What’s going on with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal’s hair?
It looked like a normal mature hairline all the way in to his late 30s. He is now 40 years old and while he doesn’t appear to frontal or vortex hair loss, the part on the right side of his head is getting pretty wide.
Maybe he was having a bad hair day. It could be that he is has a Norwood 3 hair loss pattern with a persistent forelock going on. There is nothing wrong or right about it.
I am 1 month post-op on my 3rd transplant. Just curious why I can’t see the tiny holes where the grafts were placed as compared to the first transplant. I recall this from my 2nd also. The scabs have healed. I look for the incisions but can’t see them. Is it because existing hairs make it hard to see or because the incisions have healed and the grafts are beneath the skin?
I can only guess. Maybe the surgeon used a smaller instrument making smaller holes, or maybe the holes are not there because there were no hairs transplanted on the area you are looking at. Could the holes have healed so that you can’t see them? That will depend on how long it has been since your surgery.
You should at least see some scabs, unless they were there and it have fallen out. It usually takes one to two weeks for scabs to heal and fall out. Then it takes another few weeks for the hairs to fall out, unless the transplanted hairs were shaved. The main point here is that I have no way to know for sure via email, and it is all a guessing game. The best person to ask is your surgeon.
Dear Doctor.
I am a 34 year old male with slightly receding temples and full hair on the rest of my head who has been taking 1mg Propecia daily for almost exactly 4 years with good results (no regrowth but no extra balding). Over the last year I had 2 blood tests that have shown an increased level of creatinine (not creatine). I mentioned to my GP this could be from propecia use. He suggested I quit the drug for 2 weeks and have another blood test to see if there are any changes. So I have two questions for you:1: are you aware of any increase in creatinine in the blood from propecia use?
2: will quitting for 2 weeks affect my hair loss/growth
Many thanks in advance.
Stopping Propecia for 2 weeks should not impact your hair loss/growth significantly, if at all.
In general, elevated levels of creatinine is a non-specific measurement of the state of your kidney function. It is VERY important that you follow up with your doctor for this. You may have other serious medical issues unrelated to Propecia, since Propecia is a drug that is metabolized primarily by your liver (not kidney). I would not expect Propecia to affect your kidney function or creatinine levels.
Hi,
i had a hair transplant done 3 months ago. now i am seeing some thin hairs on the transplanted area. but when i apply shampoo or oil, the hairs are falling out. is this a problem?
Perhaps what you are seeing is the old transplanted hair shafts that never fell out. Maybe you are seeing your existing native hair falling out. Or maybe you mistook your bottle of shampoo for a bottle of hair remover. It could be that there are other unknown issues going on. Make an appointment and see your doctor. Have an open line of communication with your surgeon and see him/her for a follow-up to see how your transplanted hairs are doing.
What is the solution to the comments made by persons with patchy hair problems on the neck? Is it vitamin deficiency?
Hair loss or patchy hair at the neck can be from a variety of issues. Without a good examination and medical history taking (otherwise known as seeing your doctor), your guess is as good as mine. Sorry.
Dear Dr,
Like many readers of your blog, I cannot thank you enough for your contribution and this blog. I stumbled across the site for HIS hair clinic.Seems like they like to promote SMP as their invention (specifically noting promotion of HIS hair clinic over NHI). Any thoughts?
They did actually develop the technique and used it before we did. The biggest difference is that their work with clients does not have a medical focus. When they do the process, they can not use anesthesia and have little experience with treating hair problems since they are not doctors. As a medical group specializing in hair restoration, we focus on the Master Plan that may include SMP as well as hair transplant (FUE) and even medications. We have more than Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) in our arsenal for treating hair loss and we know the hair loss field far better than they do. This does not mean that HIS Hair Clinic is not good at what they do. They are just different with a different focus.
For the young man who has no medical problem or interest in a medical / hair evaluation, then HIS clinic works well if the client is in their area. It should be noted that they have licensed many individuals throughout the world, so quality control of the process may be an issue. Finally, the hairline creation and achieving a proper frame to the face is also something NHI has been doing for the last 21 years.
Hello Dr. Rassman,
First, I just want to state that I have been a follower of your blog for years. I am a fan of your work.
