Female Pattern Hair Loss Overview Published in Medical Journal – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Androgenetic alopecia affects both men and women. In men it produces male pattern hair loss with bitemporal recession and vertex baldness. In women it produces female pattern hair loss (FPHL) with diffuse alopecia over the mid-frontal scalp. FPHL occurs as a result of nonuniform hair follicle miniaturization within follicular units. Diffuse alopecia is produced by a reduction in the number of terminal fibres per follicular unit. Baldness occurs only when all hairs within the follicular units are miniaturized and is a relatively late event in women.

The concepts of follicular units and primary and secondary hair follicles within follicular units are well established in comparative mammalian studies, particularly in sheep. However, discovery of these structures in the human scalp hair and investigation of the changes in follicular unit anatomy during the development of androgenetic alopecia have provided a clearer understanding of the early stages of androgenetic alopecia and how the male and female patterns of hair loss are related.

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Read the full abstract — Hair loss in women: medical and cosmetic approaches to increase scalp hair fullness

This is an interesting article published in the British Journal of Dermatology (December 2011) which covers the subject of hair loss in women. The recommendations in treatment suggest early medical intervention with drugs like spironolactone, minoxidil, and finasteride. When the hair loss becomes advanced, hair transplants work well if the hair in the occipital area (donor area) remains relatively unaffected by the process found in the balding area. The article also suggests women should use camouflaging agents to help give the appearance of thicker hair. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking in here, but it’s a good overview.

Based on our experience at NHI though, unfortunately the donor area is often not spared in the woman with advanced balding so that the number of good candidates are limited. We have found that if the donor area has significant miniaturization, transplanting this hair to the thinning area often fails to give full benefits. Many women aren’t surgical candidates for this reason.

In the News – Online Campaign for Bald Barbie – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Mattel is being urged to mass produce a bald Barbie in order to make girls suffering from hair loss feel more attractive and to help children cope with hair loss among friends and relatives.

A Facebook campaign designed to encourage Mattel to produce the bald version of the popular doll now has about 6,000 “likes” on its page. The page states that such a Barbie would benefit girls suffering from hair loss due to cancer treatments, alopecia (an autoimmune disease causing hair loss) or trichotillomania (hair loss from pulling or twisting), as well as those who know a female experiencing hair loss.

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Bald BarbieRead the rest — Campaign for Mattel to produce bald Barbie growing

Mattel did produce a one of a kind bald Barbie for 4 year old going through chemotherapy (see image), but they haven’t announced any intention to do a limited run, let alone a wide production run like these online petitions are asking for.

The article states that there’s also an online petition for a bald GI Joe action figure for boys experiencing hair loss.

Hair Loss InformationClose FUE Scars With Sutures? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr.Rassman/Dr.Pak,

Would FUE donor-area wounds closed by suture allow for relatively scar-free surgery, or would the procedure be simply too impractical and/or prohibitively expensive to carry out?
Thank you.

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It would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Many people with densities of 2 hair/mm square or better will not scar significantly if the punch that the surgeon uses is 1mm or less. Some surgeons use larger punches and if the person has a low donor density, the scars will be evident as these two things are combined.

Hair Loss InformationIn the News – Baldness is Like Animal Shedding – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

An animal shedding its coat at certain points of the year may involve the same science behind male-pattern baldness.

New research out of the University of Southern California found that not only is hair loss caused by the hormones in the hair follicles themselves, but also in the tissue surrounding the follicles. That is similar to animals that shed their coats, a routine occurrence triggered by the animals’ bodies.

“The hair-follicle stem cell is not only listening to the voice in the stem cell, but also from the outside,” Cheng-Ming Chuong of University of Southern California and lead author of the study told MyHealthNewsDaily Wednesday at the meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in Denver.

The research suggests that new treatment should focus on the tissue around the hair follicles instead of just the follicles themselves.

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Read the full text — Baldness Similar to Animal Shedding Coat

I Think I’m Evolving Into a Norwood 7 — Can I Get a Transplant to a NW3? – Balding Blog

This site is great, and I’ve learned a lot from it.

My question is – I am a young man (mid 20s) thinning in what appears to be evolving into a NW 7 pattern, given a family history of NW7’s, and I am taking finasteride.

Is it possible/advisable to get a conservative hair transplant with a Norwood Class 3 hairline? I have accepted the fact that I will lose my hair someday, but I would like some hair in the front/top to frame the face, would such a course of action be advisable?

