Month: January 2023

I am 51 years old, i do not have anyone on my parents side that have male pattern baldness. I have always had a lot of hair, about 2 or 3 years ago i started to have this redness, inflame irritation at my vertex on top of my scalp. it has thinned out so much that you can see my scalp and my hair has thinned all over. I have been to several derm doctors but all of them are bald their self and they don’t take the time to help me. one doctor did a patch test on my back but everything was normal. i have oily and hair that has to be washed everyday because it is so fine. I have used head and shoulder shampoo which seems to work, but when i use it i feel a kind of a tingling burning feeling at the vertex, where the inflame, redness is at, but it will go away and feels better. does head and shoulder shampoo suppose to do this? It will return unless i keep using it. Should i continue to use this shampoo? I dont know what to use, Please help.

I have given up on derm doctors because it takes so long for a appointment, and they seem that they don’t care. I even dread to wash my hair everyday, but i have to because it is so fine an sweaty and oily. I have tried rogaine, but it irritated my vertex area so bad that i can’t use it. i am losing a lot of hair in the shower, I don’t know what to use. Right now my vertex is irritated and red. Please help. Thanks

I would like to help, but there is no way to diagnose your problems or even guess at what you may be experiencing without an exam. Daily hair washes with shampoo for oily hair is important for you to use. If your hair is fine, get a gentle shampoo.

I realize a good doctor may be hard to come by, but start with your primary care doctor and ask for a recommendation. I wouldn’t think that any doctor would want to be seen as a non-caring physician so you should try hard to appeal to their caring side. Speak frankly if you feel that they are not paying you the attention you want and need. Being direct is critically important to the doctor/patient relationship.

I developed an infection and met with my doctor who put me on antibiotics. It seemed to get better. I am worried about it harming the grafts in the recipient area. Is that a problem?

It is hard to tell from the pictures if the infection is under control but your doctor will tell you that and you should see no significant pimples or redness. If the infection was promptly treated, it will not harm the grafts. The good news is I see early growth already.

You will not know if the hair will grow back until the hair cycle time has passed, which is usually between 4-7 months from the onset of the infection. If it does not grow back, then another hair transplant into this area should grow.

I have a few painful spots on my head. Probably ingrown hair. They full of pus and sore. Any tips for treating them?

Frequent hot wet compressed should make them drain. If not, see a doctor

This patient’s recipient area became infected and had this been my patient, I would have drained these infected cysts and place the patient upon antibiotics. I would have cultured the cysts to be sure that the antibiotic I would use is the correct antibiotic. If this infection is not treated quickly., the infection could kill the transplants.

Hello Dr,
I found this new article from India Times that says dandruff is a hair loss cause. You said it wasn’t.

IndiaTimes.com

This reads like a brief article with bits of truth and bits of confusion all mixed together. I would doubt that this was written as a means to educate by someone who is an expert. The term trichoanalysis (or as the article calls it, Tricho Analysis) indicates the analyzing of hair (tricho) which is really not informative on any level. Look at one of my recent posts on dandruff for the real scoop — What is Dandruff and Why Do I Have More of It Than My Friends?

For a typical Indian, assuming that you actually had 5,700 hairs, which would extrapolate to ~3900 grafts, this would be considered over-harvested. The average “Indian” hair density has an original hair population of about 80,000 hairs. The photos confirm your suspicion of over-harvesting. The maximum FUE for a typical Indian should be limited to about 3,000 grafts or 4,700 hairs with another possible 3000 grafts or 4700 hairs performed with a strip surgery to prevent donor area depletion.