Dr. William Rassman – Page 1136

December 3, 2010

Female Hair Transplant Shock Loss? – Balding Blog

I am a female who had a hair transplant last week with the FUE method. I have FPB and a very thin donor area. I was told that on the day of operation and too far into the procedure i dont have thick donor hair so the coverage wont be very good. I am concerned now as i wonder will i get shock loss too as i have weak hair then and will i be balder then before.

When will the hair fall out now it is placed and how can i look after what i have to look like a normal lady?

Can i use Regaine as that did work when i used it last time but it irritated my scalp?

Should i take extra vitamins?

Shall i just say a wig and be done with it?

Does FUE not work for FPB then?

Hair loss in women First off, if you are female with a poor donor area, why would you even consider follicular unit extraction (FUE)? That surgical technique is mainly for people who want to cut their hair very short (like a crew cut) and not see any scar or just might want to shave their head, not likely for a female. If you are a woman, a scar (large or small) on the back of your head should be inconsequential and will never be noticeable with long hair covering it. I generally try to convince my females patients against FUE.

I am outraged and you should be furious. How can one have surgery and not understand what to expect?! It seems that you got conned into doing a surgery by an unethical doctor. The doctor should have told you about this before you underwent the surgery. Now the problem you face is waiting for complications of the transplant such as shock loss, accelerated cyclical loss, failure to grow, and on and on. If you were told that the surgery you are having won’t give you good coverage while the surgery was being done, then you might have a malpractice claim against that doctor if you are worse for doing it!

Vitamins will not help with your surgery. The wig is up to you, but it could ultimately make your loss worse from any traction alopecia that could develop. I would not use Rogaine (minoxidil) if it irritates your scalp. Let us hope you have no or minimal shock loss from the surgery itself and you can at least achieve some coverage. Only time will tell.

For the rest of the readers out there — beware of unethical doctors and do your research. Use this guide to help select your hair transplant doctor. We generally believe that 80% of female patients do not make good hair transplant candidates, especially if their donor hair shows diffuse thinning.

December 3, 2010

Headband / Bandana and Hair Loss? – Balding Blog

Would wearing a ‘head buff’, like they do on Survivor cause more hairloss?

as in suffocating the scalp etc. my whole head would not be covered I would wear it like a thickish headband. I am thinning all over/crown, and desperately need to cover up. They are microfibre with no seams. They are very light fabric, I would just wear it as a wide headband sort of thing.

regards

I do not believe wearing a “head buff” or any form of head gear, bandana, helmet, or hat would cause hair loss. You cannot suffocate your scalp. If you want to go to the extreme and wear a very tight head gear everyday for hours at a time, you would (over the course of several weeks or months) cause traction hair loss.

December 2, 2010

ACell, FUE, and Follicle Harvesting – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,

Love the site and the calm measured manner you guys take to things. I’m finding the Acell stuff really fascinating for a lot of reasons beyond my own hair concerns. I had a couple questions and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on them.

From what I understand, one of the many unanswered questions in the auto-cloning process is whether or not a plucked hair from the balding-immune donor zone, implanted into the bald area will continue to be fully immune to balding because of the mixed biological source nature of the hair/implant zone/newly generated follicle. Theortically couldn’t this issue be circumvented thusly :

1) Use standard FUE/implant techniques from donor areas
2) Depending on scalp availability, reseed these areas with acell plucked hairs
3) Harvest established acell hairs for further implanting
4) repeat until desired results

Not to get into totally wacky territory here, but is there any investigatory efforts to see if Acell plucked hairs can be implanted in other areas of the body and harvested in that manner if scalp tightness is an issue? For instance, growing a crop of donor hair via auto-cloning on the arm/back/leg, and taking them for standard implant from there?

Block Quote

Perhaps you are misunderstanding what the auto-cloning technique with the ACell product is all about. The research we’re conducting is basically plucking out hair from a donor scalp area (where hairs are considered immune to genetic balding), applying the ACell products, and transplanting to an area of scalp where there is balding. We are not harvesting hairs to be multiplied in a lab. Growing a crop of donor hair is not what this is all about.

Finally, we still do not know if the transplanted ACell plucked hairs will continue to survive years down the line as if they are immune to genetic balding like standard transplanted hair follicles. We are all assuming that it will be just like transplanted hair follicles, but this has yet to be proven. That proof will come many years from now where we can follow those transplanted patients.

December 2, 2010

Hair Loss InformationIs Hair Surrounding a Scar Supposed to Be Thinner? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i have a 1 inch scar on my head just above temple. my hair surrounding the scar is thinner than the corresponding hair on the otherside.

i was wondering is it normal for hair to be thinner around a scar.

Block Quote

It may be just a perception of thinning hair, because you have less hair on the scarred area. I doubt that each individual hair strand diameter is thinner. In other words, when you got your scar you may have lost some surrounding hair contributing to less ‘bulk’ of hair in the region.

December 2, 2010

How Available Is Dr Rassman? – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I’ve been reading your blog for about two years now since I started dealing with hair loss, thanks so much for donating your time to the public in this way. I have a question that I haven’t really seen addressed in past postings: Just how accessible are you to the average working guy who wants a procedure with you? You seem to be at the forefront of your field, I imagine you’re services are quite in demand and I’m not a pro athlete, movie star or CEO.

What are my chances of being able to get through and have a consultation with you? I/m 31, I’ve been maintaining an almost full head of hair with propecia, which grew back a lot of my crown where I was thinning. But I imagine somewhere down the line I will want a procedure, particularly if things like A-Cell pan out to make transplants less invasive.

Thank you

Dr Rassman Contrary to what you may think, I am available to anybody who wants to see me for a consultation. In fact, many of my patients are just the “average Joe”. Anyone can call 800-NEW-HAIR to setup an appointment.

