February 2012 – Page 7

February 7, 2012

Why Would Finasteride Side Effects Show Up After a Decade of Use? – Balding Blog

I was just wondering if you knew why the side effects of Finasteride can show up after 10 years or longer. Surely after this amount of time the body is used to the drug, are there any cases where Finasteride has been proven to be the cause of this and not from other conditions such as diabetes etc.

I find it worrying that the sides could strike at any time.

Thanks

I do not know. One guess is that after 10 years you have simply aged with all its age related issues. We know that the older a man gets, the less his libido and his performance abilities with regard to getting and holding an erection. It is believed that erectile dysfunction occurs as follows (as a simplified rule of thumb):

Men in their 20s have a 20% incidence
Men in their 30s have a 30% incidence
Men in their 40s have a 40% incidence
Men in their 50s an even greater rise in ED

As you get older, sexual issues become more of an issues even without any medication being the culprit. Please speak with your doctor. An unhealthy lifestyle, poor diet, obesity, and/or genetics cause diabetes – which is one of the main cause for erectile dysfunction (among a slew of other co-morbidities).

February 7, 2012

After Playing Sports in Freezing Weather, I’m Seeing Hair Loss – Balding Blog

Hello Doctor

I am a semi pro soccer player . Last week i had to play a couple of 90 minute outdoor games , running up and down in below zero temperatures and freezing north wind (no head cover allowed in soccer games ) . Ever since i think i notice more hair falling when showering or combing . Corellation or causation ? Permanent or temporary loss ?

I just returned from a trip from Antarctica. I didn’t notice any more bald people in the freezing weather down there. I do not believe your 90 minutes of soccer play and shower has any correlation with hair loss.

February 6, 2012

Hair Loss InformationHow Long Should I Wait Before Considering Filling In My Strip Scar with FUE Grafts? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Thanks very much for the informative blog.

Say a strip patient is about 6 months out from FUT surgery and now has buyers regret (please, no reminder about thinking things through first!), and wants to fill in the scar with FUE/beard hair/etc. Is there any advantage to do it at this time or does one need to wait one year. I wonder if scar is more or less vascular when healing. Thanks.

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If the donor scar has healed, you don’t need more surgery, and the scar is narrow, then follicular unit extraction (FUE) to the linear scar is possible. FUE does not fill in wide scars well, though. Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP), on the other hand, may be a better approach. Explore it all.

February 6, 2012

Why Don’t Doctors Make it More Clear That Eyebrow Transplants Grow Fast – Balding Blog

For people undergoing eyebrow transplants, the biggest problem is the increase rate of growth of the transplanted hair, which requires the candidates to make frequent visits to the parlor (weekly!) or perform some sort DIY at home. My questions are:

Why don’t surgeons “STRESS” this and its implications? Most surgeons who I have personally consulted have stated this very casually, and some even neglected it. It was only after I spoke to a few women who had had eyebrow transplant that I understood how much of a severe problem this is, which, if not treated weekly, can result in severe social embarrassment.

We’ve written about the need to trim transplanted eyebrows more frequently due to the more rapid growth rate than the rest of the eyebrow hairs. I can assure you that not all surgeons try to hide this. Maybe you saw the wrong surgeons. Generally, you should consider trimming the new eyebrow hair three times a week, as the transplanted hair will grow at a rate of 1/2 inch per month.

I often write “buyer beware” about the many hair products we’re asked about. It also applies to the doctors.

February 6, 2012

A Patient Sends Thanks and I Couldn’t Be Happier – Balding Blog

Thanks I received a thank you card from a patient that I wanted to share. This is what was written on it:

“You truly deserve a bigger thank you than this card for what you did. I will forever remember what you did. Thanks for my new hair. May this new year of 2012, bring good health and love to you and your family.”

On the same card his sister wrote: “Thank you so much for my brothers new hair! It’s truly awesome.”

Each time I receive such cards, emails, or letters, I get emotional because I know each patient personally. The relationship I develop with every patient is what makes this profession great.

All of my patients have my home and cell phone numbers and are told to call me anytime of the day or night if they are worried. The other night, a patient called me at 10pm with some bleeding that he said would not stop, so he and I met at 11pm at my office. I put him in the hair wash room and washed off all traces of blood and then took him to the operating room (I did not call my staff in) where I examined the patient. All signs of bleeding had stopped. He apologized for bothering me and I told him that this was my job and no apology was necessary, so instead of working on his ‘bleeder’ which had gone away without any help from me, we just talked and joked over many things that we had in common. We both enjoyed our time together and left the office around midnight.

February 3, 2012

I’m 16 and Have Thought of Suicide Because of My Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

hey.
im a 16 year old boy presently living in auckland. im fighting to cope with my problem…ie hair loss….
i keep losing a lot of hair every time i comb my hair…about 20 of them…..and i lost all my confidence and courage….i just cant go to my high school any more….and there are times that i thought of suiciding also…

pls help me…i tried talking ti my parents but they just tell me that im paranoid…..again pls help me….im really struggling

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Teen depression I am sorry that you are having a hard time with hair loss. Losing 20 hairs a day is very normal, as one can lose 100-200 hairs a day and this can be normal in many men. In its place new hairs are growing without you even noticing it to replenish the hairs that have fallen out.

If you have genetic androgenic hair loss, there are medications that can also help. Empower yourself with education and knowledge about hair loss. If there are other issues, speak with your parents, your counselors at school, your friends, or relatives. Someone will listen, so don’t give up. The problem may not be as large as it seems. Get a medical assessment to find out if you are really losing your hair.

February 3, 2012

Hair Loss InformationHepatitis B Vaccine and Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I just started the Hep B vaccine and am experiencing hair loss at 54. Will it grow back?? I’m very concerned because of my age.

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All health care workers receive hepatitis B vaccine, yet health care workers are not at any increased risk for hair loss. What you may be experiencing may be coincidental or very rare.

I did find this quote from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: “There have been rare reports of hair loss after hepatitis B vaccination, with the majority of individuals regrowing their hair (Wise, 1997). Studies are in progress to better quantify the possible slight risk of hair loss.”

February 3, 2012

The Only Side Effect I’m Getting from Propecia is Needing Less Deodorant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,

Hello and Good day.

I just wanted to say thanks to Dr. Pak. At 25, with only slight recession, Dr. Pak saved me a great deal of time and heartache by getting me on medication first. Believe me, I consulted other clinics and they were all too willing to transplant me. In addition, I saved a great deal of money by getting the generic drug instead of Propecia (NHI was the only clinic to offer this and save me money!)

I also wanted to quickly chime in on the whole Propecia side effects debate. To be clear, I am now 27 and healthy. Since Dr. Pak started me on Proscar a couple of years back I have had no negative side effects from the drug. Everything is normal.

The only side effect I have experienced since starting the drug (other than not losing hair)is a palpable decline in the amount of deodorant I have to use. What was one a daily routine is now limited to heavy exercise. Have you ever heard of something like this from any of your other patients?

Weird, huh? Thanks again!

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Thanks for the kind words. Glad to hear the we also saved you money on your deodorant use. What you’re reporting is unusual, but I have heard of a similar side effect only a few times in the many years. It must be rare, along with reports like less body hair growth.

February 3, 2012

Syphilitic Alopecia – Balding Blog

How do you distinguish between Syphillytic Alopecia and DUPA Androgenic alopecia? I’m probably experiencing Andro Alopecia diffusely around my entire head but I just want to make sure. Is Syphillytic alopecia treatable? How do you test for it?

Thanks

In a very basic sense, physicians diagnose patients by taking a history and examining the patient face to face. In more recent years with the advent of the Internet, many self diagnose and run into conflicting information and/or scare themselves with wild diagnoses.

If you think you have syphilitic alopecia, diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA), androgenic alopecia (AGA), or any other form of alopecia, a good start is a visit to your doctor. And if you do believe you have syphilitic alopecia, I’d think hair loss would be the last among your list of concerns, since other symptoms of syphilis would be hard to ignore. Tests are available to diagnose syphilis.

February 2, 2012

How Does Propecia Prevent Shock Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

My question regards shock loss and the use of Propecia to prevent it. What I don’t understand is, if Propecia’s role is to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT, but shock loss is due to trauma rather than DHT, how does the use of Propecia prevent shock loss? It seems like if shock loss is due to the trauma of the surgery, a DHT blocker would not help much. Thank you for your insight.

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While we do say that Propecia can prevent shock loss (hair loss following a hair transplant), there is no study I can cite that shows it. The appearance of Propecia on the market in the early days clearly changed the course of hair loss after transplant surgery. We have extensive experience both before and after Propecia became available. In the days before Propecia, I can tell you that the accelerated hair loss after surgery was a real problem which I had to confront, and I frequently chased the hair loss after the first transplant. After the drug was introduced, the accelerated hair loss on patients with Propecia seemed to disappear.

The important idea is that when a patient is on Propecia it is working on the DHT susceptible hairs. Thus when a hair is transplanted in those areas, Propecia will still be ‘helping’ to sustain the native hairs. We do not know the mechanism, but we can postulate that hairs that have been exposed to Propecia seem to be more resilient.

Finally, you do not have to be on Propecia to have hair transplant surgery, particularly if you are above the age of 40-50, have had a stable hair loss pattern that has not advanced in the past 10 years, or have had a recent hair transplant in the previous 2-3 years without experiencing accelerated hair loss.