Dr. William Rassman – Page 1202

April 1, 2010

Are Drug Companies Making a Better Finasteride? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hey Dr Rassman
First of all I would just like to recognize all the the individuals who help make this site what it is. Its great. I love it! To be honest it distracts me at school a lot. I keep saying to myself, okay read one more post and thats it! But now for the serious part. I’m just wondering about the progress which is being made in the development of new drugs for male pattern baldness. I know you are probably getting sick of these questions, but are companies researching the working mechanisms of the approved drugs minoxidil and finasteride and building off what they already know?

Also, who is the youngest person that you have performed surgery on, not including young children with burns, but with male pattern balding and if so what do these results look like? I am also pleased to say that I will be scheduling a visit with you in May to meet with you….. I’m very excited as I am from Canada and have never been to LA before. I hope it lives up to the hype!

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I don’t know much about new drugs in the drug pipeline of the pharmaceutical companies, but as I do find out anything I try to post it on this site quickly. Sometimes I get emails from people alerting me to medications in the pipeline that I hadn’t heard of before. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a drug insider that knows timelines on when medications are coming to market. Treating hair loss is a billion dollar business, so while I don’t know this to be 100% the case, it would make sense that some drug companies are working on the next possible medication to regrow hair.

In the treatment of male pattern baldness, I made a mistake once by taking on a 17 year old patient with strictly frontal balding. He had a very fast moving hair loss progression and eventually went on to a Norwood class 7 pattern. This was around 1993, years before Propecia was on the market and it was early in my hair career. Today, I generally wait for:

Advanced pattern progression that does not respond to Propecia
Ages of 22 or higher
Adequate or high densities of the donor hair
Maturity… and many other characteristics tied to hair and skin color, hair density, coarseness of the hair, character of the hair, and family history

I look forward to meeting with you. Los Angeles is a great city and I am sure you will enjoy it if you gave yourself enough time for touring.

April 1, 2010

In the News – Avodart and Heart Failure Risks – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

A recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that Avodart (dutasteride) reduces the risk of prostate cancer along the same lines as finasteride did in earlier studies. The study also shows that in those men on Avodart, there was an increased incidence of heart failure.

Here’s a snippet from the Associated Press article:

Full results of a big study testing a drug for preventing prostate cancer show a higher risk of heart failure, a surprise finding that could dampen enthusiasm for expanding its use.

On Monday, GlaxoSmithKline PLC asked the federal Food and Drug Administration to approve its drug Avodart as a cancer preventive for men at higher-than-normal risk of the disease. The drug is already sold for urinary problems, and no heart failure risks have been seen with that use, doctors say.

Results of a study testing it as a cancer preventive were given at a medical conference last year, but the heart risk information had not been analyzed at that time so only the main results of the study were presented, a Glaxo spokeswoman said. Full results are being published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The study involved 6,700 men with high scores from PSA blood tests but no sign of cancer on biopsy. They were given Avodart or dummy pills and new biopsies four years later. Prostate cancer was found in 25 percent of those on dummy pills and 20 percent of those on Avodart.

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Read the full article — Study finds possible heart risk with prostate drug

As the article does mention, the heart risk could be a fluke, but it is important to study this further. Just another reason why I can’t endorse dutasteride for users that wish to take it for treating hair loss.

April 1, 2010

Is My Tight-Fitting Beanie Causing My Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve been wearing a tight fitting beanie or toque as we call them here in Canada fairly regularly for about four months now. Often it will be all day, morning till night (so approx 12-14hrs). Quite frankly I just forget its on my head. I’d always had a full head of hair but have noticed some minor thinning at the hairline which I swear was not there some months ago before I started this beanie trend. I know you’ve spoken against hat or headgear wearing as a contributor to hair loss however some still suggest there may be a small correlation between the two.

I don’t believe excess dirt or sebum would contribute to hair loss but what about the notion of your hair/scalp needing oxygen? or vitamin D as produced by exposure to the sun? In regards to tight headgear, what about the idea of a decrease in circulation? Or a form of traction alopecia as the hair gets pushed or pulled in different directions for prolonged periods of time? Your insight would be appreciated.

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Traction alopecia is certainly a possibility from wearing a beanie or anything tight on your scalp for extended periods of time. Problems with blood supply and oxygen levels aren’t going to cause hair loss, though they were once thought to be causes many years ago.

Hopefully, any vitamin D you’re not getting from sunlight is covered by your diet. It is my opinion that the hair does not have to get washed and sebum build-up will not impact hair growth, however, not washing your hair could cause your head to eventually stink.

April 1, 2010

Edible Hair Treatments? – Coconut Oil, Eggs, and More – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr.Rassman,

I understand that there are products in the market that can slow down the hair loss. What do you think about coconut oil, and also I have seen people using hair mask with Egg and yogurt and lemon?

Are these good for for scalp treatment and conditioning? thanks

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Eggs Those all sound delicious, but they won’t slow down your hair loss.

Coconut oil is used as a hair conditioner (apparently this is common in India), and I read that the yogurt/egg combo is also used as a conditioner by some. I can’t vouch for how well they work as hair conditioners, as I just use a bottled brand.

