Month: November 2012

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationDot Scarring from a Large FUE Procedure (with Photo) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I (Dr. Rassman) have had a total of 2200 grafts in three strip surgeries over the past 20 years, the last one being 6 months ago. If you were to look at my single linear scar, most people (even with a comb in their hand looking for it) can’t locate it. My strip scar is certainly far less significant than the mottled scars from follicular unit extraction (FUE) in this patient below. To be fair, if the patient had let his hair grow slightly longer, the scars would be less visible.

This is not my FUE patient, but I was told that he had 2500 grafts extracted in one session four years ago (and saw extremely poor growth). FUE scars like these are very common, and as most people get FUE procedures because they want the option of cutting their hair very short without a linear scar, many of them can’t do so when these dot scars are so detectable. Click the photo to enlarge:

 

I grant that some patients will have visible scarring from a traditional strip procedure, but now with Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) the linear scars can be made undetectable. The same treatment can make these ugly FUE scars undetectable.

My point for this post is that scarring occurs with all types of surgery. Scarring should not be the motivator for the choice of FUE over strip surgery. Considering the cost differential between strip and FUE surgery, this is just part of the calculation each person must do in making the decision between strip and FUE surgeries.

Posted on

Does a Scalp Roller Actually Help Absorption of Topicals? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can I have your opinion on scalp rollers please , if they help with hairloss / absorption of topicals / etc ? Thanks

Block Quote

In theory, it is supposed to help. The concept is to produce very small holes in the scalp, creating a kind of micropuncture of the skin. If it bleeds, then these rollers are going too deep. If it does not bleed, then it may be nothing more than a way of developing more uniform distribution of the medication.

I do not know if it really helps, and I haven’t seen any studies that show one way or the other. Any readers out there want to share their experience with the scalp roller / dermaroller?

Posted on

Does Transplanted Hair Have a Slower Growth Rate? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had a hair transplant of about 1600 grafts almost a decade ago that gave me a great hairline that had been missing for years. I’ve always noticed that when I get a haircut every month or so, the barber will point out that my hair length is uneven in the front. The hair in the transplanted area is shorter than the natural hair in my crown and even at the back of my head. Then I get the hair cut even all the way around and a month later, the barber notices the same length issue.

Does transplanted hair just grow slower or could there have been some sort of damage done to the grafts at the time of the surgery to cause this? The results are amazing and its really not that big of a deal, but I’m just curious if you’ve had any other patients mention slower growth from transplanted hair. Thanks. Love the site!!

Block Quote

Transplanted hair should grow the same rate as the hair on the back of your scalp (where it was taken). However, I do not know of any scientific study that proves/disproves this assumption. Your barber may have made an astute observation, particularly if he sees this with all of his transplanted clients.

Posted on

Non-Hair-Loss News – Man Finds Out He Has Cancer After He Uses a Home Pregnancy Test – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

If you are a lady, and you think you might be pregnant, you can take an at-home test to find out. You simply pee on a stick. Whether the results are measured in pink lines, blue lines, plus and minus symbols, or a “pregnant”/”not pregnant” digital readout, all the home pregnancy tests on the market are really looking for the same thing — Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG).

HCG is a pregnancy hormone. It’s produced by the placenta, a temporary organ that only forms in female bodies when an embryo has attached to the uterine lining. And so it was kind of weird when a male friend of a Reddit user known as CappnPoopDeck peed on a home pregnancy test and it came back positive.

Block Quote

Read the rest at BoingBoing — Positive pregnancy test diagnoses man’s cancer

Wow.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationWill Histogen, Replicel, or Aderans Play a Larger Role Than Hair Transplants in the Near Future? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Balding Blog!

Firstly, I would like to compliment you on a fair and unbiased blog, which really has comforted me since my hair loss has developed!

I would like to gauge your opinion on the developments in cell based treatments for hair loss. I recently read the following announcement from Histogen (Initial Results from Phase I/II Clinical Trial of HSC) detailing the result of clinical trials, which to a my untrained eye, looked very promising!

In general, do you think this and similar treatment (Repicel, Aderans) will play a more exigent role in hair loss treatments, over transplants and medications, in the near future?

Thank you for your time

Block Quote

At the ISHRS meeting last month, there was a great focus that the cure for hair loss will come from mechanisms that awaken the stem cells that are already in the head of balding people. Prostaglandin D2 seems to prevent hair growth, while other prostaglandins compete with it to control the growth. If a drug can block the effects of prostaglandin D2, this could be the cure for balding that we are all looking for.