I have a question for you in regards to Propecia. Five years ago, I bought Propecia online. I started to take it once a day, and I suffered from enormous pains in my left testicle. After a few weeks, I stopped taking the drug. I bought this online without a prescription. Guys, do not buy your drugs online without a prescription!
This pain has lingered for a long time. I went to my family physician, and he prescribed me Proscar cut into quarters. I have been taking this for two years and it has halted my hair loss. I am very thin on my head, kind of like your SMP patients once they have completed the procedure. I clip my hair very short and it does not look bad.
However, I still have this pain in my left testicle. Now it hurts in my bladder area. I have taken 12 prescriptions, have been treated for epidydimitis, etc. I have done scrotal, rectal, kidney ultrasounds as well as a CT scan on that area. The specialists have found nothing wrong with me.
However, I still have pain, so here is my question: I know left testicle pain is a side effect of Propecia. Do you know what else I could do to track down this pain? I stopped the Propecia for two weeks and I still had the pain. So either way I have pain, I might as well keep taking it. I feel a throbbing pain in my left testicle and it burns.
If you could give me any advice I would appreciate it! Thanks.
You are reporting a urological problem, so finding a good urologist is critically important as your source of information. Although testicular pain has been reported with the use of finasteride, one should rule out (as you have done with your GP and the above tests) the presence of other conditions that cause testicular pain.
Of course you should discuss changes in your medication with your prescribing doctor… but in general, stopping the drug is a good first step. The stoppage should not cause catch-up hair loss for 2 months or so. So in another month you will know the relationship between your pain and the drug once it is stopped.
I just underwent a transplant 2 weeks ago. Regarding your post on Psoriasis i would have to respectfully disagree. I get have really bad psoriasis in the back of my head (donor area) and it definitely transferred to the recipient area, even so much as to go a little bit on my upper forehead just below where the grafts were placed. On day 7 post op i took a normal shower and with my fingertips rubs all the scabs off. Should i be worried that I could have harmed my potential new grafts? Also please let me know how you would treat this?
If you transferred psoriasis, you would be the first patient I heard of that had experienced this. Rubbing scabs off always worries me, but it will not damage the grafts if it was not done roughly. Your psoriasis should be treated by your doctor, not me over the internet.
I’ve been doing a bit of research and noticed when people get a hair transplant there are usually 2 numbers that come into play. folicular Unit grafts and the total hair transplanted. Do surgeons charge per graft or per hair? I think how it works is say a patient had 400 grafts done (per/unit graft) and a total of 1800 hairs. Each grafts varies whether there’d be 1 hair-5 hairs in the bundle. Correct me if i’m wrong.
thanks
You are correct. The fees actually vary by:
The best quality graft is a follicular unit graft and the number of hairs you get varies from 1-4. When some clinics charge per hair, it makes the price to the patient higher, and if grafts contain a larger number of hairs that are naturally found on the patient’s scalp, they may look pluggy. That is why the follicular unit graft is superior to all other types of grafts. Follicular unit grafts can be obtained with a strip method of harvesting, as well as through follicular unit extraction (FUE).
I am a 48 year old male. About 3 years ago I started noticing significant amounts of hair in the shower after showering. I didn’t think much about about it because my very full head of hair didn’t look any different. About a month ago I noticed that I have thinning in the middle of my hairline. The thinning goes back about 1 cm and is about an inch wide. There is no thinning at the temples or the top of my head at all.
Could this be an unusual presentation of MPB or could it be something else? Note that I am vegan and at one time I did have a zinc deficiency. Also my thyroid was borderline low at my last physical. Please advise.
Thanks in advance
Unfortunately, I cannot really guess at what you have just based on an email, unless it seems specific and obvious. In other words, you’d need an examination. Keep in mind we have about 100,000 hairs on a non-balding scalp. You can lose 50,000 hairs and still look normal. If you have male pattern baldness, then it should occur in a pattern. Perhaps your hair loss is too early to see a pattern and it is just starting in the front? Maybe a miniaturization mapping to see the state of your hairs at a microscopic level may be helpful. You should see a doctor for this.
I am not sure how a zinc deficiency or being vegetarian has anything to do with what you describe.
