can MRI or x-rays cause hair loss? i had four mri and two x-rays and full body scan with dye in the last 10 months. thanks
Nope, I don’t believe that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-rays, or even CAT scans can impact your hair and produce hair loss.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Snippet from the article:
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad joked about his son Datuk Mukhriz who is balding, saying it was a sign that he was a deep thinker.
Many of our follicularly challenged men will appreciate and identify with this news item out of Malaysia.
Full text — Dr M: Balding son a thinker
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
My boyfriend is 26 years old. When he was a teenager he was hit by his brother with a 2×4 on the back right side of his head. A scar was there after healing, but only about an inch long. A small bald spot remained there also. About 2-3 months ago we noticed a much larger bald spot there. It is about 2 1/2 inches across now. It is very smooth, there is no hair on it at all. Do you think he needs to see someone about this? I am worried there is something wrong. He just tries to forget about it and is hoping it does not get any worse. I cannot do that. What do you suggest? Thank you
The photo you sent is below (click to enlarge). Thank you for permitting me to post this.
If you or your boyfriend feel there is something wrong, then by all means go see a doctor. I viewed the photo you sent and I doubt a new bald spot like that can appear many years after a scarring injury, but it is clearly there… and there for a reason. What that reason is though, I couldn’t say. There are many other medical conditions that may be causing the balding, but a diagnosis-by-photograph is often very difficult to make. Unfortunately, my only suggestion is to have your boyfriend see a doctor for an in-person exam.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
i know from reading your other entries that proscar doesn’t “cure” balding but i’m noticing some serious hairloss lately and i read something in the blog about a guy that “doubled” his dose to a half pill a day…. do meds work that way? will it help? could it help?
also i am thinking about getting a hair transplant. couple things i’d like to know
– i’m not really bald but my crown is thin, is it possible to just thicken it up and kind of blend it into my hairline. in otherwords anticipate the loss most likely to come.
– i keep the top of my hair longer but shave the sides to about 1/4 inch. would the scar be visible provided the job is done well.
– approximately how many graphs would i need to fill in a thin crown? I know it’s hard without seeing a pic, but just an idea..Thanks a million your site is amazing!
Firstly, Proscar is 5mg of finasteride, Propecia is 1mg of finasteride. The recommended dosage for treating hair loss is 1mg. I would seriously consider not taking more than the 1mg dosage… 1.25mg at most. And I only say 1.25mg because some people will buy the 5mg pill and cut it into 4 parts (easier than cutting it into 5 equal pieces) to take 1.25mg daily. Taking two 5mg Proscar will likely produce substantial side effects and have no more value than the 1mg dose.
You don’t want to have hair transplant surgery without determining where your hair loss is likely to go. You have a limited donor area to harvest hair from and if you use it all up early on and continue to bald in more visible areas (such as the frontal region) then you’ll be out of luck. Miniaturization mapping over time will give a likely path to where your hair loss is at and where it is going to end up. Age plays a role as well.
If you had a FUE (follicular unit extraction) transplant, there would be small dot scars on the back of the head and keeping the hair short would not show any significant scarring. If you had a FUT (follicular unit transplant) strip procedure, you may see a linear scar in the back of the head if your hair was very short, but to what degree really depends on how you heal, skill of the surgeon, etc. Without seeing the area, I couldn’t estimate the amount of grafts; I’d need to know your hair color, hair characteristics (wavy, straight, fine, etc), and whether you’re even a candidate for hair transplantation.
Transplants should never, ever be used to build up what you may lose in the future. Plus, I need to point out that finasteride works quite well in early hair loss, particularly in the crown. It is very possible that you can avoid surgery and just take a daily pill — you will know in about 8 months if it is working. I would look into this by seeing a doctor. Propecia (finasteride 1mg) is available by prescription only.
Is it possible that the side effects from Propecia are just in my head? I was prescribed Propecia in December of 07′ and within two weeks of taking it, I began to feel a loss of libido. I decided to push on and take the medication for another month and see if the side effects. Within a month, I no longer had an erection in the morning (which was something I would experience every day prior to taking the medication) and intercourse became somewhat boring. All the while, the only information I could find was negative information about men complaining about their sexual side effects.
I stopped taking the medication, and within a week, I began to regain my libido. I did not notice any increased hair loss from stopping the medication either.
Do you think its possible that these sexual side effects were caused by my self-conscious or does that sound like the typical event of the sexual side effect one receives from Propecia.
Thanks!
The power of suggestion and the placebo effect are well documented phenomenon. If you think it is going to happen or are worried it may happen, it just might. Propecia does have a side effect of decreasing libido by 1 to 2% and increasing libido by as high as 10%. If you need to focus on something, worry about a high libido and see what happens. I can’t say for sure whether you experienced side effects form Propecia, but if you only stopped the medical for a week you will likely not see any increased hair loss just yet. With some significant time being off the medication every day, you’ll surely see the benefits disappear.
