Would a prolonged (5 yr duration) low caloric/fat restricted diet (low carbohydrate, moderate protein/high protien, very low fat intake) contribute to hairloss? If so, would the hair loss manifest itself in unpatterned total head thinning/miniaturization?
If you are not malnourished and have met your daily recommended requirements for vitamins, then a low fat, low caloric diet should not cause hair loss.
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Can hairloss be caused by inflammation(in addition to DHT sensitivity)?
The word inflammation is too general a term. You must narrow down your question and let me know specifically what type of inflammation you are talking about. To understand how to target the question you asked, see Wikipedia – Inflammation.
have been taking Lamisil for 2 months now and that past week I have been losing hair in clumps. I read on the net that this is an all too common side effect. I wanted to see if you knew if my hair would grow back after I stop taking it. If so then I may suffer through one more month to never have to take it again. I am a 31 year old male
Lamisil is often used in the treatment of fungal diseases of the skin, such as ringworm (when impacting the scalp it is called Tinea Capitis). These infections often cause hair loss and if you use Lamisil for treatment of the primary cause of the hair loss (Tinea Capitis) then it is easy to assume that it is the drug causing the thinning, but this is not usually true. From my research on the subject, