Month: April 2014

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I Read That Balding Comes from a Mixture of Genes from Various Relatives – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr,
In school we studied how MPB is autosomal and sex influenced, not X-linked. I also read that balding is mixed penetrance. Does this mean there is a possibility that an individual can get a mixture of hair/balding, from various relatives? For example if ones father has no hair loss but his maternal grandfather does.

Thanks for your time.

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You are correct. You can inherit balding from either family lines and the genes may not express in your father or mother, but it may express in one or both of their parents. You could be a victim of these genes when you are old enough.

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My Doctors Just Glance at My Hair and Say It’s OK, But I Know I Have Hair Loss! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi doc, I’m a big fan!!
I saw a post where you mentioned the importance of consulting a doctor before taking meds for hair loss but what is your take on people self diagnosing and self medicating? The doctors I go to don’t do miniaturization test or bulk analysis. Instead, they just glance at my hair and tell my hair is okay. But I am sure I’m having hair loss although my hair looks full.

I could find many miniaturized (thin and lifeless) hairs mostly among the MPB regions. They pull out easily. The density of hairs in the MPB regions is very less compared to the permanent zone. I could scratch my scalp and easily find fine unpigmented hairs with dandruff flakes. Also the MPB region alone is super oily.

I would classify myself as Norwood 1.5 with very minor crown loss. I have been researching online for more than five years. I already bought a strip of Proscar and am waiting to take it.

BTW I’m 25 years old from India. I wish I could come and consult at yours. Sorry for the boring post, but your opinion sure will mean world to me!

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The ability to check for miniaturization is in an easily available electronic hand microscope. Place the microscope against a small pea size area of scalp, and look at it. Count the hairs that are thick and then those that are thin. Miniaturization is present when the percentage of thin hairs exceed 20% of the total.

An alternative would be to have one of your friends do it for you with a non-electronic hand microscope. There can be purchased in the US for about $7, but I am sure they are also available in India.

If you’re under a Norwood class 2, I wouldn’t consider that to be hair loss. That said, there could be a good reason for your doctors to not prescribe you the drug, and I would not suggest taking a finasteride (Propecia / Proscar cut into 4 pieces) without a prescription.

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Hair Loss InformationDoes Good Laxity Prevent Large Strip Scars? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Does having good laxity prevent large scars ? I see a lot of people with small scars, and a lot of people with large scars where the situation is so bad that many are implanting beard hair to cover those scars. I’m thinking about getting a second hair transplant, but I am afraid after the second transplant I might get a big scar which is hard to cover up. The doctor said I have above average laxity, but below average density. My density again is only 60 grafts per square centimeter. Can you give me some information about what causes a bad scar ?

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Generally, people with very high laxity (loose scalp) may have a higher incidence of scars than those whose scalp is tight; however, the looser it is the more grafts can be extracted with any given hair density.

Scalp scars can be very easily treated, if they occur, with Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP). An example patient can be seen here.

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Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Can Hair Loss Drugs Cause Injuries to Athletes? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Arsene Wenger has warned that professional footballers looking to cure baldness with hair loss products could be putting their careers at risk.

The Arsenal manager made the shocking claim when discussing the nature of injuries in his weekly press conference ahead of Sunday’s game against Everton.

Wenger, who revolutionised the English game when importing new fitness and preparatory methods following his arrival at Arsenal in 1996, says some players are leaving themselves open to problems if they use products to reverse the process of balding.

And according to the Gunners boss, vanity could lead to injury.

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Read the rest — Wenger warns stars over hair loss products

He says hair loss medications can lead to liver problems, though he doesn’t specifically say which medications he’s concerned about. As far as I’m aware, finasteride (Propecia) does not have any adverse effects on the liver.

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Hair Loss InformationStem Cell Breakthrough? Don’t Believe Everything You Read! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Scientists have found a surprisingly simple way to turn mature cells back into a primitive state. Simply giving mouse blood cells an acid bath is enough to produce so-called pluripotent cells that can develop into any cell type in the body, they report in two new papers this week. The remarkable transformation contradicts many assumptions about cell biology and may ultimately lead to new ways to treat disease and injuries.

Scientists not involved in the work say the technique could be a game-changer if it pans out. “If this new approach is applicable to human cells, it would have great implications for regenerative medicine,” says Hongkui Deng, a stem cell researcher at Peking University in Beijing. “It’s quite surprising” that the technique “doesn’t involve any genetic manipulation,” says Rudolf Jaenisch, a developmental biologist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Read the rest — Acid Treatment Could Provide Breakthrough Stem Cell Technique

But wait…. the above snippet is from an article that was published and appeared in many publications, but then the scientific community tried to replicate the study. Now there are many other publications that show how the attempts to replicate these results were unsuccessful. Read more about the investigation here.