Since you indicated you’re in the Bay Area, you can also see my associate Dr. Jae Pak, as he flies up to our NHI office in San Jose every Wednesday. While I usually spend my time at our Los Angeles office, I am also available in San Jose on occasion when Dr. Pak takes a break from his schedule.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

December 1, 2010

I Switched to 5% Minoxidil and Saw Massive Shedding – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr.Rassman

First I want to thank you for your awesome blog, I am a regular here for almost a year and the information you have provided prevented me from taking many wrong decisions in my battle with MPB. And now for my question:

I am a nw3 and used 3% minoxidil for 6 months along with Finpecia and saw very good results on temples, it almost filled entirely although not very thick but all my temple area was filled with newly grown hairs. it made a real different visually.

Then for past 2 months or so I switched to 5% Minox to see even better results but to no avail! during this time i saw massive shed and almost lost all my previously grown hair on my temples and lost even more ground in my hairline. now my hairline is very thin in front and I am starting to freak out since its getting worse everyday. now what should I do? switch back to 3% or continue 5% Min?

Your opinion on what should I do next is highly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance. Best Regards

Block Quote

I do not know what to tell you. If you follow this site, I’ve said many times that there is no cure for genetic hair loss. So all I can offer are hypotheses. Maybe it is just coincidence you are losing more hair on 5% minoxidil. Maybe switching to 3% may (or may not) help. Maybe you are noticing the shedding that many people report from starting on minoxidil.

My best advise is to not freak out and make harsh decisions based on emotions. Weigh out your options and choose your course. There is no wrong answer. Have you thought about seeing a physician and finding out what a professional thinks your course should be?

December 1, 2010

My Propecia Order Will Be Delayed for Over a Week – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve been using Propecia for 10 years with good results. The company I order Propecia from forgot to send my order. As a result, I’ve gone three days without Propecia and will probably have to go another week or so without it (i.e., 10 days without it). Am I going to experience noticeable hair loss before I get my shipment of Propecia? I am so ticked off!

Block Quote

I wouldn’t expect any noticeable problems. Missing a few days (up to a week or so) should not have any detrimental effect with respect to your hair, because there is some tissue fixation of the drug that will help keep the benefits flowing for up to 10 days. It generally takes a few months of not taking Propecia to notice “catch-up” hair loss.

December 1, 2010

Would Plucking a Single Hair Multiply the Entire Follicular Unit with ACell? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr Rassman,

As I can see from the board you are currently getting hammered with unknown questions regarding ACell possibilities prematurely before your own trials are done. That being said, here is another from a former patient to add to the lists of unknowns but to try and get a gage on your thoughts and opinions. If you pluck a hair from the back of the head with Acell the hope is that it will grow another hair and thus multiplying the donor area indefinitely. However, as you currently transplant hairs via strip or FUE it is done by dissecting the hair in their natural “clusters”…1-4 hairs.

With Acell is it your opinion that if you pluck a hair that it will only grow back one or that the genetic makeup will replicate where it was pulled from i.e. if you pluck from a 4 hair follicular unit it will replicate 4 hairs or are we to believe that this Acell procedure will be limited due to the fact that you will only be able to transfer hair as single 1 hair follicular units?

Thanks for your time

Block Quote

In theory, you get one for one. We pluck one hair at a time, not a full follicular unit. So when that single hair is re-implanted with just enough biological tissue on it, the ACell extracellular matrix should theoretically give it new life elsewhere on the scalp.

November 30, 2010

Hair Loss InformationAidoo Aid? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am suffering from male pattern baldness and was recently surfing through the internet looking for some breakthroughs in the hair loss area. I came across a webpage of an interesting company called Aidoo International and they had posted some very compelling information and results on their website claiming to have achieved a breakthrough solution in this area way back in 1997. Just wanted to know if you are aware of this company and it would be nice to know your thoughts on their claim.

Block Quote

AidooAid I’m not familiar with Aidoo products, but if they really achieved some great breakthrough over a decade ago, I expect I would’ve become familiar with it by now. Or I would’ve at least heard of it.

I found their site, and there’s really no substance to it. The product appears to be a kit containing shampoo, conditioner, and some kind of lotion. I can’t find the ingredients, but I do see a bunch of outrageous statements with no science to back it up. Aside from the basic hair loss treatment claims I see all the time from products sold online, this one even boasts about curing alopecia totalis! If that were true, it definitely would’ve made headlines.

Hope springs eternal. If you do end up trying it, feel free to let us know in the comments.

November 30, 2010

Hair Loss InformationI Don’t Pay Attention to How Much Minoxidil I Use – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve tried searching for this question i’m asking now, but i felt like i wanna get more of a detailed answer to satisfy my curiosity.

how much minoxidil i should apply at a time ? i don’t feel like 1ml is enough at all especially for people like me who have diffuse thinning…

(1) is this 1ml for the entire head (crown) or for each bald-spot ?
(2) I also have some thinning on the sides can i use extra 1ml for the sides and back together ?

basically i use a dropper but i don’t count how much of the solution i pump out. i just let a drip fall over each gap to get my entire head covered with the liquid eventually. is this a sound way to apply minoxidil ? thanks much …

Block Quote

1. Apply 1 mL total over the entire area twice daily, not 1 mL to each individual spot.

2. You can try, but using too much minoxidil could result in a drop in blood pressure, among other possible side effects. It’s a medication with potential side effects. You should be careful and read the instructions thoroughly before using it.

If you’ve got diffuse thinning all over your scalp (including the sides), perhaps you have something else going on. Typically, male pattern baldness does not result in hair loss on the sides of the head.