Month: May 2012

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What is Activance with Rhodanide? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr Rassman,

What are your thoughts on the following hair loss treatment? Is it another scam?

Activance

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ActivanceI don’t know if it’s a scam, but I guess it depends on what you’re using it for. This Activance product claims to treat hair health, but I don’t see anything here that would make it treat hair loss. Strengthening and thickening hair isn’t anything extraordinary, as many hair treatments can do this.

I didn’t know what rhodanide was, so I had to do a little Googling. Rhodanide is also known as thiocyanate, which isn’t a common hair loss treatment outside of guinea pigs. The US distributor of rhodanide says that there is some study (which one?) from 1997 that showed this ingredient regrew hair in 80% of participants in a trial. No real information is given other than that.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but if you want to try the product and report back, please feel free.

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Months After Extreme Illness, I’m Still Losing Hair – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,
I’am 19 years old and suffering from a great amount of hair loss. I got extremely ill about 4-5 months ago and almost lost my life. After the hospital i lost a lot of hair but eventually went to normal a month or two after. A couple of months after, i started losing even more hair. When i wash my hair, lumps of it fall out. I have seen many doctors but they all say nothing can be done. I have been taking Nutricap for a little over a month now and I see no difference. Any suggestions? I feel like i’m going to be bald by 20!

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Hair loss after a major illness can be normal. I can’t explain why your loss stopped and restarted. It may all grow back in about one year time frame. If you were going to eventually bald due to genetics, the illness may have kickstarted your genetic process early… but if the hair grows back, then you don’t have to worry about that being the case. You’ll just have to be patient, though.

Look on the bright side — you didn’t lose your life!

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What Do the New RepliCel Results Mean in Layman’s Terms? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

Replicel results are in! But I couldn’t understand, given the presented statistical data, if there are any reasons to be excited. Not that I’m mathematically crippled or anything, but because I’m not sure what a 12.3% change in vellus hair density would mean to a consumer like me, who is concerned more with adjectives like “bleh, ok, good and awesome”.

Care to share your thoughts for us laymen? Link is:

RepliCel Releases Positive Results from the Interim Analysis of Data from its First-in-man TS001-2009 Clinical Trial

Thanks

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In layman’s terms, I do not know exactly what 12.3% change in vellus hair really means either, but I think that it is safe to say that this is not an awesome result. I would like to know if there were noticeable cosmetic differences in appearance and knowing that the vellus hairs do not contribute much to the fullness of your hair, I would think that any impact would be best described as “ehhh”.

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Lysine and Finasteride – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I started taking lysine with finasteride in the mornings and now my hair has been getting much thinner. Is there an interaction between fin and lysine. I’ve read that Lysine is supposed to be beneficial for hair growth?

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I have no experience with lysine and finasteride together, but it you are getting a negative impact from the combination, it seems obvious to me that you should stop using it. What does your prescribing doctor say?

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Small Hairs at the Maturing Hairline – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr Rassman,
I’m confused! In this previous post (Receding Hairline Corners — Is It Just a Mature Hairline? ) you say that the person in the images now has a ‘mature’ hair line. But when he is holding his hair back I can clearly see a lot of smaller (miniaturised) looking hairs hanging down.

How can this be maturing? I thought you said in another post that generally you don’t see smaller hairs like this at the leading edge of the hair line unless it is maturing?

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In the transition from a juvenile hairline to a mature hairline (like mine), the leading edge often has small vellus hairs in greater quantities than further back.

In a transplanted hairline, the leading edge has very few vellus hairs that makes for a hairline with few softer hairs. In men with coarse hair, I place more single hairs in the frontal edge to try to make up for the missing vellus hairs as this could become detectable on close examination in men who have coarse hair. When I do a hair transplant on a coarse haired man, to adjust for this, I place more one-hair grafts in the frontal transition zone and break it up more that I would normally for a man that has medium or finer hair.

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I Have Severe Dandruff, Diffuse Hair Loss, and Questions – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman,

I have been diagnosed with some pretty serious seborrheic dermatitis (scalp). I have chronic severe dandruff (easily noticeable from a distance), major flaking and yellowish scales. Also, there is intense itching and patchy inflammation.

For sometime now, I have also been losing hair. It has been what is known as diffuse hair loss, but the saving grace is there is no visible miniaturization (after diagnosis), and there is absolutely no emerging pattern (I have always been a NW2 from my early 20s and remain perfectly so).

But the diffuse hair loss is worrying me, since my hair is starting to appear a lot thinner.

My questions are:

  1. Will controlling dandruff and reducing inflammation help stop the diffuse hair loss?
  2. How does dandruff cause hair loss? (More specifically, how does it affect the follicle?)
  3. I’ve heard about cortisones being used for seborrheic dermatitis. Are they effective and safe?
  4. I have been put on a 2% ketoconazole shampoo to be used thrice a week. Is this safe to use for seborrheic dermatitis?

