Day: January 1, 2023

It appears FUE has become the treatment of choice among patients. My goal would be to receive as many intact grafts of “terminal” hair as I could get from a transplant. I may be off but it seems to me strip surgery comes closest to that goal. I’ve read up to 25% of grafts could be damaged at some point during FUE procedure. And considering the wide donor area I would think some grafts could from from an area more likely to thin than from where a strip is performed. I could be off here too, but I would think FUE would leave the donor area more thin looking than strip where it’s just one spot and the hair above would cover evenly.

If you have more than one strip surgery that means another long scar for each surgery?

There are some misconceptions in your question. FUE is not the treatment of choice. FUE is a great alternative to strip surgery since it does not leave a linear scar. FUE leaves thousands of 1mm circle dot scars. Patients who have FUE over strip are the ones who want to keep their hair very short or don’t want the “idea” of a linear scar despite never being able to see it (as their hair will always cover the scar). Many patients after weighing in the pros and cons end up choosing strip surgery over FUE as they realize no-one will ever see the scar as they keep their hair relatively long (up to a 3 guard).

FUE has some disadvantages in that the harvest and growth rates do vary widely among patients as well as the doctor’s experience. FUE can also leave the donor area looking much thinner than the strip. Finally many patients do not realize you can have multiple strip surgeries over the same scar – effectively having just one scar overall.

If that’s the case then why doesn’t FDA do something about hairmax openly claiming that their device was tested by FDA for EFFICACY and safety? FDA did mind when hairmax stated that their device was APPROVED instead of cleared. So why dont they mind now? Such devices cannot be approved but only cleared.

Why dont you put this subject to rest by contacting FDA and asking them if they tested efficacy as well?

What about the recent peer reviewed published materials in the scientific journals that you were asking for so badly a couple of years ago?

What about your laser hat trials??

I respect you very much doctor, but when you talk about LLLT, you seem to be against it without any substantial basis.

Our laser cap trials were inconclusive with mixed results. The subjective view of some patients suggested benefit, but when we measured the hair bulk on these patients we saw not benefit. Patients had mixed reviews. One can argue that the trials were inherently flawed because we gave the laser caps away as a compensation for their time.

It is not my job to contact the FDA and my opinion of laser light therapy for hair growth is just that: my opinion. If you disagree with my opinions here on BaldingBlog, then I am ok with that! I want to correct one of your statements: The FDA does not, nor does it ever, test these devices. They rely on the manufacturer for the tests and review their data in submitted applications.

I have been taking Finasteride for over 6 years. (I am 32 now) Over the last year or two I have been getting an intense pain when I ejaculate. The pain feels like it radiates from the base of my penis, then it dies down. It feels a bit like a burning sensation.

The pain doesn’t occur every time I ejaculate, but quite often it does. I wonder if this may be caused by Finasteride in some way – such as the drug’s effect on the prostate. The only other side effect I have noticed is watery semen.

Painful ejaculation may be a sign of serious medical issue such as sexually transmitted disease (especially the burning sensation), prostatitis, prostate cancer, etc. I doubt it is related to a drug side effect especially after 6 years but such reports of pain with ejaculation are appearing over forums on the internet. As their appears to be legal actions taken against Merck (manufacturer of Propecia), the motivation for such reporting may be questionable and I do realize it is a very sensitive topic for many readers. In any event, you need to see your primary care provider or a urologist to see if there are medical issues associated with this complaint.

I realize we answer many questions about side effects on Propecia here on Baldingblog. However, not all sexual or penis related symptoms are related to Propecia.

Say you often drive fast in a convertible when on the freeway. Can all the wind blowing your hair around cause traction alopecia or otherwise damage the follicles?

Assuming this is a serious question: would driving on the freeway, with the top down cause, hair loss?

Seriously, the simple answer is: NO.

I started to lose my hair at 19 due to MPB. After a year or so, my hair texture started to change rapidly and my hair changed from normal hair which you can style to pubic-like hair.

It looks horrible.

My question therefore is: what can you do about acquired progressive kinking. I am already taking finasteride which seems to do little against it.

Generally when you lose hair from genetic balding, your hair thins out (miniaturize) and fall out. It generally does not change in texture to a point it starts to kink. Maybe you should see a dermatologist as there may be a series of genetic hair diseases that can cause kinking.

I had a hair transplant done over a year ago (3500 grafts) and all in all I’m very please with the results. Definitely looks better than it did. However, one side came in much thicker and fuller than the other side. But when I now run my fingers through my hair on the lesser filled in side I can feel this stubble growth sticking through that’s about 1/8 to 1/4″ in length. The thing is, its been over 13 months since I had the procedure done but its been at least 8 months feeling this same stubble length on that one side. It just doesn’t seem to want to grow any longer than it is now. So my questions is… is it normal for some of the implanted grafts to not necessarily fall out and not grow at all but they’ll never really take and grow past this stubble phase? If so, what would be some of the reasons for this dilemma? I’ve been taking the prescribed Propecia (finasteride) but is there something else I can do or try or something you might recommended trying to somehow kick start the growth again on my thinner side so my overall hair growth will look more even?