I can’t say if Histogen, RepliCel, or Aderans will have the next great hair loss treatment, but it’s a big enough market that I think if any or all of these can prove to be effective and safe, they’ll each have their supporters. But that still remains to be seen.

So will these new treatments play a larger role than hair transplant and medication in the near future? Well, I guess it depends on how near you’re talking about.

Posted on

How Soon Might Side Effects Show Up if I Get Them from Propecia? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi, I’m 18 and I’m about to go on Propecia. If I were to experience side effects, how soon would I be experiencing them? (within the first month)

If I do indeed see side effects, should I ‘push through’ them to see if my hormones re-adjust, or should I stop immediately?

Block Quote

Side effects from drugs can show up any time, though generally within the first week to month. Depending on the side effect, some people on Propecia continued to take it and the side effects subsided. Some take half the dose and the side effects subsided. Some just stopped taking and the side effects subsided.

The decision to start or stop the medication is for you and your doctor to make. Remember, it’s a prescription medication so keep an open line of communication with your prescribing doctor.

Posted on

In the News – Actress Kate Hudson’s Hair Loss Following Pregnancy – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Kate HudsonKate [Hudson] told Redbook magazine: ‘When I had Ryder, I was 24 and didn’t really experience any changes to my hair or skin.

‘But with my second child, I got acne, all my hair fell out after he was born, and I definitely had to work out to drop the weight. No pregnancy is easy to bounce back from.’

Block Quote

Read the rest — Kate Hudson reveals she suffered hair loss and severe spot breakouts while pregnant with baby

Hair loss in women following childbirth is usually temporary and can be common with the hormonal changes and stress.

Posted on

Race and Hair Count – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Your blog has stated Asians typically has an average of 80,000 hair while Caucasians have 100,000 hair on their head.

I am from North India quite fair skinned. What would I be classified as? Indians, I believe, are genetically classified as Caucasians.

Block Quote

Unless I am getting too old not to notice the continents drift apart, last time I checked India is part of the the Asian continent. In England, they refer to Indians as Asians. There is some debate about whether racial categorizations are medically valid, but if we measure race based upon hair count, we see groupings by geography. Asians cover Korea, Japanese, and all of China and points south. There, the average total count for hairs on the head measures 80,000 hairs.

Most Europeans average 100,000 hairs on their head. As our geographic tour takes us south into North Africa, the total hair counts start mixing between 80,000 – 100,000 total hair count. Moving more into Asia, the hair counts seem to move towards the 80,000 number.

Taking our tour south into the African continent and the dark skin, kinky hairs starts showing up, the hair counts drop further to the 60,000 range. One can rationalize that the African kinky hair type, reflects accommodations to the heat of the African savannah, where the scalp is a major heat loss organ, acting like a radiator which allows air flow through the hair to dissipate heat.

Posted on

Why Did My Hair Look Better for Months After Starting Medication, But Now I’m Shedding? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have been taking Propecia for 6 Months and Rogaine for 5. My hair in the first 4 months looked so much better. Now at Month 6 my hair is beginning to thin and I am experiencing shedding. is this normal? What is going on? Also what is the best hair loss shampoo?

Block Quote

As we’ve written over and over again, you need to have a doctor examine you and establish clinical baselines before you go on medications. If you did that, you (and your doctor) would know where you were (exactly) 5-6 months ago before you went on the Propecia and Rogaine. Then when you ask “What is going on?“, any good doctor would be able to tell you this. I clearly do not have any idea where you were 5-6 months ago and where you are now. Start off by establishing a good baseline (better now than never) and forward looking, we both might know what is happening to you.

Shampoos have nothing to do with your problem, so I wouldn’t recommend grasping for a simple solution where there may not be one.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationAre The Finasteride Patient Photos You Posted For Real? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

doctor rassman and pak, are the before and after pictures of some of the finasteride users legit? such as these. especailly the first one. propecia did all that, and not even a hair transplant?

  1. Propecia Patient Results
  2. Remarkable Result from 2 Years on Propecia
  3. One Year of Propecia Use
  4. Are Minoxidil and Propecia Worth Using?
  5. Reversal of Frontal Hair Loss from Propecia

Block Quote

All of them are absolutely legit. What reason would we have to lie about it? If they were surgical patients, we would’ve said that in the postings.

That first link shows a man with a line drawn in the before photo because he came in to discuss possible surgery, but was put on the medication and ultimately decided he didn’t need a hair transplant.