Month: July 2011

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What Happened to Steve Jobs’ Hair? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

This question is a little bit different, but I’m curious what your opinion is.

What happened to Steve Jobs’ hair? If you look here, he had a good head of hair until he was about 40, and then it all disappeared. Now I know Steve Jobs is a sick man, and has probably had several chemo treatments, but I always thought hair grew back after chemo. I also thought that if you didn’t have some hair loss in your younger years (20-30), that you would probably never progress to the level of balding Mr. Jobs has. Do you think his hair loss is genetic, or cancer-related?

Thanks!Steve Jobs

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While it is possible to lose hair later in life due to genetics, we can’t discount what Steve Jobs has gone through with all of his medical issues over the past decade or so. It looks like he was losing hair in his late 30s and 40s, and then he got ill, possibly exacerbating the hair loss issue and leading to weight loss.

Simply put — When chronic illness hits, you lose hair. His multiple medical problems (liver transplant, pancreatic cancer) clearly impacted his hair.

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Scarring Alopecia Related to a Tumor? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I just had a tumor removed during what was anticipated to be a basic appendectomy. Fortunately, my doctor has assured me that the prognosis is excellent and that I don’t have any reason to anticipate any further complications. About 5 yrs ago I was diagnosed with a form of scarring alopecia. What are the chances that I unknowingly have been suffering from a “secondary” form of the alopecia that is directly related to this tumor?

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You’re probably referring to this quote from the Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation: “In secondary cicatricial alopecias, destruction of the hair follicle is incidental to a non-follicle-directed process or external injury, such as severe infections, burns, radiation, or tumors.”

That being said, I do not believe your scalp hair loss has any relationship to the tumor you had in your abdomen.

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In the News – One Woman’s Hair Loss Story – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

My long, thick red hair – the thing I liked most about my looks – began to fall out 5 years ago, when I was 37. I’d perpetually pick hair off my arms, my back, my car seat, my bathroom counter. My shower drain clogged easily. Running the vacuum meant enduring the smell of burning hair.

At first I thought the shedding was temporary and must be connected to a medical problem. I consulted eight doctors, endured dozens of blood tests and spent thousands of dollars. I secretly hoped I had a thyroid problem, a hormone imbalance, some kind of vitamin deficiency, even lupus. I needed an explanation. But all the tests came back negative.

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Read the full story — An agonizing secret: One woman’s story of loss

This article is about a woman who manages to stay strong while she tries to figure out why she’s been losing hair.

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I Want More Facial Hair – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Other than a transplant are there any methods, creams, or procedures to increase facial hair growth? I know it sounds ridiculous but I am 100% serious. I’m growing my beard and its not growing in areas I’d like it to. Thank you

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ShavingIt’s not a ridiculous question, but I don’t know anything about you so I’ll have to generalize. If I assume that you are a young man under 25 years old (you didn’t mention your age), that would be typical of late onset appearance of beard formation. If you wait it out, your beard will most likely appear over the next few years.

I remember when I was 20 years old, my beard was thin and spotty. My father told me to wait and one day it would look like his (very scratchy, coarse hair). He also told me that one day I would wish it did not grow as heavy as his. Oh, was he ever right! That is exactly what happened and over the next 5 years, my beard came in heavy enough that my 5 o’clock shadow came in at about 1pm. Now I wish it never grew in, as shaving is quite the daily chore.

If you are over 25 years old, you might try Rogaine (minoxidil) and apply it to your face twice a day, but be careful you do not overdose the medication and develop side effects that are defined in the drug insert found in the product packaging. It’s not guaranteed to grow a beard, but you don’t really have many options for facial hair growth.

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My Doctor Said SMP Alone Would be a Mistake For My Norwood 6 Pattern – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hey Dr Rassman. I hope your doing well.

I had a consultation with my hair doctor. At which i brought up the proposition of a combined SMP and hair transplant procedure. His response was the 2 would compliment each other well but just SMP alone would be a mistake. What are your thoughts does SMP look more natural when done in conjunction with hair transplantation?

And lastly i recall reading about a young man who won the American Dream contest a few years back. You performed surgery on him as my balding pattern would be close to his (ill prolly wind up developing into a class 6)and our ages are close or were im 23 now(i have been on finasreide since 20) i am interested to see his results. Thank you.

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Each person is a separate case. I can not tell you that Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) plus hair transplants is better than either alone. I make each judgment when I understand the patient, when I see how fast the hair loss process is, and when I can then build a Master Plan. Generally, the hair transplant is the way I start, adding SMP on only a minority of patients.