April 1, 2010

I Had a Transplant and Take Propecia – Is It Too Late for Miniaturization Mapping? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman. You’ve written that after miniaturization mapping you can do a good job predicting what balding pattern a person will likely develop. If I’ve already had a hair transplant a few years ago and have been on Propecia, and mapping wasn’t done beforehand, is there no way for me to predict where I’m headed? Thanks.

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I believe a miniaturization study is a good measurement of your hair status at one given point in time. It’s like taking your blood pressure or pulse when you go see your doctor. Even if you had a hair transplant, this should not matter. So to answer your question — no, it’s not too late.

March 31, 2010

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplant and ITP – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am considering having a hair transplant. I am have a bold spot of the right top side of my head and a similar one is gradually developing on the left. My biggest problem is that I have ITP. I had been scheduled to do a transplant a few days ago and had gone for ITP treatment- I was given IVIG but it had no impact; infact it seems the platelets dropped. So I had to put off my surgery. The problem is it is difficult to schedule an appointment for surgery without knowing for sure that I’ll have the right platelet count on the day of surgery. Do you know of any hair transplant centre whether they can handle both the haematological and transplant aspects?

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For those unfamiliar with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), I’ll turn to Google Health for a good description — “a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets, which are necessary for normal blood clotting. Persons with the disease have too few platelets in the blood.” Idiopathic is just a fancy way for doctors say we really don’t know what is going on. There are some treatments as you know, but sometimes it can be difficult to treat.

Having surgery when your platelets are low can be dangerous, because your blood will not clot and any bleeding may not stop. I understand you want to have a surgery, but any surgeon in their right mind would not knowingly perform surgery on a patient with ongoing ITP with low platelets. The key point is that you need to have your ITP treated and wait until your platelets return to normal levels. Until then, I would worry more of your health than your hair.

My final thought is that you mention a bald spot on a part of your head. While I really cannot diagnose you with a description, are you sure you have male pattern baldness? Something about the way you described your hair loss makes me think you have alopecia areata (which is also a condition where your immune system attacks your hair follicle, the way it destroys your platelets in ITP). Just a hunch. Please follow up with your physician and I wish you well.

March 31, 2010

Hair Loss InformationHistogen Hit with Patent Lawsuit in 2009 – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi doctors,

Any word on Histogen? I haven’t seen any news from them in a long time now. There hasn’t been any news posted to their website since last August. I know you said you don’t have inisder info but i didn’t know if maybe your doctor mailing list or industry letters talk about it.

Thanks

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I did hear one thing about Histogen, and that related to a patent violation. I found this article via Google from a couple months ago that has some interesting news…

Histogen was hit with a patent lawsuit last year by SkinMedica, though the article doesn’t say which patents are in possible violation. Following that, their investors pulled out and they laid off all their employees. They still say 85% of their 2 dozen test patients saw results, though I have no idea what is considered a positive result in their book or if their testing will be expanded beyond that small number of people. One thing is certain — if the patent litigation doesn’t come out in their favor, they’ll need to strike an agreement with SkinMedica or go the way of the dodo. The CEO sounds very positive, but I suppose when you’re looking for new investors you should always have a positive outlook in interviews.

March 31, 2010

Hair Loss InformationWhy Don’t You Reveal Who These Bad Doctors Are? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

The following is a comment I received on the post from last week, How Many FUE Grafts Actually Grew? —

Please let us know who this Dr. is. I know you do not want a reputation of badmouthing Drs. — but for the benfit of those of us who do not want this type of result, please mention it — it is not badmouthing, it is warning. At least the State where this Dr. practices. What good is a warning, if it isn’t linked to a culprit?

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We maintain a policy to not slam specific doctors. I don’t want to open myself up to any legal action and honestly, I’d prefer to focus on revealing the scams some doctors pull and encouraging users to do their own research on any doctors they are considering.

We hold open house events each month where any patient can come in and say whatever he/she pleases in front of a very interested audience. I would challenge other doctors to have this same policy, which would obviate the problems that this patient had.

March 31, 2010

Hair Loss InformationFacial Hair Loss Started with a Tiny Spot, Now It’s Half My Face! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a man of 29 years old but i noticed when i was 27 years old at the lower part of my jaw on the left part of my face, the hair on a part there started going bald. It started gradually with a tiny spot of hair loss then it started expanding and now it as expanded to its limit and it stopped expanding but my hair won’t grow back and i can’t have my proper shave. please doctor i need an advise to know if or how i can grow my hair back.

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I couldn’t say precisely what it is, but alopecia areata starts like how you described. You need to see a dermatologist and your condition will probably require a biopsy for confirmation. Learn more about this disease at the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

March 31, 2010

Lost My Leg Hair, Now My Arm Hair is Thinning – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

(male) Several years ago I lost all leg hair.. Now I am losing arm hair – getting really thin, and I am a little concerned/upset about this. My head hair is pretty decent thus far. I am a 69 year old male in reasonably good heath, with high normal blood pressure which is treated with drugs. Can you recommend what I can do to stop the hair loss. Thanks

Reasonable leg and arm hair growth is a male trait, so I would think of things that are opposite, such as a dropping testosterone level (testosterone supports leg and arm hair), or the presence of some female hormone production (certain tumors can do this). Hair growth on the extremities may be genetically modulated as well. Go see your doctor and check out your hormones.

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