Thanks

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1. Dandruff doesn’t cause permanent hair loss. It is a skin issue.

2. See above answer. If you’re constantly scratching your scalp or brushing out the dandruff, it’s possible you could be causing hair loss.

3. Efficacy or safety of topical cortisone is something that is a doctor/patient issue. Sometimes the use of steroids can induce hair loss. That is why you always should follow your doctor’s advice.

4. Ketoconazole shampoo 3 times a week is a seborrheic dermatitis treatment that many doctors recommend. See here for other treatments.

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Could SMP Fill In My Donor Scarring? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have had some extensive hair surgery done, and it looks quite good. Still I have some scars from the 90’s transplant days and thinning in the crown. Could some SMP be done to fill in just the scars and in-between the grafts for illusion purposes? I’m afraid if I shaved it completely, there is just too much extensive donar scarring from before. I’m afraid I might be stuck at the mercy of Topik or Couvre, but the mess really is a hassle. Thanks!

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If you look at our SMP site, you will see examples of what you are asking about. Micropigmentation is not as good as Toppik for thickening up areas in the crown the way you described your present problem, but if I examined you, I might be able to tell you what benefit you could get. Without examining you, I can’t guess what will happen with the pigment in the crown area where you presently have hair.

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In the News – Man Sues Hairpiece Company and Wins – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

A judge has awarded damages to a man suffering hair loss who had gone to a clinic in Dublin to undergo a hair restoration procedure.

Judge Raymond Groarke held it would have been ridiculous for garage worker Jeremy Keogh to have believed that having a wig or membrane glued to his head would cause his hair to regrow.

He said Mr Keogh (29), St Killian’s Crescent, Staplestown Road, Co Carlow, had succeeded however in convincing the court he had not been provided with what he thought he had purchased at Advanced Hair Studios, Dublin, in March 2009.

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Read the rest — Man wins court case over anti-balding treatment

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A Specialist Recommended Scalp Reduction Surgery For My Small Bald Spot – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,

After having a bald spot on the left side of my head for 28 years, I’d like to do something about it. The bald spot is circular in shape and 2cm in diameter, about 7cm directly above my left ear. The hair fell out when I was 2 and the bald spot has remained the same size for as long as I can remember. I am able to cover it with hair surrounding it, but it does take an emotional toll on me as I see it every day and I have to be very careful every month when having my haircut. I saw a dermatologist about a year ago who told me it’s triangular alopecia. He was not able to locate any hair follicles under the skin, and told me the chance of regrowth is slim to none, especially as there has been no hair there for 28 years. He suggested we first try cortisone injections which did not work, and then referred me to a specialist. I went to see a specialist and he recommended scalp reduction surgery given the small area and lack of hair follicles.

I’ve done some reading on scalp reduction surgery, on your blog and others. The risks seem to be significant (stretchback, slot scaring, hair angled incorrectly, etc.) and it’s clear you’re not a proponent. I’ve also been unable to find any success stories/testimonials online. I’m going to ask the specialist to share more information (# of surgeries he’s done, before/after photos, # of surgeries I’ll need, risks, type of incision, etc.), but before doing so I’m hoping to get your advice.

Given the small area (2cm in diameter) and being able to cover with existing hair, do you think this is a case for a successful scalp reduction surgery? If not, are there any alternatives you’d suggest (e.g., Rogaine, hair transplant)? Both my dad and grandpa have full heads of hair, so I’m not really worry about the hair on the left side of my head receding back to the site of the bald spot.

Thanks for your help!

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You are correct in that I am not a proponent of scalp reduction surgery. This is because over the years I have never seen it work well. I’ve written about this type of procedure before here.

A scalp reduction could be very tempting to the surgeon and the patient, because it makes logical sense — just take out the bald spot — but the best you would get is maybe 50% improvement. Or you might get considerable scarring from this, depending on the location.

There are other options, such as a hair transplant using the follicular unit extraction (FUE) technique into the small area you described. This is a more predictable result, particularly for the small area.

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Everything Looked Fine A Year After Stopping Propecia – A Year After That, It Was Bad – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,

2 questions – first, when I previously used Propecia, 12 months after I quit, my hairline and frontal region, my areas of concern, didn’t look or feel different. 24 months after quitting, it looks much worse…I thought all hair is lost 12 months post quitting, does this mean that my recent loss is unrelated to quitting the medication?

Second, I am thinking of getting back on Propecia for the hairline, I am a NW 3, just looking to get back some of the loss in the last 12 months, is this doable?

Thanks!

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It’s interesting that the Propecia held for a year… or at least, the hair stayed for a year after discontinuing the medication. That is unusual. I suspect that hair loss was really a start-up of a new hair loss process, but I really do not know or have any way to know for sure.

You can restart the Propecia and see what happens. Usually there will be some benefits, but the full benefit you originally got will probably not occur the second time around. Talk to your prescribing doctor.