Month: September 2014

Is the chlorine in municipal water likely to speed up MPB in those that are predisposed to the condition?

Chlorine has been in use with public water since the early 1900s to kill disease-causing pathogens. I do not believe it speeds up balding. Male pattern balding is caused by a gene you inherited. It impacts men with different patterns (thus term “Pattern”) and different severity. Most of the hair loss happens to men in their 20 and 30s. Aside from the genetic predisposition, anabolic steroid use can sometime speed up the process.

This patient’s review of SMP is based on a long hair thinning. He actually had a successful hair transplant but wanted a fuller look.

He also had scars from his prior hair transplant surgeries which showed when he had his hair cut short or if his hair was not combed properly.

SMP took care of the scar and thinning.

This is a man in his early 30’s and in the movie industry. He always kept his hair buzzed as long as he can remember and states he will always keep this style. The issue for him was the front corner recession that crept up in his 20’s. His exam shows that he will not likely to extend beyond a Norwood Class 3 or 4A pattern. He had SMP done which extended to the front areas. We blended the area which was thin in the forelock area. The photos were taken after the 1st SMP session. He will need one to two more sessions to blend in better with his natural surrounding hair. He stated he may want to slightly lower the hair line on his next session as well.

I am going through memopause. Can I reverse my thinning hair by taking HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).

This is not a black and white answer that I am about to give you. We do know that Menopause does induce hair loss in up to 50% of women, but the use of HRT does not always address the hair loss, although it may bring some benefit. As the estrogen level drops with menopause, the androgen (like testosterone) levels rise and that induces androgenetic alopecia just like it does in men but mostly without a patterned balding look. The androgen sensitivity in women who carry the genes for balding is sometimes treated with finasteride (Propecia) and sometimes this treatment works. The success of finasteride is not a certainty as many women do not respond to it at all. With HRT, the treatment tries to replace the low estrogen that is associated with menopause and we know that estrogen supports good hair growth, so many doctor prescribe HRT when women show thinning or some balding. There is a great deal of controversy in treating menopause with HRT. There is an association between breast and ovarian cancer risks that may rise with HRT as well as other risks which include heart disease and stroke. Not every woman started on HRT for thinning hair will reverse the thinning hair. One has to weigh in on the risks associated with the treatment concerning cancer, heart risks and stroke against the benefit for possibly reversing the thinning hair. This is best worked out with your family doctor, rather than a hair transplant surgeon.

This is a female in her late 20s with general thinning hair on the top and crown area. She is not a candidate for a hair transplant surgery. Her hair was not as full looking as she wanted. With SMP, it looked much thicker. SMP was the right solution in her case and she was thrilled.

Many patients ask how their hair will look like after surgery. In general you can get redness and scabs for about one to two weeks depending on how well you wash your hair.

This particular patient healed well and there is no significant redness of scabbing after 10 days!

More interesting is the fact he had long hair in the back and we needed to shave the back of his head for the FUE. But we only shaved a square section of the back of his head so that his hair on top covered the shaved area. The photo you see was taken 10 days after FUE. Unless you move the hair up or to the sides (as we did for this photo) you really cannot tell the back of his head was shaved.