Month: June 2014

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Not Hair Loss News – Is the Stamina Foundation Selling Fake Stem Cell Treatments? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

A three-year-old Italian boy who suffers from a rare and incurable degenerative disorder called Krabbe disease received a stem cell injection last Saturday. It was his sixth dose, and according to the person who developed the treatment, Davide Vannoni, the boy has obtained “very good results.” Under normal circumstances, any claims of improvement in this boy’s ability to move around and develop mentally would be more than welcome. But Vannoni’s assertions — that his stem cell injections can reverse the effects of any number of fatal diseases — aren’t supported by peer-reviewed studies or clinical trials. And he isn’t backed by a drug company or a university either.

In fact, outside of his small circle of associates, he has received very little support from the scientific community. Yet his organization, a nonprofit called the Stamina Foundation, has treated more than 100 patients since 2007 — and at least 14 of those treatments were paid for by the Italian government.

“They claim that they are able to isolate mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of patients simply by using a drill,” says Elena Cattaneo, a pharmacologist and the director of UniStem, the University of Milan’s Centre for Stem Cell Research. “And then they have been claiming that they’re able to transform these mesenchymal stem cells in 20 minutes into neural stem cells,” to restore a person’s neural functioning. This is impossible, she says, adding “I spent my life generating neurons from stem cells. All this makes no sense.”

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Read the rest — Meet the con man selling fake stem cell treatments to children

Stem cell clinics are seemingly appearing everywhere. Why? The answer is plain and simple MONEY. I was just invited to join such an organization and of course, I declined. Let the buyer beware!

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6 Months After My Hair Transplant, My New Hairs Are Growing But Am I Seeing Shock Loss Around Them? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,

This is the 6th month after my hair transplant was done. After 2 months my transplanted hair shed out, then after 4 months I noticed there was new hair that started growing. At the 6 month mark, the weak hair started falling out. Is this shock loss after the fact? Is this normal or there is any other issue? Can you please give me your suggestion.

Thanks

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It does sound like it might be shock loss, perhaps somewhat delayed for the first round of it. The progressive hair loss that occurs in all of balding men can get accelerated by a hair transplant surgery.

I usually prescribe finasteride (Propecia) for my patients to minimize this impact. Were you on this medication? If not, you should consider going on it to slow down the acceleration of the hair loss that yet still may come. As always, if you have questions or concerns with your surgical procedure, you should follow up with your surgeon to get his/her take.

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My Hair Hasn’t Grown in 2 Years – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi doctors,
I appreciate your taking the time to read this. I have a seemingly unique issue that I need your advice about. My hair stopped growing just after my 40th birthday. I’m 42 now and I havent seen hair loss but I also havent had to go to the barber even once. This seems really unusual and I don’t know whether this is worth seeing a doctor about. It isnt a “problem” really since I am saving money by not getting hair cuts but I just want to know if this is somethng you have heard of before. Why would my hair just stop growing and should I expect hair loss to follow in the near future??

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What you’ve described isn’t something I’ve encountered before.

Hair cycling occurs in everyone and it usually cycles each hair in about 2-4 years. Hairs grow in the anagen phase of the hair cycle. Could it be that your hair cycle is just extremely short? If that were the case, new hairs are continuing to grow and fall out like normal, but just not achieving any length because of a very short cycle (and thus appearing that it’s staying exactly the same).

It’s possible that some underlying health issues could be the cause of this, but I really don’t know. Are you using any chemicals or high heat to style your hair? Sorry, but I’m stumped on this one.

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Consultation Follow-up About Bulk Measurement and Density Count – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I received a follow-up from a patient after he met with me for a consultation —

Thank you taking the time for the consultation. I wanted to get some clarification on some density counts that you made on my hair. You came up with the number 20 after inspecting my scalp. What does that number refer to? I am looking at some hair loss blogs and reading up on how other people have done and many doctors are using numbers like 60 or 70 or 80 or 90. Is that the same scale? If so mine at 20 would be extremely low. I guess that is on a different scale. Maybe you can help explain the difference. I am a little bit confused.

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I used the term miniaturization in your case. There are two ways to determine what is the quantity of hair and the quality of the hair on your head. Miniaturization is a visual way to estimate the quality of your hair, which extrapolates into a projection of how much hair you will eventually lose and how fast.

If one takes 100 hairs, for example, and 50% of them are miniaturized and 50% are normal, that means that the genetic process is impacting 50% of your hairs. As this process advances, these hair will become finer and finer until they disappear. Assuming that the other 50 hairs remain normal, that would leave you with a bulk measurement of 50% of what it should be.

The second measurement we do is bulk measurement, where we quantify the impact of the good hairs and the miniaturized hairs together. This is a mechanical measurement with an instrument which is accurate to within 10%. Continuing with the above example of 50 out of 100 hairs being normal and 50/100 hairs being thin (but contributing to the bulk measurement), the bulk analysis would probably have shown less than a 50% reduction of bulk. The bulk measurement device (HairCheck) would add the two to come up with a metric, and this metric is always compared to the back and sides of your head.

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Hair Loss InformationI Don’t Have Any Leg Hair! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m a 22 year old male and i have no medical problems that I know of so far, but i don’t have any hair on my legs. i am kind of ashamed to wear shorts and show my legs to others. is there anyway anyone can help me out?