Hello,
I have heard of a hair conditioner that is good to use after hair transplant procedure. It contains 2% minoxidil along with wheat germ and jojoba oil along with other ingredients. Are you
familiar with this product and where to obtain it?thank you
No, I am not familiar with the product. The use of minoxidil with conditioner means that much of the minoxidil will be washed away. I would suggest using a 5% minoxidil after the shower to get the best value from it.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Good site…I had a strip procedure(5080) Feb./06…Pretty good results…I recently went back for a Fue procedure(1050) to touch up the middle, temple and on a part of the scar from the previous strip…
- How long should I wait before working out and running?
- How long does it take for the newly implanted grafts to settle in their new home?
Thanks and keep up the great work in helping others..
Thank you for the compliment. Where is your doctor? He/she should’ve supplied the answers to your questions as a matter of routine. These are the most basic of questions that should have been explained to you before your surgery.
To answer your questions:
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
please take a moment to reply? i would very much appreciate it! i had a ht and it is 3 weeks later and the area above the donor area is still devoid of ANY feeling for about 6 inches wide and 2 to 3 inches upward! i am worried that the surgeon cut too deeply or incorrectly and has damaged nerves. i can’t find anything about this on the internet which tells me i am dealing with something unusual. have you heard of this? and if so, how long before i regain feeling back there? thank you so much for your reply!..
I would think that you either have some nerve swelling or some nerve damage. Nerve swelling usually resolves in weeks and on occasion within months. Upon examination, the doctor may not be able to tell the difference, but several examinations are probably indicated. Definitely ask your operating doctor about this.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
I received the following from a patient:
Guess what I’ve discovered? Indirectly, of course
Turns out that THIS stuff had an odd side effect (it’s a glaucoma medication) it grown hair and has become RevitaLash. There’s more to the story (possible lawsuit, etc) about the product… how interesting! Anyway, I would like to buy the Xatalan (if you can/will write a prescription) and test it on my hairline. Does that sound interesting to you?
Xalatan is the brand name that Pfizer uses to market the generic drug latanoprost.
This is interesting, but upon looking up the drug for risks and potential side effects, I am not sure about safety. My one and only real caution is the safety issues. For example, if you accidentally got this into your eye, then there are pressure changes in the eye that might damage your vision — and there are verbal reports from doctors experienced with this drug that have told me it can change eye color. The medication is normally used to drop high eye pressure under the direction of a physician, but if your eye pressure is normal, it can drop to below normal levels and possibly cause injury.
As far as hair growth, it would be interesting to see if anyone has tried it, but the cost is high on a per drop basis so you would have to be quite wealthy to put drops of this stuff on your scalp.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Dear Dr. Rassman,
Thank you very much for maintaining this very informative and detailed website. I would sincerely appreciate your advice regarding my propecia therapy. I am 21 years old and have been taking propecia since July 2007. After the first 6 weeks on the drug, I noticed a complete cessation of hair loss. I subsequently discontinued the drug on the very poor advice of my father, an internist with little experience with finasteride treatments for MPB. I then restarted the drug about 2 months later, and again noticed complete cessation of hair loss within several weeks. I stopped taking propecia a second time, again on the advice of my father. Once again the hair loss returned within a few weeks.I went back on propecia in late December, and have been taking it for the past 8 weeks. Unfortunately I have not noticed any change in the amount of hair I am losing. I am wondering if you would kindly explain the mechanism of this phenomenon. Have I induced resistance or tolerance to propecia in my hair follicles? Have I upregulated the expression of DHT receptors on the follicles? Is it possible that my estrogen levels or testoterone levels are relatively higher than they were when I started treatment several months ago?
I realize that I have committed a very grave error in discontinuing my propecia on two separate occasions. Have I irrevocably lost my responsiveness to the drug, or will it likely prevent further hair loss? Fortunately my hair loss is still not noticeable, and I would be happy simply to retain what I have.
With best wishes,
A stressed-out medical student.
It is often surprising how little doctors tend to understand about hair loss and its treatment. If you are playing with this drug, you allow the hair loss to continue its downhill course each time you stop taking it. The hair that you lose when you stop taking it may be lost forever, so stopping the Propecia intermittently may just set you up to a progressive lower hair count over time. Perhaps you were just in a rapid state of hair loss. Whatever is the cause of your situation, from a mechanistic point of view, you MUST continue on this drug for life. Stopping it allows you to play catch-up hair loss and eventually you will just progress further down the balding road.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
