Month: September 2014

We conceived while taking finasteride 1mg a day for my hair loss my wife is 6 weeks pregnant should I be worried? I’m quite anxious after reading some of the stuff on line
Kind regards

The Internet is a great source of information but it can also be misleading and cause great anxiety when it comes to medical information.

Men taking Propecia/ finasteride for androgenic alopecia can still father a baby – no issues. To my knowledge, there have been no reports of abnormal babies with men fathering a child while on Propecia. The issue is if WOMEN take the medication and get pregnant, then there is risk with sexual development of the baby, particularly in the first trimester of pregnancy. You can always mention this to your doctor or your partners obstetrician to assuage your anxiety and you will likely get a similar answer.

I personally would not worry.

For more information this is the official drug insert from Merck (the makers of Propecia)

Patients often ask what their hair transplant will look like with “x” number of grafts. This patient has brown hair on fair skin and has wavy long hair. Aside from the number of grafts, these inherent characteristics play a part in the overall result after a hair transplant surgery. If this person was Asian with straight hair on with black hair on fair skin, he would have require more than 1500 grafts to achieve a similar look. (High contrast of dark hair on fair skin make you look thinner especially if you have straight hair.)

I recently saw a few posts here talking about expressing gene in hairloss. For example, you said workout may precipitate hairloss or bad habits (smoking & drinking) could also make the hairloss occur ahead of the time, so I am wondering are these factors the triggers for hairloss? If I keep a good health condition which means I can delay my hairloss? Provided that I have the gene of hairloss, thank you.

Staying healthy is always a good idea. You’ll live longer and maybe your hair loss can be delayed a bit or maybe not. Hair ‘apoptosis’ (hair follicle death) is probably programmed in our DNA and genes. If you have the gene for hair loss, it will happen. Drugs, such as Propecia, seem to slow the process down or even seem to pause it. However even drugs do not completely stop the inevitable genetic predisposition.

Dear Balding Blog,

First of all, trust all of you are well. Let me express my sincere thanks for this wonderful blog. Honestly, I am sure, and many would agree with me, that this is the best website for information regarding such matters. It is very simple, very informative, and very consoling.

My Question to you is regarding my Mother. Let me provide you with some background information.

My Mother is 51 Years old, She was diagnosed with Thyroid about 22 years ago. Before that she had beautiful hair. However, after her diagnosis, she began to lose her hair rapidly (starting from her hairline to the crown, until now it ended up like a norwood 6, much like in the pattern of male baldness). It is unfortunate that nothing could be done, she was in Pakistan at the time and no effort was made on the Doctors part to help quite honestly. That being said, I really want to see if a hair transplant is possible in her case. She is living in Dubai at the moment, and has been to several doctors. However, I trust your opinion above theirs. So just to summarize:

-51 year old Female
-With Hypothyroidism
-Hair loss has been significant (almost a Norwood Class 6)

Relative to these factors, is there a chance of a hair transplant? Or any other way for a hair treatment? Possibly any other option?

I am desperate as I know she has suffered a lot because of this, and not once has she complained. I am very eager to help her.

Thank you so much for your time and effort. I am forever grateful.

Thank you for writing to us. When you call hair balding pattern a Class 6, I suspect you are talking about thinning, not complete balding. Women almost never develop complete balding. Depending on the degree of thinning, the one approach to a thinning pattern is Scalp Micropigmentation. Generally hair transplants for women are not productive if the donor supply (hair on the back and side of the head) shows significant miniaturization (this is the case in most women with female genetic balding). If a woman has hair loss pattern like Class 6 Norwood pattern balding, then she would need a good examination and a diagnosis of the hair loss cause and an assessment of the extent of balding, to include what the hair in the back and sides of the head looks like. She would also need to understand the limitation of a hair transplant surgery and realistic expectation since a hair transplant surgery does not restore all of your lost hair, and in many cases, it is not possible to achieve this goal. Women with known thyroid disease, often are not candidates for hair transplants as their donor area contains many miniaturized hairs

We really cannot give you a plan or a diagnosis for your mother on a blog. She needs to see a doctor in person, or as a start, contact us for a formal consultation. Many women are good candidates for Scalpmicropigmentation (SMP) even if they are not good candidates for hair transplants (see: www.scalpmicripigment.com)

You can also visit our other websites New Hair Institute Medical Group and Scalp Micropigmentation

I have a small wart on the scalp on one of my temples. My dermatologist suggested freezing it with liquid nitrogen. Will this kill the hair located there? He suggested it would not if applied properly. I am nervous that it might cause a small bald spot. Are there safe ways for removal of the wart that will not damage hair that you know of? Thank you for your time!

Please ask your doctor. Liquid nitrogen might kill the hair follicles. Removing the wart itself may leave scarring devoid of hair. If you do have hair loss in the area, and it bothers you, there is always an option to transplant a few hairs in the area.

This is a review of the SMP Scalp MicroPigmenation results at NHI. This patient had been wearing a hair piece (wig) for his balding for years. Notice the white untanned scalp area that the wig covered from the sun. He finally decided to discard the hair piece and get SMP. He developed a nice looking bold look that gave him confidence.

Do Ashkenazi Jews have a higher incidence of baldness than other ethnicities?

Ashkenazi Jews are known to have have certain genetic issues but genetic balding is likely universal all around. In fact Ashkenazi Jews are probably more diverse than other ethnicity peoples (Ref: Science Daily August 27, 2010). Certain genetic conditions such as Tay-Sachs disease prevalent in the Ashkenazi Jewish population may be attributable to a phenomenon known as population bottle neck or genetic drift thousands of years ago. I am not sure how this may affect the balding gene and I am not certain if the percentage variation in male pattern balding has been studied in the various geographic Jewish populations. In general, Genetic Male Pattern Balding affects roughly 50% of the male population and I am not certain if the gene has been identified or linked to a specific chromosome (If it has, it has not been studied or compared with respect to specific ethnicity or race). In general, about 7 to 8 percent of the men go on to be completely bald (Norwood 7). The rest fit into the the many patterns outlined by the Norwood Classification (II-V)

This patient just wanted to shave his head but his old hair transplant scar got in the way. The scar is still there but now it looks blended.