January 2009 – Page 7

January 19, 2009

Hair Loss InformationEducate Yourself to Avoid a Hair Transplant Doctor’s Scam – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I met with a patient last week who had a spectacular head of hair. On examination of the scalp there was absolutely no miniaturization anywhere, indicating that he had no genetic balding.

He was an obsessive young man who wanted to be sure that he was not going to go bald, as some of his male family members had. Because he needed the advise of a doctor to determine if he was losing his hair and what his future might be, he went to a hair transplant surgeon who determined that he might go bald and needed to do something about it. The young patient showed some maturing of his hairline only in the corners and even that assessment (by me) may be overstated, but because of the power of the doctor’s magnetic personality, the young man was convinced that he needed a transplant and got 800 grafts into the corners of his frontal hairline. The transplant clearly did damage, so he lost hair around the transplant area and many of the grafts did not grow.

Too many young men are receiving hair transplants when they are not indicated, even showing no balding. I would suggest that everyone considering a hair transplant to map out their own hair for miniaturization and if there is none, you can then confidently say that you are not balding and not fall for traps like what this young man fell for. It is unfortunate that many people are preyed upon by surgeons looking to pad their wallets, but you need to be smart about what you’re getting yourself into. Educate yourself and use the tools available online to be able to better understand things. The patient story I described above ended up leaving this young man worse off than before he ever went to see that surgeon. This site is free for anyone to use and learn from, and I am an outspoken member of my community simply because I don’t like to see people taken advantage of. I routinely turn patients down for surgery if I can see they are not candidates or a simple daily pill could be the solution they are looking for.

January 19, 2009

Brylcreem and Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Do you know if pomades/hair dressings like brylcreem, Layrite, Royal Crown, or Murray’s, many of which are vasoline type products, can contribute to hair loss? Also, what do you make of the hair loss theory in the old advertisement i.e. dry hair causes dandruff and dandruff is forerunner of thinning hair and baldness?

Old ad here: Brylcreem

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Brylcreem Dandruff is not a forerunner of thinning or hair loss or baldness. Dandruff just means you have a dry, flaky scalp. There are plenty of old advertisements that show doctors recommending cigarettes, too. Medicine and science have come a long way… not to mention the laws that are in place to protect consumers from fraudulent advertising.

Hair products do not generally cause hair loss (unless there is an allergy or other sensitivity). With that said, using pomade or other wax may cause hair loss if you are rough with your hair — pulling on it, for example. You can use a good shampoo which will have surfactants in it to help get rid of the pomades, though it might take more than one washing to get your hair clean of them. Bottom line, on their own these products do not contribute to genetic hair loss positively or negatively.

January 19, 2009

Hair Loss InformationIn the News – British PhD Working on Top Secret New Hair Loss Cure – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

So keep an eye on Thomas Whitfield. The 27-year-old Oxford biochemistry PhD is working on a venture called TRX2 (derived from the Greek word for hair, Trichos. “The two for second – your second generation of hair,” he tells me). It promises to make “hair loss a thing of the past”.

Still in stealth mode as the intellectual property is in the process of being protected, Whitfield plans to have his “product and service” on the market within 12 months. His only guidance is that it is not based on “gene therapy” – an area being explored by several other British start-ups.

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Full article at Telegraph UK

It is easy to make claims, but the proof will be in the product and the research that is released. The good news is that European patent filings are published 6 months after receipt of the application so we will all not have to wait 12 months find out what the secret is.

January 19, 2009

Woman Lost 50% of Her Hair in Under a Month! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have lost a good 50% of my hair in the past 3 weeks. I have been weaned off Metoprolol recently and stopped Pravastatin on Christmas Day in an effort to see which, if either, are causing the massive loss. How long might it take for the Pravastatin to clear my system and if Pravastatin is the culprit, how long before my hair stops falling out. I am a 60 year old female who previous to this had a very good head of hair. I had a triple bypass in September and e-coli sepsis a few weeks later. I was hospitalized for 5 days of intravenous Avelox but not very sick with the sepsis so I’m assuming it was caught early. If my hair loss was caused by the sepsis would it fall out in such large amounts and so quickly. Thank you!