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It’s possible that when you get older some leg hair may appear, though if you haven’t developed it by 22 years old I would think the chances are pretty slim that it’ll start growing later. It is most likely genetics, though if you at one time had some hair on your legs it could be due to some underlying issue (diabetes or a thyroid condition) or even extremely tight fitting clothing.

If hair never grew on your legs at all, I’d look to your genes, in which case there is nothing that is 100% safe to do about this.

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After 3 Months of Propecia Use, I Can’t See My Scalp Under Harsh Lights Anymore! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Earlier this year I noticed my hair seemed thinner and a miniaturization exam revealed diffuse loss on the top of the scalp but not the sides or back. It was modest loss, only visible under harsh lights, but my hair definitely felt less dense.

Nearly three months later after consistent Propecia use, I could swear my hair feels thicker and I can’t see as much scalp in the mirror under harsh lights. Could this be a real effect or is it probably in my head? (No pun intended!)

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This type of result seems like it might be too quick after just taking Propecia for 3 months, but I suppose it’s possible that you had a really great response, which we have seen in some men from time to time. It usually takes a few more months for most men to notice that much positive change, though. I’d keep taking the medication and keeping track of the gains.

Congratulations on the good fortune and better hair!

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Not Hair Loss News – Married Men Go to the Doctor More Than Unmarried Men – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Guys, a loving spouse may save your life, U.S. health officials say. But living with a significant other doesn’t appear to confer the same health benefits as marriage.

Single and married men are more likely to see a doctor regularly than those living with a partner out of wedlock, according to a new U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) study.

And compared to husbands or other single men, cohabiting men are also the least likely to report having undergone preventive screenings such as cholesterol and blood pressure tests in the previous year, the researchers said.

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Read the rest — Marriage boosts men’s health. Living together? Not so much

The article goes on to say that, “about 71 percent said they’d been to the doctor at least once during the past year. For married men, the number was 76 percent, the study found. It fell to 65 percent for single men and 60 percent for men who lived with a partner.”

It doesn’t prove that married men are healthier, just that those surveyed spent more time in a doctor’s office than those men that just lived with their partner.

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Could a Hair Transplant Today Cause Problems for Any Potential Cure or Cloning in the Future? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

If hair cloning is a viable option in the future (perhaps in 15-20 years since I know the time line keeps moving every year) would you expect to see a large number of people elect to have a hair transplant for the sole reason of increasing overall hair density? If the amount of available donor hair was no obstacle, could someone thicken their existing hair?

Obviously, I would be satisfied just having decent hair coverage, and would elect to have a hair transplant in the future if I am a decent candidate, but I also don’t want previous hair loss remedies I’ve tried to affect any potential ‘cure’ in the future either.

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I’ve always believed that hair transplant candidates should go ahead and get their hair now while they are young enough to enjoy it. To be bluntly honest, there’s no point in waiting until you are an old man for what may never come about (hair cloning).

Researchers are making great strides with hair cloning, but I have no idea how many years it’s going to be before anything reliably safe and effective is commercially available. If reliable hair cloning ever does come about to allow for unlimited donor hair, I could see possibly more people having their existing hair thickened.

I obviously can’t know what the future holds, but I don’t see how moving hair from the back of the head into the top/front of the head would prevent any possible future treatment.

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Would Minoxidil Help Regrow My Crown if Finasteride Hasn’t Worked There That Well? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,

I appreciate your blog. I’m a 24-year-old male who started experiencing thinning and hair loss on my crown shortly before my 20th birthday. I started taking finasteride after my 22nd birthday and experienced fantastic results. However, I still have a somewhat large area on my crown that is much thinner than the surrounding areas.

I am considering using minoxidil on my crown, as minoxidil is supposed to be very effective in that area. I am wondering if, after being on finasteride for two years, there is any chance that minoxidil would be effective? I understand that the two drugs target different hairs (i.e. hair regrown using finasteride doesn’t preserve hair regrown using minoxidil, and vice-versa), but after four years of thinning, would minoxidil show any decent statistical chance of working for someone in my situation?

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Finasteride plus minoxidil works better in the crown than finasteride alone in some people. My advice has always been to to start on the finasteride first (with a doctor’s prescription) and if after a reasonable time there is a poor response in the crown, then add minoxidil treatment to see if there’s an added boost to your hair growth plans.

For financial and time reasons, it makes sense to just start with one medication in case that accomplishes what you want it to, rather than committing to multiple lifetime medications from the start.

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Hair Loss InformationIs Facial Swelling a Common Occurence Following a Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

A close friend of mine had a hair transplant and I noted some serious swelling around the face immediately afterward. I did not expect a transplant to produce that degree of facial swelling. Is that normal or is this just a rare case? If it’s rare, why do you think this occurred? Was it the surgery or the medication he was on after? It doesn’t speak to any problem with the grafts, right?

I’m considering a hair transplant but I want to use styling to hide the transplants while they heal — I can’t hide a swollen face, though.

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Facial swelling can occur after a hair transplant from either the surgical procedure or just from an anesthetic alone, and it could be quite obvious in some cases. It’s not terribly common to see a large amount of swelling, though I’m not sure to what degree you consider the swelling to be “serious”.

The swelling is more of an annoyance than anything, and it doesn’t signify a problem with the surgery, healing, or future graft growth.

To minimize this risk, I use a single large dose of steroids at the time of the surgery or scalp anesthetic, and it usually prevents its occurrence. We rarely see it, but it does occur from time to time. When it occurs, it usually lasts a couple of days.