Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Body Size of Patients Used in FDA Trials on Finasteride?

Hi there,
Can I just say that you have a great site! I’m a regular reader, and think that I have a question for you that may be interesting. I’ve searched through your archives and haven’t found a similar question, but if I have missed it, please accept my apologies.

Recently I have had a look through the FDA trial reports on finasteride, but cannot find any information on the body sizes and characteristics of the patients used in the study. Are such data available? (Histograms, Mean/median, SD, etc).

Whilst I am assuming that the effective dose of finasteride for treating MPB is related to body size, and that the occurrence of side effects increases with relative dose, could there be a case for smaller dosages being suitable for people smaller than the people used in the FDA study – Asians and orientals for example? As this blog is international, I feel that we “vertically challenged” of the rest of the world need to know! 🙂

I passed your question to Merck and I just got an answer. Essentially, the only thing that was studied was the average dose that is effective and it was not related to a person’s weight. Body size was not studied.


2007-05-10 14:32:19Body Size of Patients Used in FDA Trials on Finasteride?

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Body Hair Transplants, Revisited

I am interested in transplants using body hair. Does it work and do you do it? Thanks

Chest hairs and pubic hairs can be harvested for hair transplantation. However, you must realize that body hairs are not ideal for transplants because they tend to be shorter than hairs from your scalp, there are not many of them despite the sense that a very hairy chest is hairy by density, and these hairs do not grow in large groupings like scalp hair does. Body hair transplants must be considered experimental at this time, until some well published sciences stand behind them. Most people who ask me questions about body hair transplantation have depleted donor supplies from the scalp. Is this what you are facing? If it is not, body hair transplants would be completely inappropriate. Since you are in Los Angeles, I want to mention that we have a local office to you, if you would like to setup a free consultation. To schedule an appointment, please call 800-NEW-HAIR or visit the Request Additional Info page at the New Hair Institute website.


2005-12-07 07:57:57Body Hair Transplants, Revisited

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Born with Bald Spot

I was born in 1965 with a bald spot on upper left scalp. It has never changed. My mother checked about hair replacement when I was a child, but because I had no hair follicles, they could not help. I am now almost 53 and have dealt with it. Never looked into it further though. Have I gotten teased, absolutely as a child. I am blessed with thick hair. Long hair is a good thing for me. I part it to the right and usually pull some back to cover it, if not in pony tail or braids. At times, I do envy those who can just leave their hair without a fuss or worry about the wind separating it and my bald spot showing or having trendy haircuts and styles. I wish there was an easy way to have what’s left of my life without it, however I keep hearing my mothers words saying “God made you special for a reason”. My final thought, embrace it, learn how to fix your hair to make you feel more comfortable. If anyone is that critical, ignorant, or shallow over something you had no control over, then they are not worth your time of day people.

You may be special, yet you can still fix this if you want with either a hair transplant on a limited basis or Scalp Micropigmentation.

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Body Hair Transplantation

In reply to my post titled Hirsute Men and Head Hair Loss, Duke writes…

That is fascinating but it prompts a few thoughts. Why not use body hair for transplant processes?

More research into the Red Indian genetic heritage us surely required.

And why does the balding gene only impact on the top of the head and not the sides.

This is a fun question. First, why the top of the head. Leonard Shlain’s book, “Sex, Time and Power: How Women’s Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution,” had an interesting insight into the cause of balding. He postulates that our tribal heritage arose when man lived amongst his peers constituting 100-150 people. When looking at that the hunters (the healthy and fit men) in the light of certain qualities, there was a distribution of 4 traits that would pencil out to an 8% rule. He believed as animals learned to be afraid of man, the 8% of the hunters who were bald did not frighten the animals because they did not have the typical framed face of a hairy man, so animals would not run from them. They fulfilled the role of the spotter in the hunting party. Likewise, 8% of men were color blind and could see the animals in the bush missed by normal color visioned men, 8% were left handed and they threw the spear from the left side of the hunting group and 8% were gay so that they would stay home with the women and become more involved in their activities yet retain the strength to protect them. Fathering of children, while the heterosexual man were away hunting, was therefore not a concern.

If you take the 100-150 tribe hypothesis into the Red Indian, it would be relatively easy to see that with a small band of Indians that moved over from the Alaskan Bridge and down the Canadian countryside (they initially migrated to what would become the western American territory) it is possible that selective extermination of a sub-set (based upon the balding trait for example) of Indians over some generations during hard times, might have wiped out that genetic characteristic. This hypothesis for the Red Indian has been made by some, but without the presence of a written language or other documentation of their history, such assumptions might be a dangerous precedence to be proposed by a hair transplant surgeon.

Now, regarding body hair transplantation:

Experimentation is presently occurring on the use of body hair in some transplant centers (they just do not call it experimentation). As body hair grows in singular numbers (not follicular units of more than 1 hair each as in scalp hair) and length is not as long, and the hair cycle is possibly much shorter and the sleep cycle much longer, the use of body hair for transplantation might leave much to be desired.

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Born with a Mature Hairline?

Hello doctor,
First thank you to read my question.
I’m 19 years and i never had a straight hairline. It is with curves. Could it be possible to born with a curve hairline ? Because i never had the feeling to loose them! I would be relieved if you answer me.
thank you

We are all unique individuals and you may just have a higher hairline than others. If you send me photos of your face from the eyebrows up, I will give you an opinion about your hairline. Please take at least 2 pictures — one with your eyebrows lifted up as you look up, and the other with your eyes looking down.


2006-10-26 09:37:35Born with a Mature Hairline?

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Born with Bald Spot and Everyone Would Laugh at Me

Hello everyone, I was born in 1982, and I have the same bald spot on the back right side of my head. Everyone in school would laugh and joke about it. When I was 15, they said is would become cancer and have to cut it out. The doctors also said that once I cut it out, it would leave a little scar. I agreed to do it and two weeks later the hair just fell out again, so here I am at 35 wearing the same ponytail I’ve been wearing all my life. Like many, I wish I knew how to fix the spot.

This can be easily fixed with either a limited hair transplant or scalp micropigmentation ( see here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/smp-for-women/)

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Boost Hair Vitamins

i was just wondering if you heard of a company called “Boost”? They are a vitamin company and a hair care product company. Supposedly there stuff works they say?! Have you heard of them? Their website is worldofhair.com

Can you check out their site and tell me what you think? I basically dont want to start buying there product and realize it’s bogus!!

BoostVitamins are great, and products that can strengthen hair or make it healthier are good… but they have one product in their Boost line that claims to be good for thinning hair, and even says “guaranteed to stop hair fall”. Most over the counter hair products people ask me about the outlandish hair loss treatment claims (like guaranteeing something that can’t be guaranteed), and unfortunately this one is no different. It appears to just be a vitamin infused shampoo. Which vitamins is it infused with? No idea. However, I’d be skeptical of any product that brags about hair growth abilities and tries to sell the idea by saying it contains, “herbs, proteins, aminos and more“. I want to know if “more” includes leprechaun magic…

Does it work? Again, I have no idea. But when a company uses smooth sounding marketing lingo and doesn’t provide any real substance, it doesn’t fill me with any trust in the products. Don’t expect it to regrow hair, but if you do try it I’d be curious to read your review. The FDA takes a strong position when a company promotes a benefit and can not prove it. They can be told to stop selling the product.

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Book On Hair Loss Photos: “Alopecia Uncovered”

The following was sent to us from the author of the book.

Alopecia Uncovered is a fine art photography book that explores the therapeutic potential of the portrait through a series of arresting black and white images, essays and journeys of those affected by the condition.

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Daniel Regan’s Alopecia Project, in which he invited sufferers to be photographed as and how they wished to be represented, was shot over a three year period. For some of his subjects it involved baring all and showing their natural selves, whilst others wished to retain their eyelashes or eyebrows. However the true message of this project is that it’s OK being you, but most importantly being the you that you choose.

Now combined with analytical texts by art psychotherapist Jennifer Chambers, Alopecia Uncovered encapsulates the emotional difficulties of sufferers by allowing subjects to reclaim their sense of self by confronting these images of themselves. This book investigates issues of self-esteem, fractured identities and perceptions of illness, illustrated through the use of empowering yet vulnerable photography that challenges the social constructs of beauty.


2014-12-11 09:10:26Book On Hair Loss Photos: “Alopecia Uncovered”

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Born Without Pubic Hair!

I was born without pubic or underarm hair, I have eyebrows but they never grow long. The hair on my head is thick and lustrous – other body hair sparse. What causes this?

There are genetic patterns that each of us inherit associated with both our heritage and our ancestry. American Indians, like their Asian ancestors, have very little body or facial hair. Many Asians do not have pubic or under arm hair. We have transplanted many Asian women who want pubic hair, but it will grow like your head hair, a bit more curly, so you will have to cut it to keep it short.

For your eyebrows, it sounds like you have very short hair cycles there, which means that the eyebrow hair may only be there for a very short time when it falls out and eventually gets replaced by other hairs. When this happens, the length is usually very short and the growth rate is always slow in the eyebrow, possibly slower on you then in many other people of similar ethnic background.


2006-06-22 10:51:01Born Without Pubic Hair!

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I Was Born with a Bald Spot and My Mother Told Me “God Made You Special for a Reason”

I was born in 1965 with a bald spot on my upper left scalp. It has never changed. My mother checked about hair replacement when I was a child but because I had no hair follicles they could not help. I am now almost 53, and I have dealt with it. I never looked into it further though. Have I gotten teased? Absolutely as a child. I am blessed with thick hair. Long hair is a good thing for me. I part it to the right and usually pull some back to cover it, if it is not in a ponytail or braids. At times, I do envy those who can just leave their hair without a fuss or worry about the wind separating it or my bald spot showing or having trendy haircuts and styles. I wish there was an easy way to have what’s left of my life without it, however I keep hearing my mothers words saying “God made you special for a reason.” My final thought – embrace it, learn how to fix your hair to make you feel more comfortable, and if anyone is that critical, ignorant or shallow over something you had no control over, they are not worth your time of day people.

I am not on a campaign to fix every bald spot or help every balding man or woman on the face of the earth. I just help people who want to be helped. Being bald or having a bald spot is ok!


2018-10-10 12:31:17I Was Born with a Bald Spot and My Mother Told Me “God Made You Special for a Reason”