My Family Members Started Balding Around My Age

Hello there,

I’ve been wondering if I was going to end up bald. My grandfather on my father’s side is bald, as is my own father. Nobody on my mother’s side is bald (though she had no siblings and her mother’s brothers had their hair).

My bald grandfather said he started to bald around 18. A picture of my dad when he was around 19 1/2, he looked like a NW3. I’ll turn 19 in four months and was wondering if I don’t see any symptoms by the time I turn 19 or 19 1/2, will I go bald?

Thank you again.

There is no way to easily tell if you’ll develop the balding pattern your male relatives showed around your same age. You can have the HairDX test done and get an idea if you have the genes for balding, or you can see us and get a hair bulk assessment yearly to show when and if the balding/thinning process kicks in.

Of course, you can also just watch and wait.

My Facial Hair Started Growing Faster, Just as I Started Losing More Scalp Hair!

Dear Doctor.

I have been slowly losing my hair for some time now. I am 30 years old and have been on finasteride for a few years. I have always lacked a lot facial, chest, and back hair. Most of my peers have full beards and tons of hair on their chest while I have only a little bit.

In the last year, I have noticed that my facial hair has been growing in quicker (not thicker), instead of taking a week to 10 days to grow in, its been coming in at 3 days, and as a result of that I have been losing hair faster now. I am no doctor, but couldn’t there be a correlation between facial hair growth and hair loss?

Thank you kindly. God bless

I do not believe facial hair has any correlation of scalp hair in terms of growing or balding.

Finasteride does not affect facial hair. It only affects scalp hair (mostly on the top crown area). Rarely I have heard a few patients (under 10 in the last 10 years) report less body hair growth from finasteride use.


2012-11-01 10:22:28My Facial Hair Started Growing Faster, Just as I Started Losing More Scalp Hair!

My Eyebrows Grow and Then Fall Out

Hello Dr. Rassman,
I have been having eyebrow loss for over ten years now. It started after a period of overzealous plucking as a teen (I am now 29). The hair grows out and then after a few weeks to months it gets very weak and limp and falls out. This has been going on for years. My primary doc said it was age and possibly alopecia (though I have no problems on scalp and hair loss is diffuse not patchy). my dermatologist said seb derm but my symptoms are not that similar and the meds he prescribed didn’t help. Any ideas what it can be? And am I a candidate for transplant surgery? Please help! Thank you.

I really couldn’t make an attempt at an answer to what you are asking without examining you myself. So I’m not sure what it could be. If it is indeed seborrheic dermatitis, treatments are usually limited to antifungal shampoos. You didn’t mention which meds you were prescribed, so I’m kind of at a loss there, too.

As for whether you’re a surgical candidate, again, that’s not something that can be determined without an exam. A hair transplant into the eyebrow will reflect the thickness of the hair in the donor area where it is taken from (back of the head area).

My Eyebrows Are Partially Gray

Some of my eyebrows are gray

those eyebrows have two colours on them. they are dark at the end and then they drastically turn white towards the root. what would it mean? also, the new little eyebrows seem to be dark.

Eyebrows gray like other hair. There is little you can do about the graying other than using pencils designed for graying eyebrows or hair.

My erections are very weak, what should I do? (From Reddit)

I no longer get morning wood and my erections are only about 70% what they were before fin. Been telling myself it’s all in my head, it’ll resolve itself in time, and even that it’s probably caused by other meds I’m on (SSRIs). Well it’s been around 9 months now and there’s been no improvement and I’m no longer on SSRIs. So what now? Should I go to my doctor and ask for a hormone panel, or just stop fin immediately? I’m only 21 and it feels like my choice is between having no hair or no sex life.

If I stop fin for a few months to see if my erections come back, will I likely lose a significant amount of hair? Would jumping back on fin after a few months recover most of that lost hair?

Really unsure what to do, so any advice from people who’ve been in similar situations would be really appreciated

You might want to cut it out for 3 weeks as I advise my patients, then restart it as one pill every 4 days and try that for a week. IF that works, then increase it to one pill every three days for 3 weeks and if that work then try 1 pill every other day and stop there. IF the ED comes back, then you either have found the dose you can tolerate, or may not find any dose that works. Best, of course, to discuss this with your doctor.


2019-04-08 13:25:30My erections are very weak, what should I do? (From Reddit)

My Entire Family Is Losing Hair and I Think It Could Be Environmental

Im a 25 year old female and I started to notice that i was losing my hair about a year ago. About six months ago my husband started to notice the same hair loss. What really scares me is that now my 4 and 6 year old kids are losing their hair too. The hair loss is diffused throughout the head and sometimes we all get scalp pain as well. Ive seen Dermatologists and Endocrinologists and all the tests that have been done have come back negative, so all I can come up with at this point is that its environmental because this has been happening ever since we moved to our current home.

Please what could this be? What could I have my family tested for as far as toxins among other things?

Thanks in advance!

If you, your husband, and your children are all losing hair, an environmental cause sounds like it is the most logical reason. It could be something in your home, in your food, in your water, etc. Are you just seeing hair loss and some scalp pain, or is there anything else that your family is experiencing (like nausea, skin issues, seizures, etc)?

I wish I could provide you more, but this is outside of my field of specialty. There are government agencies that can check the environment in situations like yours. I would probe that direction.


2013-03-04 15:53:52My Entire Family Is Losing Hair and I Think It Could Be Environmental

My Earliest Dermatology Appointment Is Months Away

hi doctor
I took steroids and now its been over 3 months since I stopped and my hair still keeps on falling out. I am trying to make an appointment with dermatologist and I cant get an earlier day than january 10th. In my opinion if I will wait that long my hair will be totaly gone by that time. I wonder is my DHT will ever get normal on its own. I dont know what to do. its very sad that I just turned 23 and I am going to be bald.

Try to see a good family doctor then. If you are a young man and have stopped the offending steroids, then a good doctor can easily prescribe Propecia for you. If you are in California, the wait for seeing either Dr. Pak or myself is not more than a couple of weeks.


2006-10-23 08:39:33My Earliest Dermatology Appointment Is Months Away

My Dreadlocks Are Falling Out!

My dredlocks are falling out one by one. I have no history of balding in my family. What could this be?

Traction alopecia is the most common cause of hair loss in people with dreadlocks. This is due to the tight pulling on the scalp. I wouldn’t expect each dreadlock to just fall out one at a time, but I really couldn’t say what you’re experiencing without an exam.


2011-01-20 11:07:56My Dreadlocks Are Falling Out!

My Doctors Are Experts and Have Differing Opinions

Hi,

I am a 41 year old female and have been thinning for several years. My hair loss was triggered by the removal of an ovary and a tubal ligation of the other. I have visited many doctors over the years with no success. Two have indicated that I have androgenic alopecia, the rest indicate I have telogen effluvium because my hair loss has a diffuse pattern and I show no miniaturization. I had the HairDx test done and the results were high androgen sensitivity and low risk of AGA. Both my physicians (an endocrinologist and dermatologist) are considered experts in their field and have a different set of opinions based on the results. One indicating no treatment needed and the other indicating I should go on finasteride. What is your take on this result?

I can not possibly form an opinion one way or the other based on what you wrote. I would need to examine you and make a determination based upon my observations and measurements.

Female hair loss is not as clear cut as male hair loss, so differing opinions are not unusual. Finasteride is not FDA approved for treating female hair loss, but your high androgen sensitivity (as revealed by the HairDX test) means there could be some benefit from the medication. It would have to be prescribed off-label, and is something you and your doctor should discuss in depth.

Ultimately, you may have to go with your gut feeling on this one.

My Doctor Won’t Prescribe Proscar to Cut

Hi,
My Dr gave me a prescription for propecia for my hair loss. He was not willing to write for proscar for me to split. What options do I have? Can I send my script to be rewritten to someone out there who is willing to write for the proscar?

You can always seek another opinion from another doctor. There are those that focus on patient finances and those who do not and tend to be more rigid (a proper approach, of course). Proscar and Propecia are the same medication in different dosages, but it is up to the doctor to prescribe it to you.


2009-01-07 15:31:12My Doctor Won’t Prescribe Proscar to Cut