September 2011 – Page 6

September 12, 2011

I Stopped Propecia for a Week and After Restarting I Have Side Effects – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi I have been on Propecia for over 5 years with little side effects except a little decreased semen. I missed dosing for over a week because I lost some of the meds. I started shedding alot but restarted my regime. Now I have premature ejaculation and a depressed mood. Is this temporary could stopping for 10 days and restarting have negative effects? Is it normal to shedding that fast from stopping the meds for 10 days? I was getting hand fulls

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Your experience of these new side effects and hair loss is very strange only after 10 days of missing the Propecia dose. This drug, although out of the blood stream in 24 hours, remains ‘fixed’ to the tissues inside the cells for as long as a week. I have no answer to your question based upon how I know this drug works.

I would recommend that you follow up with your doctor.

September 9, 2011

In the News – Fat Cells and Hair Growth – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

A hat may no longer be the only answer for baldness. Researchers at Yale University have found new clues to the causes of hair loss in the fatty skin cells of mice.

Studying cells from the fatty layer, the researchers found that signals from these fat cells were needed to stimulate the stem cells at the base of hair follicles, which are dormant in baldness. These cells could help scientists identify how to treat hair loss in humans.

“The fat cells are important for hair growth. If they’re not there, the hair won’t grow,” said Valerie Horsley, the lead author of the study.

Horsley said her team will now work on identifying the cells in humans that do the same thing.

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Read the rest — Going Bald? The Fault May Lie in Your Cells

It’s another mice study, but it’s at least a place to start. As the article points out, hopefully it’ll lead to new discoveries not only for hair loss, but wound healing and skin tumors.

September 9, 2011

If Stress and MPB Caused Hair Loss, Could There Be Some Regrowth? – Balding Blog

In response to a recent post about stress hair loss vs genetic causes:

Dr Rassman,

What if it’s both? Then does it take one year still to see atleast a little reqrowth? You say a year, but in other posts you have said 6-12 months. Are you talking about how long it takes to first start growing, or how long it will take for the hairs to reach their previous length? Thanks

These numbers of 6 or 12 months are in the ballpark of what we see. It’s an educated guess based upon experience over a long time frame. Either number works, but clearly, if you see regrowth in 6 months then you’re on the lower end of the spectrum. Some may see regrowth sooner than others, but there’s no exact date one can mark on the calendar.

If you have stress induced hair loss AND genetic male pattern baldness, the stress might speed up the existing genetic loss. I really have no way to know if there will be regrowth (or how much) after your stress is under control if you have MPB also at play.

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September 8, 2011

How Do I Remove Scalp Scales? – Balding Blog

If someone has sebhoraic dermititus or Psoriosis, and the creams or whatever treatment prescribed do not totally remove the unsightly dandruff/scalling what should some1 do? If you just leave the dandruff alone will it go away eventually on it’s own? or w/ repeated applications of treatment? Or should I keep washing it? or apply more treatment? I never know what 2 do exactly.

The treatment of seborrhea is best in the hands of skilled dermatologists that specialize in skin conditions such as what you’re describing. I am not the right doctor to ask about it, as I am not a dermatologist.

If you don’t have a dermatologist in your area that a friend or family member can recommend, I’d try the American Academy of Dermatology’s doctor locator.

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September 7, 2011

Where is Nizoral Lately? – Balding Blog

Hi Dr,

I’m a patient of Dr. Pak who came to the office in March. For the past year or so, I have been using a combo of OTC Nizoral and T-gel to combat an itchy scalp. I alternate between the two each day.

However, I can no longer find Nizoral anywhere — it’s gone from Amazon, drugstore.com and any physical pharmacy I’ve gone to. Any idea what happened? I can’t find any substantiated reason for the disappearance online. Also, in the absence of Nizoral, do you have a suggested replacement I could put in my routine?

Many thanks.

Nizoral I haven’t followed the sales or availability of Nizoral (ketoconazole) shampoo. I’ve had a few readers ask about it, but I’ve not been able to find any news. I have no suggestion on a replacement shampoo. Have you contacted the manufacturer?

