Day: January 1, 2023

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RK19

What is RK19 and the obvious question: does it really work?

Again and again, more products reach the market that do not reflect legal claims allowed by the FDA. In my opinion, the pictures on this site are not believable, which makes the site and the claims not believable to me. The pictures appear to have some scalp coloring in the after pictures, which to me appear as if there was an effort to deceive the observer. I may be wrong, but as a clinician, I hold to stringent standards. Everyone wants a magical cure to balding and this certainly does not look like it.

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Ritalin and Hair Loss

I turned 17 about 2 months ago. I’ve been taking ritalin SR for 5-6 months now. I’ve noticed recently that my hair has been receding slowly. Currently it looks like my hair line has gone back about a good 1/2 inch.

If I stop taking this medication will my hair ever grow back?

Ritalin is used to treat ADD — Attention Deficit Disorder. It is commonly used and there are some reports of hair loss associated with this drug, however, at the age of 17, you might be seeing the early maturation of your hairline and you should want to get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to be sure that you do not have genetic balding. As you are in California, come visit me at my Beverly Hills or Newport Beach office to find out and I will map your hair and scalp (no charge for the visit).


2007-02-15 09:47:13Ritalin and Hair Loss

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Risks of finasteride in pregnancy (from:reddit.com 6/11/2020)

This is a compilation of information gleamed from a Reddit poster who put together a series of articles which may point to risks brought on by finasteride in pregnancy. I will quote the entire post and all of the references for you to draw your own conclusions. I have commented on two of the references. Many of the articles are controversial. We have known for some time, that finasteride can impact the fetus on sexual identification. Many hermaphrodites come from women who have ingested finasteride or any similar compound during the first trimester of pregnancy, so items #1-6 have to my knowledge been previously identified. But to develop such abnormalities women were required to have significant exposure to finasteride with some of it being absorbed in their body during pregnancy. In my own practice, I have seen hundreds of men father normal children while they were on finasteride, so there is no 1:1 relationship when a man is taking finasteride and abnormal children and have not seen any patient come to me complaining of an abnormal child while they conceived a baby while on the drug. Of course, that is just my experience and does not guarantee the safety of this drug. I leave that up to the FDA. The rest I will leave for you to judge after reading the material below.

Risks of Finasteride Exposure in Pregnancy

Finasteride/Dutasteride

Finasteride, Propecia and Duasteride labels warn that pregnant women must not be exposed to the drug. This includes by taking it, touching a tablet, or by being exposed to semen from a man who is taking it.1

This is because if the active ingredient in Finasteride is absorbed by a woman who is pregnant with a male baby, it can cause the male baby to be born with abnormalities of the sex organs. Finasteride blocks DHT, which is necessary for male baby organs to form and grow. Prenatal Finasteride exposure has also been shown to affect cognitive function in both male and female babies.

What are the specific problems? According to the research they include:

  1. Higher rates of miscarriage

  2. A small penis

  3. Hypospadias

  4. A small underdeveloped scrotum

  5. A prominent midline raphe (scrotum doesn’t join normally)

  6. Ectopic testicles (which don’t reach the scrotum)

  7. Cognitive problems in both males AND females

  8. Memory problems in both males AND females

Three sources detailing these effects are provided below.

Source 1: S. Prahalada (1997) Effects of Finasteride, a Type 2 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitor, on Fetal Development in the Rhesus Monkey2

In this study pregnant female monkeys were orally given 2mg/kg/day. Every single one of their male babies had genital birth defects.

“The male external genital anomalies were characterised by hypospadias which were confined to the glans penis (5/6; 83.3%), preputial adhesion to the glans (6/6; 100%), a small underdeveloped scrotum (6/6; 100%), a small penis (5/6; 100%) and a prominent midline raphe (6/6; 100%).”

“An apparent incidence in the fetal loss rate was observed in the 2mg/kg/day (23.1%) and the 800ng/kg/day (20%) finasteride treated groups when compared to concurrent controls…”

Source 2: Christopher Bowman, et al (2003). Effects of in Utero Exposure to Finasteride on Androgen-Dependent Reproductive Development in the Male Rat3

In this study Finasteride is shown to impact testicular descent: “Prenatal finasteride exposure significantly impaired testicular descent. Approximately 3, 23, and 73% of the adult males displayed ectopic testes in the 1.0, 10, and 100 mg/kg/day dose groups, respectively… The data from the current study suggest that the conversion of T to DHT in the developing gubernaculum is necessary for normal testicular descent.”

Even in the smallest dose of 0.01 mg/kg/day in the last stages of gestation there were genital issues affecting anogenital distance (AGD) of the males after the rats were born. “Late gestational exposure to finasteride significantly decreased AGD of male offspring in a dose-responsive manner… the AGD of male offspring displayed significant decreases of 8, 16, 23, 25, and 33% in the 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 mg/kg/day dose groups, respectively.”

“The dose-response curves for finasteride-induced malformations fell into two groups. External structural changes such as decreased AGD and increased nipple retention had similar dose-response curves. These external changes were almost linear over the entire dose range (0.01 to 100 mg/kg/day) and approached 100% incidence by the highest dose.”