I always advocate that if you had surgery and you are having issues, that you should always follow up with your surgeon. They are the best equipped to answer any issues arising from surgery since every surgery is different and not all results are the same.

In general if you are still feeling the same stubble a year after the surgery those may be just old hairs left in your scalp that are not growing. Think of it like a foreign body. If you gently pull on them it may just slide right out. I cannot say if the surgery was a success or if hairs will grow from that spot. Only your doctor can best explain this to you. Final note: I am just guessing all of this based on generality. If one side is fuller than the other, and the same number of grafts were place on both sides of the head and if both sides were equally bald, the a HAIRCHECK measurement may tell you if there is a difference in bulk/ growth.

As far as what I would recommend is deferred to your doctor who you have a relationship with. They should be better equipped than me to answer that question because they have examined your and know your specific situation.

I’m 20 year old male from the England and I have rapid thinning hair loss on the top of my head and slightly on the back. It’s all happened over the past two months, I spotted a slight gap in my hairline and was getting a little scared about it. I started counting the hair after washing to see if I was losing it. It was only about 20-30 and rapidly its been increasing to 50 then 100 and now for the last 5 weeks its 150 to 200 everyday. It itches a lot through the day, I’m starting to get dandruff (which I’ve never had before) and my scalp is becoming clearly visible, especially under bright lights. When I comb my hair I lose about 10 per area of my head including the sides and back. I went to see my doctor 4 weeks back and he said there is nothing any of us can do to stop it. I started Propecia a week ago in fear that if I don’t do something now I will lose it forever, the hair loss is still around 150-200 a day though. I know its no miracle worker but if my hair loss doesn’t stop now I fear it will be gone in two months. Its totally destroying my life and its making me completely depressed. I would provide photos but I think I’m the only 20 year old who doesn’t have a camera

Thanks for the great blog and I hope to hear from you soon, Thanks

Wow !!!
That is something !!!
You must be the only 20 year old without a camera (even on a phone) !!!

On a serious note, you should think about getting a camera.

With respect to hair loss you may be experiencing, I am glad you were able to see a doctor and you have a treatment plan. The doctor should perform a ‘HAIRCHECK’ on you for measuring your hair bulk. This is the most accurate test available to follow changes in your hair and hair loss across the board. Aside from that, I really cannot help you much other that give you a generalized fact that genetic male pattern balding starts in your 20’s, even in teens as early as 14.
There are medications such as Rogain and Propecia to help. There are also procedures like SMP and hair transplant surgeries which can help but there is not one thing along that will solve your hair loss problem. A good Master Plan is important, especially if you are in your teens or 20s as the wrong approach can be disastrous. There are too many horror stories about young men who took actions too early, like hair transplants in your teens or early 20s.

Our 16 month old baby girl has eczema and also dealt with scalp itching quite a bit. When she was little she had a really full head of hair. But, she did scratch her hair quite a bit to where we would find spots where there was some superficial cuts and bleeding. Her hair is pretty thing now. Do you think it’s going to be permanent or will it come back? We’ve gotten her scalp itch quite a bit under control from what it used to be.

Please follow up with your doctor. In general hair lost from trauma or excessive scratching or ecema may take over a year for hairs to grow back.

This is probably a joke, but it was worth sharing with my readership if only for a chuckle.

Balding men before hair transplants were around from tressless

Started FIN 1 year ago. Started to get watery semen straight away. Was told this would fix itself but it’s been like that for the whole year. (I take 0.5mg per day btw). I also started to get painful ejaculation. This would hurt more the longer I went without sex or masturbation. Everyone here told me that there was no way this could be FIN and that it was just coincidence. I went to Doctors and all sorts of stuff, and ruled out infections etc and then from reading, there was the possibility of some sort of prostatis which was concerning as from reading the prostate sub, that can be really hard to treat!

I eventually decided to stop taking FIN a few weeks back and the pain has now gone! It definitely was the fin. Watery semen still remains. I’m glad that that’s what it was, though. I now need to decide whether to hop back on fin. I can live with the painful ejaculation as long as I don’t go too long without ‘release’ (that’s when it REALLY hurts!) and now that I know that it’s nothing long term or serious and that I can stop it by stopping the drug, there is less worry. Tempted to hold off too so see whether the watery semen ever fixes itself!!

Stopping finasteride often solves side effect within a month or so. You might want to see your family doctor who can refer you to a urologist to find out if you have some problem.