So I’ll open it up to the readers — have you read anything about why Nizoral has disappeared from shelves?

September 7, 2011

Shedding from Aminexil? – Balding Blog

Hey Doctor.
I use Vichy Dercos Aminexil energy spray for like 2 month and im pretty sure I got some nice shedding from it. is it possible to have shedding from aminexil? Cause I saw that you wrote it acts in similar ways as minoxidil and this one has a known shedding effect. one more question is if there is any difference between the aminexil energy spray treatment and the aminexil sp94.
thank you.

I really do not know much about Aminexil, nor do I have any patients on it that I can recall. I do know some people use Aminexil topically to treat hair loss, but I do not know if it works or if it causes shedding.

In theory, if Aminexil is similar to minoxidil then it may cause the similar shedding you sometimes see with topical minoxidil use.

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September 6, 2011

MEP-90 Laser and FDA Clearance – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I know you guys know about the MEP-90 laser and its manufacturer MidwestRF, I was looking around on the internet and I found something rather interesting.I found a page that goes somewhat in depth about the methodology as to how the MEP-90 received its clearance.

Apparently the MEP-90 study wasn’t double blinded and the the only explanation that the report gave was this: “However, a sham/placebo study is not applicable to the long term required treatment of female androgenic alopecia because too many variations exist that would make it unfeasible to run a large number of experiments and it would constitute unethical treatment of the subjects.”

Interesting considering that the Hairmax lasercomb recently recently received clearance for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in females by use of a double blinded study. This report also stated that Midwest RF has been manufacturing hair lasers since 1999 but all records I could find indicate that the only thing they manufactured were MRI components. It’s also interesting to note that for some reason this company received stimulus funds why I have no idea. Here is a link to the report: here.

tell me what you or someone familiar with clinical trials thinks about it.

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I generally do not trust clinical studies that are not double blinded, or have researchers with something to gain from the results. Most studies in the low level light area have failed to prove that there is a scientific result that is clearly positive.

I’m not a laser expert by any means, so I’ll defer to our readers that have more experience with this.

September 5, 2011

Labor Day – Balding Blog

Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September… and that is today!

We’ll be back tomorrow.

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September 2, 2011

Hair Loss InformationIf ACell Can Regrow a Thumb, Why Can’t it Work for Hair? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr. Rassman and Dr. Pak, Thank you for having this blog. I was wondering if Acell can grow (or re-grow) a new thumb, why can’t it grow (re-grow) a hair follicle? What if a 1mm punch was used to remove a section of the scalp and then the punched area was packed with Acell to see if a follicle will form?

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I wish I had good news to report, but we know from our own studies using ACell powder and sheets in the wounds, that no significant amount of hair (less than 3%) was grown from the plucked hairs moved into the transplant area from the back of the head. I consider that this is not a supportable technique in our hands and I question the results of other doctors who report successful studies. This process is not rocket science that has technical barriers to entry that are for a doctor with my experience.

We were excited about the potential for ACell in hair transplantation following last year’s ISHRS meeting in Boston, but we haven’t been able to replicate anything close to the results from those original reports.

For those that want more information on ACell use in hair transplantation see these past posts:

September 2, 2011

Hair Extensions Pulled Out Some of My Own Hair – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I recently had loc extensions placed into my hair because my hair is very fine and soft and refuses to lock on its own. In the process of it one of the locs on the back of my head was done to tight and eventually came out pulling my own hair with it there is some what of a bald spot there and the hair growing is very very very fine thin and small. I recently shaved my head to get everything on the same level while the rest of my hair is growing at a normal rate this patch is still very slow is this permanent or will it grow back if not is there anything i can do to help it

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Hair extensions can produce traction alopecia, leading to permanent hair loss. Since you just shaved your head, I hope that means you’re going to discontinue using extensions. At this point, you’ll just have to see what happens over the next few months.

If there is permanent loss from the tight pulling, you’ll know within a year or so. Hopefully it isn’t the case, though.