Does those who haven’t balding issue will then never experimented BPH issue (Enlarged Prostate Symptom) ?
since both have the same cause ?
thanks
The connection between prostate hypertrophy and balding does not appear connected. There is, however, an association between early genetic balding and prostate cancer (see here.
Snippet from the article:
Health Canada is informing health professionals and the public that certain prescription drugs may be associated with an increased risk of developing a serious form of prostate cancer known as high-grade prostate cancer.
High-grade prostate cancer is an aggressive type of prostate cancer that grows and spreads more quickly than low-grade prostate cancer. This type of cancer is rare, and the increased risk seen with prescription drugs finasteride and dutasteride is still considered very small.
New warnings on this risk have been added to the Canadian drug labels for finasteride and dutasteride products.
Read the rest — Prostate cancer risk could increase with use of hair loss drug: Health Canada
There it goes again. Like the pendulum of a clock, the claims on cancer swing in bother directions (positive and negative). The focus here was on 5mg dose of finasteride (for treating enlarged prostate), not 1mg that is used to treat hair loss. And the focus of the study was on the rarer high grade malignancies classified by microscopic assessment of a pathologist. These conclusions may not apply to the lower dose, nor may they not apply to the young men under 50 years old.
We’ve written about the possible finasteride/cancer connection before, most recently here:
Hi
I recently did research and wanted to know how i can go about finding out whether I am suffering from DPA or DUPA? I am devastated at prospect of potentially not being suitable for a HT due to potentially suffering from DUPA and wanted to know how i can go about finding more out, having density measured and who would be suitable person to see for consultation.
Generally a physician specializing in hair transplant surgery or a dermatologist can diagnose these things. DPA is diffuse patterned alopecia. DUPA is diffuse unpatterned alopecia. One has a pattern and other does not. Under clinical microscopy of the fringe area around the sides and back of your head, the DUPA patient will have significant miniaturization present, while the DPA patient will have a healthy donor area. I do not mean to make light of it, but a good physician should be able to diagnose these things.
Dear doctor, this site has been helping me and guiding me a lot about hair loss. I suggested my brother to start Propecia 3 years ago and with doctor’s prescription he started it and has really been doing very well. Propecia controlled his hair loss and he even got some reversal. He was very happy about it till 2 months ago, where he was prescribed COQ10 by one of his endocrinologist. He started reading all kinds of information regarding COQ10 interactions with finasteride and found this article.
He became so nervous about parathyroid tumor they mentioned in that web site. He is blaming me for suggesting such drug to him now. He has been taking Co-enzyme 10 since 2 months and is worried a lot whether the parathyroid tumour has already started. Please please help him with his anxiety. Do they really interact with each other? What is the solution for such problem.? Your reply will help him get rid of his anxiety.
The COQ10 interaction is news to me. Although I doubt a parathyroid tumor connection, if that is one of his worries, he should seek medical attention to calm his fears. Parathyroid tumors can be diagnosed if he has one.
Hello Doc,
I had my first hair transplant 6 months ago in Texas and I received 1613 hair follicles in the frontal region (That’s what my Doctor claims 1500 + courtesy grafts). I lost all the transplanted follicles within first 2 months and I see few hair follicles growing in the sides.
From the day one I had doubt that I didn’t receive the number of follicles I paid for (1500). I felt I received only 1000-1100 grafts, My buddy did count the number of incisions made 2 days after the surgery. I also went to a hair transplant surgeon to get a second opinion but the surgeon refused to do the counting as he felt it was unethical thing to do. However he convinced me that I would have received the number of Grafts I paid for. He also told me the incisions are microscopic and I cannot count it accurately. As the days went by scabs started to form and I did my research by comparing the photos of people who received same number of grafts as me in the frontal region.
After all the research I’m still convinced that I didn’t receive what I paid for and I feel cheated. It took me great pain and sacrifice to get that surgery and I feel its not even worth it. I have decided to wait for few more months to see, how may hair follicles will grow and how far it covers my bald spot.
My question to you is
1) Is it normal to feel what i’m going through
2) Can someone count the number of incision/grafts accurately after the hair transplant ?
3) Lets say if I get a HT from you, How Am I insured that I receive what I paid for ?
4) Do HT surgeons really cheat ? or Am I just being paranoid ?
5) Lastly In case im really cheated , What Can I do ??I don’t mean disrespect you or the HT surgeons community But I’m very disappointed with my situation. Please answer all my questions and relieve me from this confusion.
Thanks in advance.
I don’t know if it’s “normal” to necessarily worry about getting cheated, but I suppose that depends on your level of trust with the doctor.
On occasion, I have been requested to count the grafts for someone that wasn’t my surgical patient. I had one of my patients feel that he was cheated and took a professional photograph of his head the very next day. He had a large photo printed and placed pins in the wounds that he could see (in the photo, of course) and found that only 50% of the wounds were pinned after the analysis was done. So I managed it by showing him: (a) the count sheets of the 5 individual technicians who did the cutting of the grafts from the strip and we added them up together, (b) I had him come in to watch a surgery on his second day to see if he could identify the wounds in all lighting conditions with good photographs (he could not), and yet he watched us place the grafts to know that the counting process is intricate. He saw that there were two counts that were done simultaneously — one by me audited by an assistant working next to me as the sites were made, and one by the staff cutting up the hairs and grafts from the strip. I invested a great deal of time to address his concerns. I am not sure, to this day, if all of my efforts were successful.
In three people that came to see me to count their hairs and grafts on the 3rd-6th day after surgery, in two of them I found that the counts did not match up. One was off by over half of the amount claimed, one had 90% of what was paid for… and the third was on target.
