Month: January 2023

Hi I had a hair transplant in Mid July of 13, and I have had no growth in the frontal and the crown where the transplants were done. I have been keeping track of the transplant with pictures and it has gotten a little better in the front, still not the kinda of results I was hoping, but in the crown area there has been absolutely no growth. In fact the small hairs that were inserted never fell off nor did they grow, they are still there I can actually feel them when I run my fingers through. Is this normal that the hair sometimes doesn’t grow?

What you described should not be normal. There are autoimmune diseases that appear in some patients that can kill the hair transplants. These diseases are more often recognized in the frontal area, but you did report some growth there suggesting that the skin and scalp is probably normal. This may reflect a technical failure in the surgical process. A hair transplant failure is something you need to discuss with your hair transplant surgeon.

We are moving in the general direction of prolonging life. Drugs to slow down aging are coming and some are even here now. The basic problem with extending life may reflect the quality of the life that is extended. If we add 10 years to a person’s life, will it be worthwhile? Will we just be filling the nursing homes with more debilitated, mentally impaired people?

In the recent issue of New Scientist (October 4, 2014 called Elixer of youth? It’s already here) and good overview of what is going on in the field of the ‘Elixer of Youth’ is examined. Google believes in this future and has invested in a company called Calico, an R&D firm targeting the life span issue. Even drug companies like Novartis have now entered the field with research of “geroprotetors” (longevity drugs). Many doctors who are in the anti-aging field are taking the drugs themselves even through they are deemed experimental at this time.

Adding up to 10 years on to your life may not be so distant into the future as you might think. Drugs such as a baby aspirin daily and a statin, is believed to reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease and even dementia. The evidence is clear on the use of baby aspirin but controversial for the value of statins. Some of the most promising drugs for future use were developedin organ transplants to reduce organ rejection such as the compound rapamycin. This drug has been found to extend life in yeast, worms and mice. A drug called everolimus can reverse the deterioration of the immune system that occurs with age. “Immune system aging is a major cause of disease and death.” These drugs seem to have the same effects on humans as seen in mice but the clinical evidence is wanting. The common drug metformin, used to treat diabetes, seems to have anti-aging effects when used on non-diabetes, but has side effects in producing diabetes in people taking it. Early evidence suggest that 15% of non-diabetics taking metforman were less likely to die than other not on the drug.

In other publications, Scientists have shown a link between long-living calorie-restricted mice and the types of microbes residing in the guts of those mice. The finding, published last month (July 16, 2013) in Nature Communications, suggests a novel mechanism of living longer by establishing the right kind of microbes in our gut through a low-calorie diet. We are learning more and more that we house colonies of gut bacteria that impact us in ways we never imagined.

“[The study] underlined the effectiveness of the healthy modulation of the gut microbiota along with diet specificities,” Jean-Paul Vernoux, a professor of food toxicology at the University of Caen in France who was not involved with the study, said in an email to The Scientist.

Caloric restriction has been known to extend life span in a variety of organisms, including humans, though the molecular mechanisms of this effect are not known. Recent research has begun to outline the role of the apparently innocuous microbes of the gut in modulating metabolism and immunity of their host. Based on these findings, Liping Zhao of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and his colleagues wondered if caloric restriction may prolong life span by modulating the type and composition of gut microbes.[/bq]

Read the rest — Eat Less and Live Longer?

Mice on a low-cal diet live longer. How does that translate to humans? We’ll see.

I am a medical student and was wondering how finasteride works to give people a fuller appearance of hair.

In the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology July 2006, Volume 55, Dr. Vera Price summarized the action of finasteride as follows:

“Long-term finasteride treatment led to sustained improvement in hair weight compared with placebo. Hair weight increased to a larger extent than hair count, implying that factors other than the number of hairs, such as increased growth rate (length) and thickness of hairs, contribute to the beneficial effects of finasteride in treated men.”

This is important, because what she implies is that the miniaturized hairs reverse. That is why it is so important to map out the scalp for miniaturization and to perform bulk measurements with the HAIRCHECK instrument. These two approaches used prior to starting finasteride (Propecia) gives us a baseline metric to determine the value of the treatment. I have seen people with miniaturization in the 80% range, reduce substantially to almost normal levels (under 20%). This is why everyone taking finasteride should be evaluated prior to starting the treatment by a doctor who understands this process clearly.

Too many finasteride (Propecia) users do not get evaluated prior to starting the treatment. They depend upon their memory of what they looked like after being on the drug, the appearance of hairs falling out and found in the drain, and even photography. Considering the investment of emotion (and money) in treating hair loss, every person should be a HAIRCHECK done for bulk measurement. After a year on the drug, you will know if you are gaining, losing or just staying put. This is the critical first phase of a Master Plan for hair loss that everyone using it should undertake. These measurements along with the first visit check-up, is free at the New Hair Institute. For women, the HAIRCHECK measurement is also important for knowing where the hair loss is going.

First of all thank you for what you do with this site it is a tremendous resource. I am twenty and began to recede at the hairline about a year ago. I started taking one fourth of a proscar daily in April without a prescription and got a prescription for it in June after seeing a dermatologist. I have since been taking the generic version daily. The medication does not seem to be working as I have continued to lose much hair from my crown to the point where my scalp is visible in harsh lighting.

I have long hair but i have noticed in the last week that I am losing the very short (terminal?) hairs again after not noticing them for the past few months. Could this be due to the switch to the generic version? The proscar pills were individually sealed while the generic are together in a pill bottle could this air contact affect their potency? As it has been seven months and I have lost noticeably more hair should I discontinue the medication?

Thank you, my dermatologist is pretty clueless when it comes to hair loss, so I appreciate your knowledge.

Generic finasteride 5mg is the same drug as Propecia, which is just finasteride in 1mg strength, so there should be no difference in efficacy. I don’t think bottle vs individually sealed has any bearing on the potency.

Finasteride does not work that well for frontal hairline, so what you may be experiencing is just your normal course of hair loss that the drug cannot address, particular in a man of your age who might have an aggressive pattern of hair loss in the family line. Many men like you report that their father or fathers father or mothers father had an extreme balding pattern at an early age. These men will not see the same effects as men who are not heading to an advanced hair loss pattern. I would ask if any of those balding men in your family had advanced balding and at what age did they lose their hair? That may shed light on your problem. Lighting will make the hair appear thinner. Do you have comparison photos to look at from before you started? You’ll need to discuss changes to your medication with your prescribing doctor but if you have your father’s pattern (of advanced balding) nothing may help. The best way to know this is to see a doctor who offers hair bulk assessment with the HAIRCHECK system. If you are heading for advanced balding, then this test will tell you that. If it were me, I would want to know!

My father (age 60) is pretty bald (Class 6 balding pattern) but he still had hair on the top of his head. I am also a Class 6 (age 40) person but more balding than my father as my scalp is clean of any hair on the top. I went to a hair transplant doctor and he recommended that I get 1500 grafts on the front and top of my head. I was curious as to how much hair that would be, so I asked my dad if I could count the hairs on the top of his head. He had lost his hairline over 20 years ago as I have. I counted about 3000 hairs on his head, so assuming that I get 1500 grafts averaging two hairs each per graft, I realized just how much hair I wold get from such a transplant. He looks sickly with his 3000 hair if it were not for his top shape and his workout routine. Did I do this right to see what I think that I would like with 3000 hairs in the 1500 grafts recommended for me?

Answer: The recommendation of 1500 grafts in a completely bald class 6 pattern, would not give a big impact for you. To cover the class 6 pattern, you would need closer to 5,000-7,000 grafts depending upon the thickness of your hair shafts (fine, medium or coarse). Spreading 1500 grafts around a Class 6 pattern will not give you much coverage unless your hair shafts were thicker than his and the grafts were focused on the front and forward top areas of your head. I found a 44 year old male with a Class 6 pattern on my website (https://newhair.com/photos/patient-xk/). He had 4178 grafts in two sessions. The redness in the front reflected a hair system (wig) he wore which was glued to his scalp. His hair was of medium weight. If you hair is of medium weight, then you could expect to look like this with about 4000 grafts. Look at his before picture and tell me if this is the type of hair that your father has? If so, it might be miniaturized (very fine) so it will not give much coverage, so 1500 grafts of non-miniaturized hair placed in the frontal area might look ok, but significant coverage will not be obtained and these grafts should not be placed in the top and crown area.

To take a look at two other patients, I offer: https://newhair.com/photos/patient-ba/ (patient BA) and https://newhair.com/photos/patient-cd/ (patient CD). Patient BA’s area of coverage with 2184 grafts of medium weight hair that is straight (no wave in it) combs over nicely to cover the bald area. Patient CD had 1349 grafts with good frontal coverage because his hair was coarse and very curly (kinky). Patient CDs hair attributes give more coverage than people with medium weight, straight hair as seen in patient BA. If the hair was fine in either of these men, the coverage would be thinner.

I hope that these comparisons will give you an ability to estimate what 1500 grafts might do. Compare your hair attributes to those of these men and then you might be able to see the value of the recommended 1500 grafts.

Medscape November 17, 2014

The fact is that each year we lose over 400 doctors to suicide—that’s like an entire medical school gone. I lost both men I dated in med school to suicide. In my town, in just over a year, we lost three doctors to suicide. One doc in town lost seven colleagues to suicide! In what other profession can you lose seven colleagues to suicide?!

This is an interesting quote from a female doctor about a problem that is not uncommon. My son, a practicing surgeon, lost a colleague to suicide this year and that was not the first suicide at his hospital. Everyone was shocked. The suicidal doctor clearly did not communicate what must have been depression. Doctors are just like everyone else. They carry their baggage, their disappointments, their problems (both emotional and financial) with what they feel can’t be communicated to others, possibly some defect in themselves. They may not reach out for help, like so many ordinary people. In a conversation with my surgeon son, he said that all too often, the doctors who commit suicide, just don’t reach out and that some system needs to be created to address their somewhat unique status.

Reported From Medscape, September 10, 2014: Scientists contradict WHO criticism of e-cigarettes

The benefits that E-cigarettes don’t have the tar and poisons from burning tobacco is the point of the article. E-cigarette-do not pose a “significant health risk”, say the scientists. The risks of nicotine addition is still present and there is legitimate concern that this is a ‘gateway’ drug that might lead to smoking tobacco, especially in children

Doctor Rassman I have a question. once every 2 months I eat Veal Liver that is milk raised. I just want to know can that cause genetic hair loss because liver has high cholesterol and stuff. and its always a very small piece that it every 2 months.

I’m not sure how you made that correlation, but there is no connection with a veal liver or higher cholesterol diet with hair loss.

Hi. I am 21 years old. About 9 months ago I noticed that my hair was thinning at the top. I consulted my GP and he said it was male pattern baldness. He prescribed propecia but after 7 months of taking it I experienced side effects and did not see any improvement. I lift weights for 30 mins 3 times a week and have a protein shake daily could this have any effect? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. many thanks

I doubt that there is any connection unless your protein shake has steroids in it.