Author: Dr. William Rassman

Good day Dr.Rassman and company. Here is a picture of professional hockey player Ryan Getzlaf back in 2003 when he had gotten drafted to the Anaheim Ducks.

This is him in: 2003, 2010, 2012

How did he lose hair so fast?

According to Google, Ryan Getzlaf is 27 years old now… so he was a teenager in that first photo from 2003 and his juvenile hairline is clearly evident. In young men (under 35 years old) hair loss is not a steady process, as it may come in spurts. Hair loss over an 8-9 year time frame is not fast from a genetic point of view.

Is it true that Alopecia can go away and (possibly) never return?

“Alopecia” is just the medical term for hair loss. Genetic alopecia will not just go away, but other types such as alopecia areata can go away and not return (or stay dormant for years). You can learn more about alopecia areata and its various forms at the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

what do you make of this theory? is it possible that there could be any truth (or even half truth) to it?

www.againstalopeciaandbaldness.com

The site you linked to doesn’t offer much besides unproven theories presented by an unknown author. It doesn’t look like the site has even been updated in almost a decade.

There has always been talk that sebum is the cause of hair loss, but sebum is the normal exudate from the glands on the hair follicle and when produced, it is completely normal. Now with that said, we see many people who are concerned about hair loss or just poor hair and when looking for something to blame, sebum always seems to come up. Sorry, folks — sebum does not cause hair loss.

Also, to perpetuate this old wives’ tale, you will always find some business that makes money helping you clean your hair better so that the “evil” sebum does not do its damage. Everyone needs to make a living, so I guess the sebum cleaners have been around for as long as people have focused on their hair problems and are willing to give up their hard earned money.

I recently read about a man who had been having issues with side effects from propecia only after many years of use (pain ‘down below’). He went to see a urologist who says that it is not unusual to see scar tissue in the penile tissue of long term finasteride users. Seeing as I have been considering taking propecia as a long term commitment this has me very concerned.

Can you reassure me on this at all? I’ve read that DHT is important for maintaining healthy tissue (binding to androgen receptors?) in all tissue apart from the muscles in the body.

I do not know how finasteride could give you penile scar tissue. This is news to me. Perhaps a urologist is a better person to pose this question. The only reassurance I can give is that I’ve never heard of a case of scar tissue forming because of Propecia, and can’t find any studies to suggest that this is a known phenomenon.

You must be careful with all the wealth of information available on the Internet, and understand that not everything you read is true. It’s very easy for things to be taken out of context or misinterpreted, which is why I always stress that you speak with a doctor face to face. Reading what someone on a forum wrote about what a doctor supposedly told him isn’t something I’d get unnerved about.

what happens if i keep telling my son to stop pulling his hair and remind him all the time. will he stop??

This is an obsessive compulsive disorder called trichotillomania. He should see a professional about this. Constant reminders might not be the solution, but feel free to try.