For those interested in hair breakthroughs, this report could have been significant and prompted considerable excitement for creating stem cells that could be turned into hair cells, but without direct support by the greater scientific community, this was probably another blind end for stem cell development.

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I Thought You Can See Hair Transplants! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

If I have a restoration of the crown, will the swirl look right or will it look noticeably like a transplant?

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If the surgeon is experienced and properly recreates the whorl in your crown, it will not stand out as anything more than your naturally growing hair.

Just the other day, I went to my new eye doctor. We talked for a bit and when she asked me what I did for a living, I told her I performed hair transplant surgeries. She was suspicious, so I pointed to my crown and told her that those were hair transplants (see here). She said, “That’s hard to believe! I always thought that you can see them.” I couldn’t help but smile.

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“Unbiased” Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) Review Sites – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I found on the Internet reviews of SMP — www.smpdebate.com. What is your take on all these sites that offer SMP?

They claim they are “the worlds only unbiased source of guidance and information on the fastest growing hair loss solution in recent history, a solution known as scalp micropigmentation.“

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Hair Transplant Network is supposed to be an unbiased review of doctors, but the doctors on the site all pay a monthly fee (over a thousand dollars) to be on the site. Yelp is supposed to be an unbiased review of most places, but even they have come into scrutiny when they favor (with positive reviews) those who pay them a monthly service fee.

I think that unless there are hundreds or thousands of independent reviews, a few polarized reviewers are always going to seem suspect. We maintain that you should visit us, as we hold free monthly open house events that provide access to our clients/patients so you can see the quality of what we do for yourself. Seeing is believing!

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In the News – Man Has Frequent Allergic Reactions After a Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

It was his receding hairline that led television script writer Barinder Singh Dhillon (46) to Dr Vivek Nigam’s Good Health Private Limited in May 2012. However, following a hair transplant surgery, that Dhillon claims went “horribly wrong”, he has been suffering from frequent allergic reactions on his face and body.

Recently, a metropolitan magistrate in Andheri directed the Versova Police Station to carry out a preliminary inquiry into the complaint filed by Dhillon in November 2013.

Dhillon said rashes on his face and body could not be controlled by antibiotic drugs. “I am forced to depend on steroids,” he said. From waking up to blood-stained pillows to growing a beard to hide the ruptures on his face, Dhillon said he had been through it all.

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Read the rest — Hair transplant ‘gone wrong’, court asks police to probe

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I Have Hundreds of Scalp Pimples After a Recent Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

If a patient gets hundreds of pustules (pimples) in the recipient area during the one to three month period following an FUT procedure, what is usually the reason for this? Is it due to bacterial infection of the grafts that occurred during the procedure? How does it bode for the eventual outcome of the transplant?

Thanks

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There are many answers to this question. They include:

  1. The most common cause of pustules are left over remnants of the grafts that remain in the recipient wounds. The remnants include sebaceous glands which produce sebum below the skin. This sebum has no way out, because the hair follicle has not formed, so there are no pores. The result of this is that the sebum becomes infected. This should not produce hundreds of pustules over a month period. Warm soaks are the best way to draw out the pustules.
  2. For hundreds of pustules, one might assume that this is folliculitis caused by infection. It would look mean with lots of redness and erythema in the area. This would require antibiotics.
  3. A rare cause of this is an autoimmune disease called folliculitis decalvans. Unfortunately, I have had a few of these patients and the infections are hard to control. This condition usually lets up at about the time the hair follicles grow out, once the pores are established. I have had one patient in the past few years where the recipient area remained mean looking for a year.
  4. Infection introduced by poor techniques are uncommon, but I know of one medical group that has this as a common complication.

I have not seen a wipe-out of the hair grafts in #1. Some reduced growth may occur in #2. Reduced growth does occur in #3

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In the News – Reduce Fat and Prevent Hair Loss with a Cream? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

In a major breakthrough, scientists have discovered that the protein that activates hair follicle growth also inhibits fat production, paving way for development of a cream that could make you thinner and prevent hair loss at the same time.

The research confirmed that changes in the hair growth cycle led to fluctuations in the thickness of the underlying fat layer of the skin – meaning that the skin can regulate fat production.

“The specific chemicals identified in this study could be produced synthetically and used in creams for topical application to the skin to modulate growth of fat beneath the skin,” said Rodney Sinclair from the University of Melbourne and Epworth Hospital in Australia.

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Read the rest — A cream to reduce fat, prevent hair loss too?

Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a new fat reducer / hair loss prevention cream that makes it to market in the coming years.