Month: October 2009

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Water Never Touched My Head for 2 Weeks – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,
i recently left my hair unwashed for about 2 weeks, plz dont ask me why, when i say unwashed i mean i never even used water. eventually when did wash i had a lot of hair loss, probably aboyt 200-300 hairs and my hair was very oily too. is this normal? i also wanted to ask you, do you if someone living in the uk can ask their GP to write prescription for proscar.

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ShowerAre you asking if not washing yourself for 2 weeks is normal? I’d have to say no. The hair loss you have seen is probably just shed hair (about 100 per day is normal or 1400 per 2 week period) and these are from the normal hair cycling which were trapped amongst other hairs. Hairs that get entangled on your scalp are normal if you did not wash, but washing your hair will free them up and it might look like a massive loss all at once. I’m speculating, of course, as I haven’t seen you or the loss you describe.

The oiliness isn’t surprising, as you hadn’t washed your hair or scalp in some time and the glands around each and every hair follicle secrets sebum (an oily substance) every minute of every day.

Finasteride is available in the UK, so I don’t see why you couldn’t ask your doctor for a prescription. If you don’t have genetic hair loss though, I doubt you’d get the prescription.

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Density of Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello, I just had a wonderful procedure. Their offices were clean, procedures were excellent, and the staff was very accommodating. In 2002 I had 800 grafts done by another group in San Francisco and then again I just did 3500 grafts. The follicles were transplanted throughout my scalp approximately 25 FU/CM2. I have a very nice NW2 hairline. Also, I had a very high number of 4-hair grafts. Over 400 of them! They excised a strip of 3500 grafts and got 3703!!!

Do most of your patients get about 25FU/cm2 and are happy with it? I think it will be ok but just need reassurance.

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A normal person will have 1250 hairs or 600 two-hair follicular units. When converted to cm/square, that would extrapolate to 100 follicular units per square cm. If you received 25 follicular units in 1 cm, that would suggest that in one procedure, the doctor returned 25% of your normal density on the transplanted area. This is often not really the case, as some areas will have higher densities put in and other areas lower densities. For a person with average weight hair, olive skin, and brown hair, 50% densities overall should be more than enough to produce a full appearance. If you had a high number of four-hair grafts, then that might mean that your overall densities are higher than average. I generally target 25% density return on the first session, but at times I will go higher or lower depending upon other factors.

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Did Steroids Make My Hair Fall Out? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I took steroids for 2 months and it made my hair on the top of my head thin dramatically. I do not have a receding hairline but I have lost a lot of density up top. My question is did the steroids kill my hair follicle within 2 months and it is gone never to come back or did the steroids I take make the follicles go into telogen? I was under the assumption that MPB takes more than a couple of months and a prolonged period for the follicle to die. It makes a big difference to know whether this hair loss is temporary versus permanent!!! THANKS IN ADVANCE

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Steroids do not “kill” your hair follicles, but they can accelerate androgenic alopecia (this is assuming that you have androgenic alopecia). Each person reacts differently to the steroid, so I really can not answer your question. Your doctor may elect to take miniaturization measurements of your hair, do a work up for telogen effluvium, and start you on finasteride (Propecia) or minoxidil (Rogaine) if he feels that these things will help return your hair to normal. The worst part of steroid use is it occasionally starts a latent state of genetic alopecia and moves it along faster. You need to be under the care of a good doctor.

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In the News – Biker Chick Fights Breast Cancer, Loses Hair to Chemo – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Robin KettlewellIn the early ’80s, Robin Kettlewell had a thing for punk rock and a haircut that showed it: purple, with three stripes shaved into one side of her head.

So when she faced losing her hair during chemotherapy for breast cancer this summer, she knew what to do. First she had her long golden brown hair cut off for Locks of Love. That soon became a brush cut that she dyed pink. A few days later, that turned into a pink Mohawk.

Now though, 11 weeks into chemotherapy, she goes proudly and completely bald. Shopping. At restaurants. In her Saturn Sky convertible. But when riding on either of her two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, she always wears a helmet – always. She’s not going to do anything stupid, after all.

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Read the full article: Breast cancer patient faces the disease “head first and no looking back”

Robin is taking back control of her life and is showing the world that even cancer can’t keep her down. She’s able to spread breast cancer awareness by being so brave. Check out the blog Robin created to share her journey.

We wish her the best of luck!

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Are Miniaturized Temples Part of the Mature Hairline? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

hey dr rassman,
thanks for answering all my questions. first off, my question today is about temporal hair loss and its relation to the maturing hair line process. is this loss (temporal) related to the maturing of the hairline? can one lose his temples and have his hairline only mature and not be considered genetic balding? or is the temporal loss due to more recession to come in the future?

thank you

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The maturing hairline is as seen here. If the hairline goes up further, then it is most probably genetic balding. The appearance of a mature hairline has nothing to do with male patterned genetic balding and temporal loss doesn’t necessarily indicate future loss.