Dr. William Rassman – Page 1523

January 11, 2008

I’m Pregnant and Touched Proscar! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

How is Proscar “crushed” absorbed through the skin? I touched Proscar crushed diluted in water and my skin is intact (no cuts or tears, etc.) and I am a female and pregnant. Is it only absorbed through the skin if the skin has an open area?

And is the fact it was diluted in water decrease the risk of absorption, if it can be asorbed through intact skin?

I asked my physician and he did not know.

Worried in Ohio…

It is HIGHLY unlikely you will have absorbed any significant amount of the drug by touching it with intact skin. The warning label, in my opinion, is more medical-legal in nature. The risk is so minute I would not even think twice. The impact on the fetus had been noted when women had taken large doses of the natural equivalent of finasteride as it was in their diet. The impact only occurs in the first trimester when it is ingested, as I understand it.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 10, 2008

Hair Loss InformationPersistent Juvenile Hairline in Advanced Balding Man (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

The pictures below are of a man of Indian decent who lost most of the hair on his head, but kept his juvenile hairline intact. We see this rarely in European Caucasians and more frequently amongst people from South Asia. This particular man is in his mid-thirties and may get a good response from Propecia, as his hair loss has just appeared in the past 2-3 years. If he does not benefit from the medication, a hair transplant will be on his agenda.

Note that there was no hair transplant performed on this patient as of the time these photos were taken. This is his natural balding pattern. Click the photos to enlarge.

What is particularly important to note is that this juvenile hairline is just the exact same part that is generally lost in the Caucasian maturing hairline. Please compare the hairline shown here with the one from a previous blog, Maturation of a Hairline — Moving From Juvenile to Mature and imagine that one is just the reverse of the other.

January 10, 2008

20 Year Old with Early Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi, a dermatologist told me that I am definitely losing my hair. I come by it naturally as my father is bald. I am only 20 and wonder if I started now with the transplants it would be less noticable to people. I am already getting comments from people concerning my hair loss. It is really beginning to affect my life. Can you help? Thanks,

In a young man just starting to lose his hair, the best treatment is not hair transplants, but rather medications. Propecia (finasteride 1mg) is the best way to approach the problem. Transplanting you at this age would be not only unethical, but wrong. I tell young men that see me to treat their hair loss that they need to get their hair mapped out for miniaturization prior to starting the drug so that you can understand the impact of the drug on hair measurements. The drug can stop and possibly reverse the hair loss if it is early.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 10, 2008

Female Hair Loss and Postmenopausal Hormone Changes – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have been asked many times about the drop in estrogen levels with menopause and its effect on hair loss as a protective hormone. The following comes from Dr. Bernard Nusbaum of the Hair Transplant Institute Miami:

“We generally attribute the increased incidence in female pattern hair loss in postmenopausal women to decreased estrogen levels but, the role of estrogens in pattern hair loss is not well understood. Androgens, because of their conversion to estrogen by the enzyme aromatase, indirectly influence estrogen effects. How estrogen affects hair growth is uncertain. There are studies on mice which show that topical estrogen application inhibits hair growth and treatment with an estrogen blocker caused hairs to grow. Laboratory studies on human follicles have shown that estrogen inhibited growth of cultured human follicles.

In contrast, hair dermal papilla cells have been shown to grow in response to estrogen in the laboratory. Also, estrogens are known to increase the production of the protein, sex hormone binding globulin, which leads to a lowering of the active form of testosterone in the blood. Reports of using topical estrogens in patients with pattern alopecia are mostly anecdotal but one double-blind six-month trial of topical estradiol showed stabilization of hair loss in male and female patients.”

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 10, 2008

I See Growth from Laser Treatment, But Still Experience Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

HI,
Im a women of 25 years old, ive always had probles with my loss of hair, some months ago i heard about the laser hair therapy so i started a treatment. Ive been doing that treatment for about 3 months (Twice a week) and even i have noticed i have some newborn hairs i still loosing a lot of hair (about 100 per day), is that normal? what else can i do? Also i wanted to know if the laser hair therapy has any side effect…
Thank you!

It is normal to lose about 100-150 hairs a day, as new hair should grow (with or without laser) in place of those hairs that were lost. Sometimes we tend to lose more at certain times than at others and we quickly jump into panic mode. I cannot say if the laser treatment has regrown your hair, but if you think that the laser has given you a positive overall effect, then go for it. I don’t know of any side effects, other than an empty wallet. As for what else you can do — minoxidil (Rogaine) is a FDA approved treatment for female hair loss, if you want to give that a try.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 10, 2008

Is My Hockey Helmet Causing Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am a seventeen year old. I visited my doctor he said I have male pattern baldness. My hairline is starting to recede quite badly. But I did some research and I learned that people with certain hair styles, get hair loss, such as braids because it applies stress to the scalp. I was wondering if my hockey helmet can be the cause of this, because it pulls on my scalp. Also I am wondering if my hair will grow back once I sort the problem out with my helmet.

