Month: November 2013

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Not Hair Loss News – Vitamins Don’t Prevent Heart Disease or Cancer – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

There’s not much evidence that vitamins can prevent heart disease or cancer – the two leading killers of Americans, experts said Monday.

Even though half the U.S. population pops vitamins in the belief they can help people live longer, healthier lives, a very extensive look at the studies that have been done show it may be a waste of time when it comes to preventing the diseases most likely to kill you.

The findings, by a team at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., being used as the basis to update recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), aren’t clear-cut. They are likely to add to confusion over the benefits of vitamins.

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Read the rest — Vitamins don’t prevent heart disease or cancer, experts find

With nearly $12 billion annually spent on vitamins and supplements in the US, the article adds that “study after study has returned mixed evidence, at best, that they help most people in any way. The exceptions are people with vitamin deficiencies.”

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Assessing a New Hair Transplant Before the Hairs Go Dormant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Doc

The way your hairline looks right after a procedure before the transplanted hairs fall out, is that a pretty good indication of what you’ll look like when the hairs grow back?

When restoring a hairline how do you stay ahead considering balding is progressive? it would seem a year or 2 later after your transplanted hair are fully restored you’re still 2 years thinner with the surrounding hairs.

Thanks

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The day after the hair transplant is a good time to assess what you might look like with regard to distribution of the hairs and the position of the hairline. How the fully grown transplant looks is dependent on many factors, including your hair character, skin/hair contrast, and the surgery itself (proper direction placing of the grafts, minimizing graft damage, etc).

As for the second part of your email — Yes, genetic hair loss is progressive and that does mean that further recession might occur after a transplant. This is particularly true in men under 30 years old and in those men who do not take finasteride (Propecia) to stop the progression of the balding. If you stop the hair loss with medication, then in two years (in general), you should see the benefits of frontal hair growth from the transplant without loss behind it.

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CarboxyTherapy? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

What do you think of this new carboxytherapy for hair loss?

Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

Serious therapy or scum? Thanks in advance for your help!!!!!!

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There seems to be a neverending stream of new tricks to reverse or treat hair loss, and this is just another one. To prove than any new treatment works, one needs to do a controlled clinical study. There is a process for this, although I am not going to define it here. The Carboxy Therapy results on a single patient does not meet criteria for a treatment or a cure.

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Is A Certain Hair Color Better for Transplanting? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Is lighter hair color or darker hair color better for a transplant and why is that the case?

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Hair transplants work on any color hair; however, a lower contrast between hair and scalp color makes less hair look like more hair. That means that a blonde with light skin is ideal. Brown hair against brown skin and black hair against dark skin also looks better and takes less hair to accomplish a good sense of fullness. For example, a 1000 graft surgery on a blonde hair , pale skin tone person will look fuller than the same 1000 graft surgery on a pale person with black hair (with the same hair loss pattern).

Also note that hair texture (fine vs coarse), hair length (long vs short), hair wave (straight vs curly) also play a BIG part. These characteristics are not only for hair transplantation itself, but how one’s hair looks in general. If a blonde hair pale skin patient who keeps their hair long and wavy has a hair transplant and decides to cut their hair very short, straighten their hair, or dye it black, often the results of a hair transplant would not appear as good.

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Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Hair Loss in Singapore Is a Large Concern in Relationships – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Seven per cent of Singaporeans would contemplate breaking off relations with their partners, and a further 10 per cent would be embarrassed about introducing their partners to friends and family, if their partners were suffering from hair loss.

These were the findings of a study which sought to understand the perceptions of Singaporeans towards the hairy issue of balding.

In contrast, a majority of the 600 respondents – nearly 75 per cent – reported a more moderate response, choosing instead to urge their partners to seek treatment immediately.

The survey also found that hair loss negatively affects first impression.

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Read the rest — Hair loss threatens nearly 1 in 5 relationships in Singapore: Survey

Some time ago, I had a radio show for a year called “The Inner Man” and it covered a wide range of subjects. One of the shows focused upon prejudice against balding people. I remember a caller who said he had an advanced balding pattern, but that even though he was a Senior VP of a large company, he would not hire balding men because he claimed they often couldn’t be trusted. So it does seem that prejudice runs deep in our culture.

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Not Hair Loss News – Matt Lauer and Al Roker Get Prostate Exams on TV to Raise Awareness – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Matt and Al undergo uncomfortable prostate exams on ‘Today’ to help raise awareness of prostate cancer during men’s health month.

What some people on the Today show will do to promote good health — and ratings: Matt Lauer and Al Roker underwent prostate exams on live TV today.

Cue the urological jokes and the funny faces. Yuck, yuck, indeed. But it was all for a good cause and, let’s face it, celebrities undergoing medical procedures in public can grab the attention of the medically clueless.

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Read the rest — Matt Lauer and Al Roker get prostate exams on ‘Today’

Getting a prostate exam on morning TV is one way to raise prostate cancer awareness… and to try for a ratings boost.

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My Doctor Suggested I Increased My Finasteride Dose to 2.5mg Daily – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have been on propecia for about 4-5 years with success. I have recently been getting rapid thinning and spoke to my doctor who said I could take generic finasteride at 2.5 mg per day to see if this would help.( the generic approach was to save some income at a higher dosage as 2 propecia pills would be way too expensive)

Have you seen anyone get any benefit from the increased dose? I know on your blog there has been talk of increasing but no word on if it has helped. Also is there any advantage or disadvantage to taking 1.25mg twice daily or 2.5mg once daily? Thanks so much and keep up the work. I also will be contacting you soon to make an office visit to look at future options. Thanks again.

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I’m sure most everyone on this site knows, but just to make it clear for the few that may not… The recommended dose of finasteride is 1mg daily for the treatment of genetic androgenic alopecia. Propecia is the brand name for finasteride in 1mg strength. Some patients take the 5mg finasteride and break it into quarters (taking 1.25mg daily) since this method can save them hundreds of dollars a year (over the brand name). There is no clinical difference if you take the generic medication and break it up in quarters as long as you take it consistently daily.

Taking an increased dose of the medication will likely not do much for hair loss/growth. Some doctors and patients have tried it, but there is no evidence that this really helps. Taking it twice a day is also not a recommended dose, and probably would not have any benefit. In the end, it’s not the dose or the frequency of taking finasteride that determines its efficacy. 1mg a day everyday is good enough. If you believe the drug is not working as it should, then it means your genetic predisposition is winning out over the medication’s limit.

If you still feel taking more of the drug will help, talk with you doctor. I can’t say that I’ve seen any additional benefits in patients who have taken double the dose.

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Hair Loss InformationI Bleached My Hair at 15 Years Old and It’s Been Falling Out Since – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

(male)
I’m 17 and I’ve noticed that the hair on the top of my head has been thinning and falling out alot in the past two years. I strongly think that the problem was caused when I bleached my hair unprofessionally two years ago. After I bleached it and washed it off, I felt irritation and burning sensations on the scalp for about half an hour to an hour or so. What has happened to me and what can I do to prevent my hair loss? Also what products can I use to help?

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Maybe the bleaching was coincidental to the natural genetic male pattern balding. Do you have a pattern to the thinning? In general, bleaching your hair doesn’t cause hair loss. If it did cause your hair loss, I wouldn’t expect it to reverse now that it has been 2 years since the insult happened. I don’t know of any products that will regrow hair that fell out from chemical damage.

I also can’t advise you without seeing you, or at least a set of good pictures.