Month: May 2013

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Hair Loss InformationThe Hair on the Sides of My Head Started Thinning at 17 Years Old – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr. Rassman

I have a question about a condition I’ve had since the age of 17. During school i first noticed that the hair on the sides of my head started to thin, i then noticed general thinning of my entire scalp hair, i noticed the thinnest hair coming from the crown. as a few years pasted i noticed slight recession on both sides of my hairline.

What i find bizarre is that I’m now approaching 26 and still have pretty good coverage, the only thing I’ve noticed in the last 3 years is 2-3 tiny bald spots in random locations across the scalp (no conventional pattern) my crown thinning has not to my knowledge progressed

What i can tell you is that i am a male, my mother also has entire scalp thinning, but even thinner than mine but no slight recession. i always remember my mother having hair like this.

My father who’s 69 has still got quite a lot of hair, in fact he only started losing a bit of hair around his early 60’s.

If i do in fact have DUPA what does the future hold for me in terms of further hairloss?

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I do not know what you have, but if you have diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA), then in the future you will have diffuse thinning in no particular pattern. I have no way to know how much more you will lose hair though, as everyone is different.

There is a cosmetic treatment for DUPA patients, called Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP). It is not a cure by any means, but it can make you look fuller. In any event, you should see a doctor and get a diagnosis.

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Hair Loss InformationThank You from a Medical Student – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Doctors,

Just wanted to say thank you to your commitment to this website — as a medical student (University of Virginia) I’m impressed daily by your not only your expertise but your willingness to provide honest advice, even when this is not advantageous to you, financially or otherwise. I see too many doctors doing otherwise on a daily basis, unfortunately.

Best

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We appreciate your kind words. :)

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In the News – The Future of Stem Cells – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

In the world of TV soap operas, it’s a familiar storyline. A brilliant but troublesome character who was written out of the script years ago makes an unexpected comeback, sending ripples of excitement through the community but also reopening old wounds. That, in essence, is what happened in stem cell research this week, with the return of a technique called therapeutic cloning. What comes next should make for compelling viewing.

A few years ago, therapeutic cloning looked like the future of medicine. It promised to realise the dream of repairing damaged tissues and organs using a patient’s own cells. But it also had a dark side: producing its supply of stem cells required the creation of human embryos which were later destroyed.

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Read the rest in New Scientist — Stem cells: Back to the future

So maybe this means that within our horizon, we will be able to create hair cells from our donor area with cloning instead of transplanting the hair itself. Of course, this is theory right now and there is much to be worked out… but perhaps this points the map for the work we have to do.

From the same issue of New Scientist, I read another article about stem cells, more specifically about human stem cells created using the Dolly cloning technique:

    “The idea is to take a cell from a patient – from skin, for example – and fuse it with a human egg cell emptied of its own chromosomes. The fused cell behaves like an embryo and generates hESCs [human embryonic stem cells]. In theory, these cells can be turned into whatever tissue the patient needs.”

Hair could be a target for this just as the heart, kidney, or liver can be. I am aware of an effort that was made in the 1990s where hair cells were reproduced and injected into hairless mice. These hair cells grew in the Petri dish, but when injected into mice, they grew wild and in all directions, causing infection that killed all of the mice. Not so easy, huh!

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Hair Loss InformationI’m Between a Norwood 4 and 5 at Just 22 Years Old! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello!

I’m a male that recently turned 22. I’ve been suffering from hair loss for about 4-5 years and started with minoxidil at the age of 19½. The last 9-10 months have been like hell (my hair loss accelerated quickly and the depression started). I had decent coverage all over the scalp last summer but that’s not the case anymore. The hair is thin all over the scalp and I’m soon going to have a baldspot on the back of my head.

I’m somewhere between NW4 and NW5 on the norwood scale. I’ve got alot of tiny almost transparent hair on my scalp.

I want to keep the hair I still got on my head but also reverse it if possible. What do you recommend? Shall I try propecia or even dutasteride?

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Nprwood 5You probably should have started Propecia (finasteride 1mg) when the hair loss process began, instead of minoxidil. Young men can reverse hair loss on finasteride, but without trying it, you will not know. At the least, the process can be slowed or stopped with finasteride.

You need a good doctor to manage your situation, because after all, it is your hair and your future hair loss we are talking about.

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Hair Loss InformationNot Hair Loss News – New Gene Test to Quickly Scan for Cancer Markers – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Cancer patients will routinely be offered genetic tests to help determine the best treatment, under plans being developed at an NHS hospital.

The technique looks for dangerous mutations on 100 genes covering many types of cancer, meaning one simple test could be suitable for most patients. Women with cancers of the breast and ovaries will be the first to benefit at the Royal Marsden Hospital, before the test is expanded to other cancers.

Within three years doctors aim to have a system in place that could be used by almost anyone with cancer anywhere in the country, at a cost of a few hundred pounds.

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Read the rest — Fast gene test for cancer patients

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Hair Loss InformationI Have One Testicle, so Is Finasteride Still an Option to Treat My Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi doctors,
I’m 30 years old and i lost one testicle when i was 18. So now i thinking about my options to stop hair loss. Is finasteride for me? I know about some side effects of fin and i’m worried, but with only one testicle is it still safe for me to start it? Or am i in for more dangers than others?

Anyway i will definitely talk about it with my urologist before i start (if i start), just looking for more opinions. thank you

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Finasteride is likely still an option for you, though your prescribing doctor will have to make the call on that. I don’t know what your hair loss situation looks like. You certainly aren’t automatically ruled out from taking Propecia (finasteride 1mg) because of your one testicle, as the safety of the medication has nothing to do with the number of testicles you have.

I would schedule that urologist appointment to at least get some more advice. If you are concerned about testosterone or other hormone production from the testicles, I would guess that your one testicle puts out as much testosterone as two testicles to compensate.

If you are concerned about side effect potential from finasteride, your risk isn’t any higher or lower than the rest of the population (less than 2% will experience some side effects). I’ve written much about the side effects before over the years.

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Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Interview with a Young Woman Battling Trichotillomania – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder that causes sufferers to compulsively pull out their own hair and can often lead to both noticeable hair loss and social anxiety, affects between two to five percent of Americans. One sufferer, Valerie Vanone, joined HuffPost Live recently to share her story of battling trichotillomania, which began at age 12 and eventually forced her to leave school in order to seek treatment.

Vanone, who began pulling out her eyelashes as a pre-teen before escalating to pulling hair directly from her scalp, didn’t seek help until she was 24 years old, she told host Nancy Redd.

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Read the rest — Trichotillomania, Hair-Pulling Disorder, Caused Me To Leave School

I’ve embedded the video interview below:


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Hair Loss InformationHaving Sex After a Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can you have sex after a hair transplant? Just wondering!

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I tell my patients that they can have sex after a hair transplant and use sound judgement. You can also exercise after a hair transplant, but must also use sound judgement. In general, we ask patients to take it easy for the first two weeks…. but some patients who have very active lifestyles will do light exercises even after 2-3 days and be fine.

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Hair Loss InformationStudy – Isolated Crown Balding and the Risk of Prostate Cancer – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the abstract:

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a genetically determined skin condition strongly age dependent and androgens are assumed to play an important role in its development. A link between AGA and prostate cancer has been hypothesized because of their similar risk factors.

We sought to systematically review the evidence available on the association between AGA and risk of prostate cancer.

We searched the electronic databases MEDLINE and Cochrane for studies examining the association between AGA and risk of prostate cancer. We estimated pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. We also analyzed the OR for individual hair loss patterns, as defined by the Hamilton scale.

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Read the rest — Androgenetic alopecia and risk of prostate cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Although many authors have investigated a possible association between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and prostate cancer, there is not yet a definitive answer. Patients with any pattern genetic balding did not have an increased risk of prostate cancer, but patients with just vertex pattern AGA (crown balding without balding in other areas) had a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer versus control subjects. Vertex pattern AGA may be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.

In another publication, there was a higher risk of heart disease in patients with pure crown balding.