Hockey helmet It is possible that constant rubbing can cause traction alopecia (hair loss from pulling), but a good examination by a good doctor in the hair field should answer that question for you. If you started with early male pattern baldness (MPB), then you should get your hair mapped out for miniaturization and this will tell you if MPB is a reasonable diagnosis.

Could you just be developing a mature hairline? That is a question I simply can’t answer without seeing what you’re talking about.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 10, 2008

Is There a Recommended Hairstyle After a Hair Transplant? (with Photos) – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman,
I am 33 years old former patient. I was wondering what kind of hair style you recommend for patients who have had a procedure done? I have great coverage in the front but it gets a little thinner towards the back which however, is a huge improvement from my balder self. I would love another procedure, but I have had two so far and I think I will have to wait financially to afford the third one. Until then…is longer on top better or is shorter better? I sometimes feel a little more “exposed” on top when I cut my hair short revealing thinner hair. I was also wondering about highlighting my hair for a thicker look? I have dark blonde hair currently.

Thanks and happy holidays

If what you’re asking is for hair style decisions after the new hair growth is starting, look to the photo galleries on NewHair.com to see all types of hair styles used by transplant patients. There isn’t one best way to style your hair. Some opt to keep the hair a little longer to cover thinner areas, but that is really a patient decision, not a doctor decision. In other words, I don’t really have any styling advice.

Since you have had previous procedures, you’re intimately familiar with how the recipient area looks immediately post-op, but I’ll use this opportunity to answer one of the most frequent requests I get from people — to see what a hair transplant looks like just days after it is done. Many are concerned that they will be a walking billboard for surgery, and understandably so. I tell these patients that if they had any hair in front, they could cover the hair transplants. Of course, each person is different and your redness level may differ from the patient below, but here are photos taken just 12 days after a procedure of 1,959 grafts, showing a patient who used his existing hair to cover the transplanted area (only one side is shown in these photos which reflect half of the total number of transplanted grafts he received). Note that when you zoom in on the photo, most of the hair has already fallen out (and will return sometime between 2-5 months).

Click photos to enlarge.

January 10, 2008

Will Hair Dye Cause Cancer? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi doc,
I have a question regarding hair dye. I have found articles on the internet linking hair dye to cancer. Is there any medical truth to this or is a basic dye product, such as Just for Men, safe to use? Thanks

Certain chemical colorings may have potential cancer risks, but that does not necessarily mean you will get cancer. Read the product label for any warnings. Any real risks must be appropriately labeled by law in the United States and most countries.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

January 9, 2008

Vacuum Pump Regrows Hair – from Popular Science Magazine in 1936 – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

From the November 1936 issue of Popular Science Magazine comes this gem, thanks to the great Modern Mechanix site. It should go without saying, but the article is over 70 years old now, and if the technology was successful as it claimed, it would probably be the recommended treatment today. My favorite part of this has got to be the caption under the full image, which says “A patient receiving the vacuum treatment for baldness while he reads and smokes in comfort“.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

USE VACUUM TO AID HAIR GROWTH

CAN SCIENCE restore hair to the bald? Startling results in the affirmative are reported in 500 cases treated with a new machine, developed by Dr. Andre A. Cueto, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Fourteen to twenty half-hour treatments are said in many cases, to produce the appearance of “fuzz,” and from this point on the patient is declared to progress toward a normal growth of hair.

Block Quote

Read the full text at Modern Mechanix

January 9, 2008

Hair Loss InformationI’m Worried That When Cleaning My Transplant Scabs a Week After Surgery, I Injured Grafts – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had my first transplant recently and the washing of my scabs did not go as smoothly as planned. In other words on day 6 or 7 my scabs were such that they felt soft enough to gently scrap, which I did. The stress for me was that many, many hairs accompanied those scabs for which made me think, did I lose the entire transplanted graft? Some scabs had a fatty white tissue attached. Am I okay? A tech stated not to worry as the hairs are their permanently after the first couple of days, is that true? I was very gentle during the washing process but am concerned that I may have lost the entire graft?

Block Quote

Generally, when the scabs are off, there is no risk of graft loss. When there are scabs present, you can pull out the grafts if you are rough with it, but at a week, it would be unlikely. Most people see scabs and hair and something that looks like a graft to the untrained eye, but it is generally not grafts at a week. For more info, please see: