Month: March 2009

Hi Dr. Rassman,

I am a 23 year old male from Birmingham, United Kingdom. I do not actually have any history of MPB in my family and I am not going bald. I was involved in a car accident in October 2006, I received multiple injuries of which I am mostly fully recovered now.

I received a serious head injury and around the centre of my hairline at the top of my forehead some hair was obviously damaged or torn out with the result being a slightly thinned area (about the size of a 2 pence piece – English money). I also was put into a neck brace which again rubbed a small area of hair out of the back of my head (pressure alopecia?)- approximately a 2 centimetre by 2 centimetre area which has not grown back.

None of the above is really noticeable to anybody other than myself as I have grown my hair to hide the problems but I would like to have my hair very short as I used to. Is there anything that can be done? If so could you please recommend a surgeon in the United Kingdom as I do not wish to have anything done unless I get a recommendation from yourself.

You are correct that the best thing to do first is to see a hair transplant surgeon and get an opinion from him. Dr. Bessam Farjo is well known in the UK, with offices in London and Manchester.

The rubbing is causing traction alopecia and any hair loss that you experienced from wounds in your scalp would have healed if the hair was to regrow on its own.

Dear Dr. Rassman,

My hairline has started to mature only just now at 26. I’ve visited a dermatologist and we are both satisfied that there’s nothing beyond the mature hairline area that’s currently at risk.

My question is, all other things being equal, is someone whose hairline matures early (at 18) at a bigger risk for baldness later in life than someone that matured at my age? I know that MPB is an incredibly unpredictable beast but I was wondering if there was a correlation.

Thanks!

Assuming that there is no miniaturization behind the leading frontal edge of your maturing hairline, the answer is that there is no correlation between a maturing hairline and male pattern baldness, regardless of age.

Is going bald even such a big deal. I know that many men could really care less about the way they look, the only reasons we keep our appearances up is for the ladies and for our professions. But there have been bald people throughout history, some of the sexiest men alive were bald. Do you think we are just becoming too vain and obsessed with our image?

Aging is a part of life and should be accepted. Today we here about older people taking anti aging creams, special diets, “get those 6 pack abs”, and so on. I think this is hurting us a lot and we many of us are losing our self esteem which is terrible. We should feel comfortable with ourselves.

Am i right? You Dr.Rassman are 67yrs old and look damn good for your age, there is nothing artificial to your image.

Why are we so self centered these days?

There are many reasons for this. History has shown that when men got sick (tuberculosis over the course of human history) they lost hair and died early, so when selecting a mate, women picked men who had good hair, because in the search for a husband they could not have a man would would die on them (not good for long term futures and babies). This had a great deal to do with prejudice against balding men. Men when they are in their 20s don’t yet have enough confidence in their manhood, so losing hair seems to exacerbate the balding problem. I’m not a psychologist or sociologist, but I am a surgeon that helps men improve their image… so maybe I’m the wrong person to ask a question like that.

Would it be safe to assume that you, the author of the above question, has no hair loss and no sensitivity to balding as a male problem? Do you think that George Clooney would look sexy as a bald man? If so, I have not seen him shave his head as an alternative style. I had someone on my staff do a quick Photoshop of what Mr. Clooney might look like bald and put it side-by-side with a typical look for the actor. Which do you prefer?