On another patient, I counted the grafts and the hairs that grew 8+ months after the surgery (the man was relatively bald in the front and top where the grafts were placed) and found that many of the grafts did not grow to the numbers transplanted (about 2000 grafts out of 7600 graft he paid for), and the hairs in each graft had low hair counts. This was done under the assumption that everything on his head in the transplanted area were grafts. I had inside information on this last patient from one of the doctor’s technicians who claimed that this was far more common in that particular doctor’s practice than he could stomach, so he quit working for there.
There is little recourse for the patient if he feels that something improper has occurred, as an investigation would be difficult. I think that most doctors are honest and try to do their best when they deliver a service like a hair transplant or, for that matter, any cosmetic procedure. This, of course as I have said many times before, is a buyer beware issue, and each and every prospective patient should do their research before making a final doctor selection.
Hi doctor Rassman, I just read the update on the new pdg2 thing for hairloss. I emailed you the article yesturday by the way. I just want to know soemthing, what about DHT? does this mean DHT is not the cause and we don’t have to take propecia anymore? I would really appreciata a reply, becuase I have no clue on this.
There is no other identified effective replacement drug yet available, so it would be advisable to stay on your doctor’s prescribed finasteride. Of course, talk to your doctor about stopping or changing any prescription medication if you really are concerned.
We’re all still learning about this new PGD2 research, so I can’t comment further on it. I know everyone is excited about it, but we need to wait and see beyond these initial reports what the reality is.
I’m a 29 year-old male who’s been taking finasteride for about a year and a half. I had been experiencing mild to moderate thinning on my crown and hair line, which seems to have mostly halted, although there has been no regrowth of lost hair.
I’ve avoided minoxidil due to concerns about the shedding it can cause, and the fact that I’m relatively content about where the finasteride seems to have halted my hair loss. My question is, am I losing any potential for regrowth by holding off on minoxidil? Is the expected benefit greater in using minoxidil when hair loss has been relatively minor, compared to beginning its use only when hair loss starts to accelerate?
Finasteride and minoxidil work in different ways, so many patients try both. There is no risk for using these medications together. I have no way to know if minoxidil will regrow hair for you though, so I couldn’t say if you’re missing out on anything by not starting it.
A lot of press coverage recently about the latest protein (prostaglandin D2 or PGD2) identified that may hopefully bring a cure for male pattern baldness, based on a study published in Science Translational Medicine. We will have to wait out the FDA process and see where this is all going to take us.
The suggestion is that this may be a cure to prevent the balding process, but it does not imply that this can reverse the damage from hair loss in the past. The team of researchers was lead by dermatologist Luis Garza (then of the University of Pennsylvania, now at Johns Hopkins University) and by Penn dermatologist George Cotsarelis. Here are some quotes from articles around the web:
From Bloomberg News —
“Male-pattern baldness may be caused by a protein in the scalp, according to research that raises the possibility drugs being tested by Merck & Co. (MRK) and Actelion Ltd. (ATLN) for other uses might prevent hair loss. Bald spots had an excessive amount of a protein called prostaglandin D2 or PGD2, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. Merck’s experimental treatment for facial flushing and Actelion’s allergy compound, both in late- stage studies, block the protein.“
From The Los Angeles Times —
“The discovery that prostaglandins might be the catalyst that sets baldness in motion, was a surprise to the researchers, who ‘hadn’t thought about prostaglandins in relation to hair loss,’ said Cotsarelis. From there, researchers were able to identify the receptor — the cellular landing dock — for D2, called GPR44. Find a way to block that receptor, or somehow thwart PGD2’s path to it, and, voila! —baldness doesn’t happen. That, say the researchers, will be their next effort — to try topical treatments that block the GPR44 receptor. They hope the same approach might help find treatments that prevent hair thinning in women.“
From MedPage Today —
“To explore the possible mechanisms, Cotsarelis and colleagues examined scalp tissue from 22 white men ages 40 to 65 who underwent hair transplantation for male pattern baldness. None of the men were taking either of the two approved medications for baldness — minoxidil and finasteride. Through genetic analysis of bald scalp tissue and hair-covered scalp tissue within the same individuals, the researchers discovered that levels of prostaglandin D2 were about three times higher in the bald scalp tissue.“
From HealthDay —
“Several companies have compounds in development that block the receptor for PGD2. Those compounds are being studied to treat asthma. We think using these compounds topically… could slow down and possibly reverse baldness.“
Hi Doctor thank you for your help. Can skin irritations trigger Alopecia Areata? I have read many different articles about the triggers of AA but it is still confusing. I see certain chemicals and allergies might trigger another spot. It is hard for me to understand if skin irritations or skin allergies are really enough to do this. Also are there irregular shaped spots or are the spots always round. Thank you for your time.
Alopecia areata can often be spontaneous, but some have tried to connect allergic reactions to it. I really don’t know though, to be honest. The spots can appear singular or at multiple locations, regular or irregular and they can change in size and grow larger.
For more info on alopecia areata, I recommend visiting the National Alopecia Areata Foundation site.
From the article:
The Health Ministry has recalled hair-loss treatment drug “Crescina”, on grounds that it doesn’t make hair re-grow. Consumer organisation Codacons announced that it will take legal action against the move in support of those people who have already bought the drug. “All the people who bought the product, out of confidence in the miraculous effects of Crescina, have the right to be refunded. Moreover, after the molecule that was supposed to make hair re-grow was proved to be ineffective, those who in good faith used Crescina can even claim compensation for the moral damages caused by the deceit”, said Codacons president Carlo Rienzi.
Source — Health Ministry recalls ineffective hair-regrowth drug
We wrote about Crescina back in 2007 (see here) and said back then that, “I wouldn’t look to this for hair regrowth“. Now Italy feels the same way.
