliculitis Decalvans.

Unfortunately, I can’t post the text here and the publisher charges a fee to view the text, but it may be worth looking into. Good luck.

February 14, 2008

Hair Loss InformationI Had Several Hair Transplants – Will Testosterone Therapy Cause Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a 53 yr old male who is considering have testosterone therapy. I have male pattern baldness and had several hair transplants,including one in your office in Fort Lee, NJ and one from your colleague in Fort Lee, NJ My hair looks fine now and have had no significant hair loss for years. Will low doses of testosterone cause me to have hair loss?

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As we all know, testosterone is converted to DHT, which is the main culprit in male pattern hair loss. There is always a risk, maybe low, that testosterone will cause hair loss since. It may help knowing if there is miniaturization in the remaining hair along the edge where the transplants were placed. Miniaturized hair may be affected by testosterone and DHT.