I just saw this video and thought you guys might get a kick out of it. It’s only a couple minutes long and explains hair loss and genetics in a very simple way.
Link: YouTube – Science of Hair Loss/Balding
Thanks for sending this. I’ve embedded the video below:
Hi,
Have you seen this article on Stem Cells for hair growth? Wouldn’t the FDA of had to approve this kind of treatment?
Doctors have been doing this for a number of years. In fact, we tried the use of ACell with plucked hairs that were supposed to supply stem cells to grow new hair. We did this according to a protocol, had it approved by an institutional review board (IRB) and then took human volunteers to see if it worked. There was no growth with this technique despite it being promoted by other doctors who claimed success. Although we did not add platelet rich plasma (PRP) to the mix, the stem cells could be seen on the plucked hair. No response.
Using ACell and PRP is not something that the FDA must rule on. This falls within the confines of the practice of medicine. If something other than ACell was sold for this purpose and claims were made that could not be proven, then doctors who made unproven claims can be prosecuted by various state and federal agencies. The FDA uses terms like “safe and effective” and this has become impeded in the law of the land.
I would love to see this work, so I will keep a keen eye on those who are doing this and wait to see results. Seeing is believing, and so far, no evidence has been presented that this approach really works.
Dr.Rassman
Is there any way to accurately determine if you are going to be a person with very slow hair loss or a person with fast hair loss?
The reason I ask this is because I went to school with a guy who had slight recession in his temple area but wasn’t really that noticeable. It lasted like that for years and then all of a sudden it picked up and became very noticeable, and then slowed down now (I think) that he is in his early 30’s. Thanks
A good hair doctor can measure the rate of (a) miniaturization of your hair in different areas of your scalp and (b) the changes in hair bulk over time. I use these two approaches to make the diagnosis, and when I put a person on a drug like finasteride, I can see if I was successful at stopping the balding process. It would make little sense to me to use these instruments to follow the loss of hair and the rate of loss without treatment, but it would give you an idea on the speed of your hair loss over time.
Hi Dr. Rassman,
Does smoking weed before a hair transplant affect the hair transplant in any way? When i say before, I’m referring to like a day or two before the procedure.
Thanks
I don’t have a clue. If you plan on being the test subject, you should discuss your plans with your surgeon.
Doctor how common is hairloss from stress in men? Im just talking about daily typical stress? how severe does the stress have to be to accelerate genetic balding in men in your opinion?
Stress, if it is not well managed, can accelerate hair loss in those who are genetically prone to balding, but for most men it is genetics that are the cause. I don’t know at what severity your stress levels need to be before the loss is accelerated, as stress is difficult to measure across the board. Each person is different and will react to stress differently.
There are other conditions that cause hair loss that can be stressed induced, such as alopecia areata (there is a genetic link with it), telogen effluvium, and other autoimmune diseases. If you’re concerned that your stress is accelerating your loss, see a doctor about getting your stress under control. Chances are though, if you’re a man that is seeing hair loss, your genes are playing a larger role in the speed at which you’re thinning.
dear doctor
i have heard about the news of replicel. i searched their website and found something weird. In their paper, there are two photos in the first page, but i cannot see any change in hair density as they claim. Can you explain it to me? thanks
I do not know much about this, but based on what you linked to, it looks like they are proposing to test 108 men in phase 2 (it does not seem like this has been done). As they word it, it is “anticipated that implanted cells will migrate to damaged or dormant follicles and help rejuvenate them“. They do not mention the science. They seem to stress the monetary dollar amount of the hair loss market (more so than the science), so they are likely looking for investors.
Finally, I do not see much hair density in the photo myself, at least not visibly/cosmetically. Perhaps someone else more informed about RepliCel can provide more.
i am 31 years old female, not married yet and i am having male pattern baldness as my doctor said. i started mesotherapy sessions using dutasteride and minoxidil and some vitamins. i am concerned about using dutasteride but my doc said its not harmful as finasteride. is that true?
my question is if i got married and it is possible to get pregnant, when should i stop taking the sessions of mesotherapy before getting pregnant? and thank u so much
The use of dutasteride or finasteride in pregnancy may impact the sexual development of the fetus in the first trimester (i.e cause birth defects). For this reason, doctors should not prescribe this drug for women who may become pregnant.
Hello Dr. Rassman,
I am a 24 year old male who has been taking 1.25 mg generic finasteride for the past 2 years. My results have been pretty excellent, as I can see the outline of my juvenile hairline at this point, just not nearly as full as it was in my teens.
Over the past month the amount of hair loss I experience on a daily basis seems to have increased; instead of seeing 3 or 4 hairs on my hands during a shower, I see maybe 20 or so, and the area around my hairline feels somewhat sparser than what it was a number of months back. Could it be possible to see such good results from Propecia in under 2 years, only to loose those benefits in a number of months?
The only major changes in my life over the past few months have been the taking on of a full-time job with my full-time school schedule, and the addition of weight training. Though I don’t identify any of these as major sources of stress. I also take 2 showers a day, and have been finding my scalp to feel irritated once in a while, accompanied by a fair amount of dandruff.
Would any of these seem to be potential culprits, or is it simply a matter of my genetics making their presence known? Thanks for the excellent site, and keep up the fine work!
Think about a tug of war — on one end is the pull from your genetics on hair loss, from the other end the pull from finasteride. Sometimes it is a draw, sometimes the finasteride wins temporarily, and sometimes the genetics prevail. There’s no exact time table that all patients will see results from finasteride, but some patients can see results for over a decade.
In your case, it’s possible that finasteride simply isn’t keeping the hair loss at bay as well as it once did… or maybe you’re experiencing something completely unrelated. There’s no way for me to know just based on an email, so I would suggest you see a good doctor for the answer to your problem. A doctor should be able to provide you some metrics via measuring your hair bulk, which will tell you if your hairline is indeed thinning compared to the rest of your scalp.
There is a new shampoo that claims to make hair grow faster, and MSN are backing it up.
Link: The shampoo that makes your hair grow fasterIf this is a reality, could a baldness combating shampoo be on the market soon? Do you really think this works, or is it pseudo science junk?
For what it’s worth, the article on MSN looks more like an advertorial than a news piece.
The product is by Nisim, and is called F.A.S.T. Shampoo, but I don’t know what the initials stand for. They claim it makes hair grow up to 99% faster, but I have no clue what makes this shampoo special. Besides prices and claims, actual info is tough to find on this. Looks like pseudo science to me.
Hey doc. I’m just wondering something. Since you’re willing to trial the laser hat technology would you also be willing to try out Dr Gho’s smaller 0.3m FUE punch.
I don’t really care about the supposed hair multiplication stuff that he claims but I am really interested in the size of his punch. And I am interested in the size of his punch because cosmetically speaking its really hard to see any white dot scaring on any of his patients.
Lots of people on various forums are showing really good photographic evidence of what I would simply call really really really refined FUE. The proof does seem to be out there and since I know for a fact you fight for the balding brothers would you be willing to try that out on willing patients? in the name of science and progressing FUE technology.
Cheers!!
I assume you mean a 0.3mm punch, not 0.3m.
I am open to any innovation, but I am also a realist. Have you actually gotten out your microcaliper and measured what a 0.3mm diameter punch really looks like? It is smaller than a hair follicle, and smaller than a hypodermic 30 Gauge needle (OD). See the needle gauge comparison list here.