I’m glad that you’ve found the site to be a useful resource.

You might be able to get to that Norwood 3 hairline through surgery, but what you need is a Master Plan that takes the following into consideration:

  1. Your hair density
  2. The thickness of the hair shaft
  3. The present color of your hair
  4. The character of your hair
  5. Your response to the drug finasteride

With that information and a great doctor, the question can be refined with an appropriate answer catered to your needs.




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My Hair Is Thin, Falling Out, and My Scalp Burns – Balding Blog

My hair has been falling out in handfuls for over two years now. Not only is my hair falling out, but each strand is SO thin, it’s almost invisible. And my scalp burns as if it’s been rubbed with jalapeño peppers. I’ve been to three different dermatologists. All said it’s hereditary, even though no one in my family was bald or had hair loss problems. Two dermos put me on minoxidil (Rogaine). My scalp screamed in pain, so I stopped. Each attempt with minoxidil made my hair come out in handfuls.

Since tripping on this site, I’ve realized that my hair first started falling out when I began taking cod liver oil for my general health. Then I added Omega 3/6 supplements, salmon oil… and, most recently my naturopath suggested I take flax seed oil! My scalp pain is so bad, I’ve tried everything to calm the pain. Never did I consider that it might be the supplements. I also take high doses of D3, having recently switched to the gel caps, instead of tablets. I will stop everything and see if things improve.

Here’s the question: those who’ve had success growing their hair back, do you recommend taking biotin? Or should I stop that, too?

I’ve seen a few references to Nizoral. Is it better than Denorex or Selsun Blue, and if so, why? How long did it take for your hair to grow back after you quit taking the oil supplments? I’m desperate not only to stop the hairloss, but to end this agony with my burning scalp.

You may be asking the impossible from me. Short of a visit and a full hour consultation, I doubt that I can help you with a text reply. Actually, I’m not even sure that I could help after a full hour consultation. I don’t know enough about your medical history (or you) to have any idea what could be causing your scalp sensitivity/pain and subsequent hair loss.

The first step is to find a diagnosis for your hair loss and scalp pain. If you’ve been to two dermatologists and neither has been able to find a solution, keep trying until you can find a dermatologist with a solution. I wish I could offer more, but I’m at a loss.




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My Hair on My Comb and in the Sink Seems to Be Miniaturized – Balding Blog

I believe you have mentioned before that, at any given time, roughly 10% of the hairs on your head are in the miniaturized/resting state. For some time now, however, I’ve noticed that many, if not most, of the hairs gathering on my comb and around my sink appear to be miniaturized to some degree. Is this normal, or should I really start to be concerned? I’m currently 19 with no noticeable signs of balding.

Thinner hair shafts represent about 20% or less than the rest of the hair in most people. These hairs may reflect vellus hairs, not miniaturized hair. What you see on the comb and in the shower drain is probably miniaturized hairs reflecting the balding condition. You can find out for sure by getting a set of bulk measurements comparing the donor hair with hair elsewhere on your head. Why guess?




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Hair Loss InformationCould Propecia Affect My Ability to Have Kids in the Future? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman I appreciate your website and blog very much I visit here everyday. I have been considering propecia for a month now. After searching the internet of course I have been scared like everyone of side effects of ed,low libidio,and I know your answer to this. Now I recently have been seeing everywhere on the internet about propecia affecting fertility! I mean I wanna have kids and start a family one day which out weighs having hair.

I am a 27 year old male and have some thinning and receding up top. So my question is if I take propecia is there any chance of it affecting my ability to have children in the future? Can you please set me at ease I realize you have answered this before

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The information available shows that there is little risk to fertility from Propecia. If there is an incidence of drug induced infertility, it is very, very rare. What has been reported seems to reverse on drug withdrawal. Permanent infertility to finasteride does not appear to be a problem. If you are still concerned after reading this, when you take the drug for your hair loss, consider taking a sperm count somewhere after 3 months while you are on the drug.

Hair Loss Information » Can I Lower My Eyebrows? – Balding Blog

I’m wondering if there’s a way to lower my eyebrows. My face structure makes my eyebrows look like they’re too high on my head and I hate the space between my eyes and brows. What kind of procedure could be done to lower the eyebrows?

There are cosmetic surgeons who may do this, but I am not one of them. See a good plastic surgeon and ask that question to him/her.