The authors note that “The lack of a no observed effect level (NOEL) in the current study was consistent” with the study by Clark (1990) which showed effects at doses down to 0.003 mg/kg/day. (DR RASSMAN’S COMMENT: THIS STUDY WAS DONE IN MONKEYS ADMINISTERED FINASTERIDE IN VARIOUS DOSES DURING PREGNANCY. THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE MALE MONKEY BEING ON FINASTERIDE WHEN THE FEMALE MONKEY BECAME PREGNANT)

Source 3: Jason Paris et al (2012) Inhibition of 5?-reductase activity in late pregnancy decreases gestational length and fecundity and impairs object memory and central progestogen milieu of juvenile rat offspring4

“Finasteride significantly reduced the length of gestation and the number of pups per litter…”

“Prenatal finasteride treatment significantly reduced object recognition, decreased hippocampal 3?,5?-THP content… inhibiting the formation of 5?-reduced steroids during late gestation in rats reduces gestational length, the number of viable pups per litter, and impairs cognitive and neuroendocrine function in the juvenile offspring.” (THIS STUDY WAS DONE IN RATS, AGAIN IN PREGNANCY AND DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO A MALE RAT TAKING FINASTERIDE WHEN THE FEMALE RAT BECAME PREGNANT)

While some of these research exposures were a lot higher than would be expected from semen exposure, don’t risk exposing a baby to any amount of this extremely dangerous US FDA pregnancy category X drug.5 Studies have demonstrated fetal abnormalities and there is positive evidence of human fetal risk.

Links:

1.https://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/finasteride.html#:~:text=-Finasteride%20is%20present%20in%20semen,wishing%20to%20conceive%20a%20child

2.https://www.docme.su/doc/1721148/effects-of-finasteride-a-type-2-5-alpha-reductase-inhibi…

3.https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/74/2/393/1716348

4.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3196810/#__ffn_sectitle

5.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2012/020788s020s021s023lbl.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi5iY7a3_bpAhUvyDgGHVP2AIEQFjABegQICxAG&usg=AOvVaw1iQoISJACkyba4PNH1LzZM


2020-06-11 17:43:08Risks of finasteride in pregnancy (from:reddit.com 6/11/2020)

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What are the risks of a hairline advancement surgery vs a hair transplant lowering surgery?

The main reason to get a hair transplant lowering procedures are (1) there is no limit to how far to lower it as it does not require a loose scalp (2) the hair transplant lowering will address the sides of the hairline (the temple areas) which can be built up to create a rounded look which can not be accomplished with a hairline advancement surgery, (3) there is no risk of frontal scarring with the hairline lowering transplant approach as with a hairline advancement surgery and lastly, (4) if a general anesthetic is used for a hairline advancement surgery, the risks of general anesthesia are greater than the risks of a local as with a hair transplant lowering procedure.

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Risks and Pain in Transplanting a 50 Year Old

I am considering a hair transplant of 2200 grafts and am 50 years old. I am in good health and I have plenty of donor hair. I feel that this would make a tremendous difference in my hairline and appearance. What are the risks and pain involved for a man my age and with that amount of micrografts? How long would it take to heal? thank you

2200 grafts is a moderate-sized surgery that would likely take about a week to heal in the donor area. The risks for someone of your age if you are in good health are roughly the same as those for most other ages – to be more precise, there are surprisingly few. As with any surgery you risk the possibility of scar formation, infection, and possible adverse reaction to anesthesia or other drugs are very, very rare. These are the big ones we worry about and incidences are very uncommon in a proper surgery center and with a trained and experienced doctor and team. There is also no excuse for this elective surgery to be any more painful than a mild dental visit. Good pain medicines and effective techniques are available, well known, and should be used.

To be completely honest, your biggest risk is in the choice of your surgeon and the team they use. Choose a surgeon with a good reputation whose hairlines you like, and make sure they are willing to let you meet their patients and evaluate their results for yourself. Check the facility and ask the surgeon who is on the surgery team. An experienced staff makes all the difference in the world both in your experience that day and in your final result because of the way the staff members treat the grafts. Lastly, choose someone with whom you feel comfortable. Many of my patients who come in for corrective work had a less than good feeling when they went to their doc or they chose them solely on price. Remember, you are the one who gets to live with the permanent results after all, so be a little picky.

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Risk of Post Finasteride Syndrome Reported as High as 1.4%

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28289563/

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Risk of PED was higher in men with longer exposure to 5?-RIs. Among young men, longer exposure to finasteride posed a greater risk of PED than all other assessed risk factors.

Comment: I have prescribed finasteride since it was first introduced. I have never had a patient with this condition reporting to me that their sexual side effects did not go away. I am having trouble reconciling this data from my own experience in private practice with well over 20,000 patients prescribed finasteride by me and the doctors working for me over two decades.


2019-02-20 08:03:36Risk of Post Finasteride Syndrome Reported as High as 1.4%

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Ringworm on My Stomach — If It Spreads to My Scalp Will I Lose Hair?

I have ringworm on my stomach. I am kinda freaking out about it! Every little itch I have, I think it’s going to be a new spot of ringworm. I have a really dry scalp as it is, but my main question is, if the ringworm has spread to my head, will my hair fall out? Does this happen in every single case of ringworm on the scalp, or can it possibly not cause hair-loss and continue to grow?

If you have ringworm on your abdomen, it can be treated and it will not necessarily spread anywhere if it is under good treatment. Ringworm is not really a worm, but a fungus. See a doctor about this soon so you can stop freaking out!

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Ringworm and Hair Loss

Do I have Ringworm, that is scarry? Where are the worms? I looked very carefully for them and did not see them. Are they like earthworms? Here is a picture of what my doctor called Ringworms as the cause of my hair loss.

Ringworm is a terrible term and I apologize for the medical profession’s use of it. A better term is tinea capitis and it is not a worm at all, but rather it is a fungal infection of the skin. For more info on this, please read:

This is one cause of localized hair loss that is relatively easy to treat and diagnosis is easy in the hands of a good family practice doctor or dermatologist.

Here’s a photo of what tinea capitis (better known as ringworm) infection looks like on the scalp: