Month: October 2009

dr rassman
quick question regarding dht and hairloss. if dht was some how able to be 100 % blocked would that totally stop hairloss or is their more to it than that ?

We know that if the testicles were removed (as done in one of two identical twins in a study in the 1950s) that hair loss will not occur. We also know that once the hair has been exposed to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), the impact is dramatic in the speed of the hair loss. The twin that had his testicles removed for mental illness (a barbaric process) had a full head of hair, but was given testosterone and rapidly lost his hair. The other twin, with both testicles in tact, went fairly bald naturally.

With all that being said, the complete blocking of DHT might not be the only solution to eliminating hair loss. There could be other factors in play, such as various diseases… or even something else entirely that has yet to be discovered or proven.

(male) I am currently experiencing significant hair loss. Whenever I VERY lightly pull on a small section of hair (1/2 inch area) on the top, back and sides of my head, 1-5 hairs come out without fail! Is this normal for someone who is balding, because I am not washing my hair regularly due to the excess amount of hairs that will come out on my hands. Normally, if I lightly wash my hair, being as gentle as possible, literally 40-75 hairs will come out on my hands! By the end of the shower, there will be hundreds of hairs lining the bathtub. Please let me know if this is normal, and if not, any causes for this terrible situation.

I will sympathize that you are noticing hair loss, but a normal amount of hair you should lose is around 100-150 a day. Do you have product in your hair that is trapping the loose hairs, which are then released during a shower? I really do not know what to tell you based on your description, but it’s possible that you may be balding and this may be an early sign of genetic hair loss. I don’t want to get you too worried about it yet, as I’m just making guesses based on a few sentences you wrote. I’d need to examine your scalp to see what’s what.

Is there a pattern as to where the hairs are falling from? In other words, do you lose hair on top of the head but not on the sides or back? This would point more to genetic balding. If you are worried I would consider seeing a doctor for a better diagnosis and a miniaturization study. I believe you indicated you’re nearby my office in Los Angeles, and if so, you can call my office 310-553-9113 to setup a free consultation.

Hello,

A year ago, I had a bad habit of pluck my hair off. I stopped after realize how bad it was. I have lost alot of hair, and after cut my hair short for a year to wait for it to grow back. It did, but it only 1/4 or 1/3 of how much hair that I had before. What can I do? Please help!

What you are describing is a disorder called trichotillomania. We’ve written about this in the past. There’s been a small study about an over-the-counter pill that may stop you from getting the urge to pull out your hair, but that’s somewhere down the line and hopefully you won’t need it anyway as you’ve stopped the plucking. Unfortunately if your hair has not grown back in over a year, it will likely never grow back. There’s not much you can do.

Depending on the severity, one option may be hair transplants. Doctors generally do not perform hair transplant surgeries on patients who pull/pluck their hair, for obvious reasons as the old habits usually return and any gain from the hair transplant is impacted by the same process as before.

Snippet from the article:

The Food and Drug Administration has allowed drugs for cancer and other diseases to stay on the market even when follow-up studies showed they didn’t extend patients’ lives, say congressional investigators.

A report due out Monday from the Government Accountability Office also shows that the FDA has never pulled a drug off the market due to a lack of required follow-up about its actual benefits — even when such information is more than a decade overdue.

When pressed about that policy, agency officials said they have no plans to get more aggressive.

Read the full story at USA Today.

The policing arm of the federal government seems to fail because of lack of funding for that activity. The results are shown in the above linked article. It seems that the Hurricane Katrina debacle is the same government style they use in managing its agencies. For those of you who saw 60 Minutes this weekend (watch the video), you can marvel on how the US government is failing in the management of Medicare expenditures and now we are trying to take that expertise into the development of national healthcare policy.

Do you think it’s possible the Celestron 44300 handheld digital microscope, that you recommend for mapping miniaturization can harm newly placed grafts on someone who just had a hair transplant? (Im mainly concerned with the LED illuminator, could that possible cause damage?)

I would doubt that the light from the hand held microscope will have any impact on the health of your hair.