I highly doubt any drug is the culprit of your hair loss, but to lose 50% of your hair in only one month is definitely not normal. There may be medical issues that you are not aware of. You need to see your physician and discuss your issues with him/her. It seems you have gone through some serious illness and surgeries in recent months. Acute telogen effluviums can cause this problem, but the real question is what caused that? I would strongly urge you to be followed by your physician regarding your medication regimen, as I trust your physician is aware of you stopping or weaning off certain medications.

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January 19, 2009

The Difference Between New Growth and Miniaturized Hairs – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

How do you tell the difference between miniaturization and new growing normal hair or the beginning of regrowth from treatment?

New growing hairs are thick, while miniaturized hairs are thin. Under a microscope, a hair that is growing from the scalp will have the same thickness as a hair that is fully grown — it’ll just be shorter. A miniaturized hair will have a thinner shaft and will look more translucent.

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January 19, 2009

Not Seeing Propecia Benefits After Starting Creatine – Balding Blog

thanks for your time.
I am a twenty year old male and I have been on Propecia for about 15 months. Around the 8th or 9th month the drug seemed to be working well, for i noticed much less hair loss. Yet also around that time, i began to take creatine monohydrate, and i saw a decrease in the effectiveness of the Propecia. I was on the creatine for 3 months, and after i noticed its negative effects, i immediately stopped taking it. Now, on my fifteenth month, I am not seeing much effect from Propecia as i did 6 months ago. My question to you regarding my real concern is if the Propecia will gain effectiveness in the next months, if ever? Or have I harmed my chances of regrowth with the taking of the creatine monohydrate?

You may have harmed your hair. Propecia will not pick up the pieces here and save you, but you will now have a new baseline to go from. So yes, Propecia should gain effectiveness in the coming months from your new baseline. I have discussed creatine before (see Creatine and Hair Loss).

January 19, 2009

Hair Loss Information » 13 Year Old Getting White Hairs – Balding Blog

Hi. I’m 13 years old and i’ve been having a lot of white hairs. about 5-10. I’m not sure if its because of stress. but i’ve only started to notice when i was about 11-12. Do you think it’s maybe generic or something on the lines of that? because my dad thinks i have an illness…

Getting white hair at an early age does not mean you have an illness. Some people will see their hair turn white or gray at a very early age. It is genetics. In very rare instances, if there are gray hairs in a patch it can sometimes signify a rare genetic disease such as Waardenburg Syndrome, but you are not describing that problem.

January 16, 2009

Hair Loss InformationWhere’s the Scar? Hair Transplant of 1807 Grafts (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I saw this patient last week for a follow-up and he had a wonderful result from a single session of 1807 grafts in the frontal area. When I looked for the scar to see how well it had healed, I could not find it. The scar was closed with an upper and lower trichophytic closure and the results of doing this make strip surgery more than competitive to follicular unit extraction (FUE). This type of closure allows hair around the wound to grow through the scar, making it extremely difficult to see once it heals. To learn more about this, see Techniques to Minimize Donor Area Scarring. I have been routinely getting this type of healing from trichophytic closures.

The after photos were taken about 22 months post-op. Click the photos below to enlarge.

Before on the left; After 1807 grafts on the right:

Donor area – After. Can you find the scar?

January 16, 2009

Skull Expansion? – Balding Blog

Here’s an interesting theory about your skull expanding, causing hair loss. Anything to this? Big Head, Bald Head- Is Hair Loss Caused by Skull Expansion?

It might be a humorous hypothesis, but there’s nothing to it. The site that is mentioned in that press release states that, “Skull expansion is now being recognized as the true cause of androgenetic alopecia through its publication in the Medical Hypotheses journal“.

A hypothesis is simply what someone (the author of that journal article) supposes. It is certainly not proven or even recognized by the medical community at large. So when they claim skull expansion is recognized as the true cause of hair loss, because it was published in a journal that discusses hypotheses… wow, what a complete joke.

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January 16, 2009

Hair Growth After Chemotherapy – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I would like to know that the hair which are growing after the chemotherapy are healthy , should they be kept or should it be discarded and let the new ones grow after sometime , i am really confused . also the hair which are growing are all grey , what to do , pls answer my query. waiting for the reply. thanx

All the hair that survived the chemotherapy should continue to grow. The hair that is in your hands that has already fallen out is not worth keeping, but new hair should grow to replace what has fallen out in less than a year.

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