As for the winner of the American Dream Vote television show (see here if you don’t remember the single episode that aired before it was canceled), the last update photos we had to publish were from 2009 and can be found here.

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Am I Losing My Transplanted Hair 9 Months After the Procedure? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am starting to panic a bit and wondered if you could give me some confidence for the future months. I had a ht approximately 9 months ago in October of 2010. At the end of the 5 month period I could see definite results and was excited about looking even better in the coming months. Friends and family noticed a definite difference from before I had the transplant.

Now I’m seeing a lot more hair loss of what I assume is the transplanted hair since I didn’t have very much hair before the procedure. Do you think that it’s possible that a lot of the transplanted hair could fall out and then grow back in or do you think I might be stuck with no regrowth? I have tried to do everything the doctor has told me to do but am looking worse almost daily. My doctor says that it could take 12 to 14 months for the ending results in my specific case. I sometimes feel he isn’t telling me everything. I guess I’m a bit afraid that I am going to continue to look worse as time goes on. Do you think there’s any possibility that I’m going through a shedding cycle with my ht?

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I would need to see you to draw any conclusions. I generally tell patients to wait a year before questioning the survival and the results of the hair transplant procedure. I wish I could help give you a better feeling, but maybe a visit to me at the 12 month time frame would be a worth while investment.

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Hair Loss InformationVideo of Dr Gho’s HST Technique – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr. Rassman,

I know you are skeptical of Dr. Gho and his claims, and you’ve criticized him before here on Baldingblog.

Now a well-known, reputable hairstylist, Grant from Toronto (known as “Scissorboy”) has been treated by Dr. Gho, with the “Hair Stem Cell Transplantation” technique (HST), and he’s released a comprehensive video about the experience, showing Dr. Gho and his assistants actually performing the procedure.

By the way, Grant did not have any kind of severe baldness, only slight frontal recession. But I think the video nonetheless shows, in quite astounding detail, exactly how the procedure works, and exactly what its potential is. And its potential is actually to redouble the number of hair follicles available.

I believe this is a revolutionary procedure based on some real science, and (unfortunately), it may come as such a shock to many hair transplant surgeons in the US, who have been pretty refractory to new ideas.

Please give us your honest and unbridled opinions of the claims and revelations made on this video: Link

Thank you, Dr. Rassman

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I did report on Dr. Coen Gho in a previous post in a less-than-favorable light. My comments on him reflected what appears to be intellectual dishonesty. I have heard Dr. Gho speak publicly, and what he is doing is the classic FUE technique that I pioneered and published in the Dermatologic Surgery medical journal in 2002 (see here).

There is no doubt that the stem cells in the FUE grafted hair probably causes the growth, but his representations that this is anything more than a typical FUE procedure would be improper. I watched the video and saw what I and hundreds of good doctors have been doing for years. Dr. Gho performed an FUE procedure in the video, not a stem cell transplant.

Don’t get me wrong — I love new ideas, science, research, and invention… but in the end, I would like to see the results. Maybe a follow-up video in 6 months would be good, too.

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Can Rogaine Cause Female Body Hair Growth? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I know Rogaine can cause facial hair, but would it cause a large amount of hair to grow on a woman’s stomach, breasts, and sternum? I have already seen a endocrinologist and my testosterone was only at 4 and everything else was fine as well.

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I have heard of cases and have occasionally seen a woman who developed body hair on the chest, between the breasts, near the nipples, and throughout the abdomen and back with the use of high dose minoxidil. When the minoxidil is stopped, the hair usually goes away.

This complication occurred most commonly when this medication was administered systemically in the treatment of high blood pressure in the 1960-70’s.

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Hair Loss InformationRed Heads More Likely to Go Bald? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve read that red heads have thick strands of hair, but the least amount of hairs on their head. People with brown hair have fairly thick hair strands, and a fairly good density, and blondes have finer hair but a the greatest of hair densities. Wouldn’t that mean that red heads are more likely to go bald, then people with brown hair, and then blondes?

Is there any correlation between hair colour and hair loss? Or doesn’t it matter? So, say for example there’s someone with fine blonde hair, but it’s very dense, they could end up have a full head of hair way into their 70’s?

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To my knowledge there is no connection to having red hair and an increased risk of hair loss as you suggested. The genes for hair color and the genes for hair loss are completely independent of each other.