Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Am I Experiencing New Hair Growth on the Crown?

Dr Rassman,

thanks for all your blog has done, its really a great resource and place for answers. Its been a great help for me.

I am turning 25 soon, and for the past year have been driving myself crazy because my hair has thinned. I did catch it very early, its far from noticable to the naked eye, and ive been on propecia for almost 10 months.

Heres my question, I recently noticed what feels like short spikey hairs on my scalp, my hair is long so i cant see them, only feel them.

would this be considered new hair growth? I know all about miniaturization (thanks to this blog) but these hairs feel very hard and spikey. And im sure they werent there a few months ago. The spikey hairs are only on the crown and other areas my hair has thinned.

any comments you have to help answer my question are greatly appreciated

You could be experiencing new hair growth. Follow it over the next few months and get some good photographs if you can ASAP and then more later on to compare.


2007-02-14 14:53:02Am I Experiencing New Hair Growth on the Crown?

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Am I Balding (Age 21)? Photos

No. You are probably developing a maturing hairline. Your hairline looks strong and the V-Shape of the mature hairline is just starting to appear. You can expect to see the entire hairline move up possibly another 1/4 inch as you get older.


2020-03-19 12:49:18Am I Balding (Age 21)? Photos

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Am I Going Bald?

When I was younger, I always had very thick hair. Never a concern at all. Recently, I ran my fingers through my hair and noticed that I could see my scalp quite easily by pulling the hair vertically or to the side. I usually have a very short haircut, not military style but certainly less than an inch in length. I’ve been paying more attention to my hair lately because I’ve been growing it out, and that’s really the only reason I’ve noticed. It seems like the hair on the side is thinning more…I’m not really noticing a maturation pattern where it’s receding, just thinning.

My uncle on my mother’s side is almost entirely bald, my father has a bald spot on the back of his head and thin hair…so genetic predisposition is possible/probable. I’m wondering what I should do at this point. I may be over-reacting but I’d like to find out. I use gel/comb my hair regularly, but I’ve never seen hair fall out. I can run my hand through my hair several times without seeing any hair fall off.

I’ve also started wearing a hat recently, which is reasonably tight…and may only be coincidence. I’m just not sure what to do/who to see.

Thanks for your help/site…it’s much appreciated.

To determine if you are balding, you need to have your head mapped out for miniaturization which will show if your have developed or are developing a pattern of thinning that will eventually lead to frank balding. Any topicals you place for combing your hair may make it look fuller, but it will not change the process that is going on. Propecia is the best medication to slow or stop the hair loss and some times it even reverses it, but first you need a diagnosis. The hat will not make a difference in the hair loss, unless is is very tight and causes pulling of the hair.

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Am I Breaking Out in Hives from Propecia?

Hello Doctor,

Thanks for maintaining such a great blog.

I am a 20-year-old student who started taking Propecia about a month ago. Since then, I’ve broken out in hives about once every two weeks. The breakout lasts for about 3 days.

I have three questions for you:
– Do you think that this is an allergic reaction to Propecia?
– If I am indeed allergic to Propecia, do you think that it will be less effective?
– I have experienced a noticeable increase in shedding since starting Propecia. The Internet tells me that this could be a good sign, but we both know there’s a lot of misinformation out there.

Again, thanks for the great blog.

First of all, if you are breaking out in hives I would see a doctor. This is not a place to get a medical diagnosis or treatment. Any medications can cause a reaction or side effects, but I do not know anything about your medical history or health or habits to even guess why you are breaking out in these two week intervals. Are you doing something different every two weeks?

In general, patients do not shed after taking Propecia. Patients lose hair with or without the medication from natural genetic causes. The “increased shedding” people refer to is very abstract and hard to quantify. This is one of the main reasons you need to see a doctor before you start Propecia and have some form of documentation of where you are starting from (such as a picture of your hair, miniaturization study, or even a bulk measurement). Without anything objective to compare to, it is just anyone’s guess.

Finally, I would guess there are people who are allergic to Propecia, but I have not met anyone face to face at my medical practice who have these allergies people write about on the Internet.

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Am I Immune to Finasteride After Nearly 3 Years?

Hi doc, much thanks in advance for taking your time to answer this question.

I’m a 22 yrs old healthy male. I’ve been taking Proscar daily (cut into quarter pieces) since January 2006. I wasn’t exactly losing hair when I started taking it. I initially shedded hair for the first 3 months and then the hair that I lost grew back thicker. Since then I’ve lost hair rapidly and while the medication helped me maintain hair , I’m beginning to believe it has stopped working. My hair had thinned overall and the crown area of my head constantly feels sore. I’ve recently noticed that the hairs that fall out from my crown area are much thinner than anywhere else.

Is it possible that after years of dht suppression, my body has grown immune to the medication and/or started producing more dht to compensate and this overproduction of dht is the reason why I’m losing hair? Since I don’t believe I was losing hair when I started the medication, should I discontinue using proscar to return my dht production level back to normal? If not, since proscar most definitely isn’t as effective on me as it once was, should I switch to Avodart? Thank you.

I don’t want to make this a lecture, so I’ll just say this: finasteride is a prescription drug for a reason. I can’t tell you to start or stop a medication because I’m not your doctor and I didn’t prescribe it to you in the first place. I do not believe that people get immune to finasteride, just that the genetic hair loss goes into a higher gear, of sorts. If you were to stop the drug, you will probably see considerable hair loss indicating that it is still working, although I would not recommend that as a way to find out if it is still working.

You need to get your hair mapped out for miniaturization and find out first if you have male pattern baldness — and second, the impact of the drug over time.

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Am I Looking at Hair Genetics the Wrong Way?

Hello doctors, thank you so much for taking the time to do this, I really appreciate it.

Let me start off saying that I am a male and 19 years old. My question is about family hair types and the balding gene. My father is bald (looks like NW6 or NW5V). When he was younger, he told me he had hair that was like mine in that it was wavy/not naturally straight. Now this is my question, does this mean I inherited his hair gene since my hair is like his? Does this also mean I will go bald because of this, or is this the wrong way to think about the genetics?

I read your other posts about a gene being inherited but not expressed, but I would really like to know in your professional opinion that if my hair is like my dad’s(in terms of style only, his colour was black but mine is brownish)did I get his gene for hair and hair loss?

Thank you so much.

I really have no clue as to how you will bald or when or if you will even bald at all. It’s just not an easy thing to predict based on what you’ve told me. Male pattern baldness is genetically inherited, but just because you and your father have similar hair characteristics, does not necessarily mean you will have the same hair loss pattern. The only real way to tell is by time. In time, you’ll know if you’re destined to follow your father’s balding pattern.

The next best thing is an examination by a qualified physician with a miniaturization study. With that, you should be able to get an idea of early thinning (if any) and slow it down with medication. Then with follow-up studies of your scalp, you’ll be able to see how the hair loss is progressing and the doctor should be able to make an educated guess as to where you’ll end up.


2010-07-22 08:52:50Am I Looking at Hair Genetics the Wrong Way?

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Am I Covered for Hair Loss?

HI DR. RASSMAN, I would like to tell you what I am using… propecia, monoxidil 10% with retina-A .. revivogen, nizoral and n-t gel shampoo. I would like to know if you can offer me something better then this or is this plan good???? PLEASE get back to me.

This plan seems to cover everything and every potential as the ads state. Some of the things you use are not in my bag of tricks (like retin A, which I believe probably does more harm than good because it produces a type of chemical burn to the skin). Nothing more to add.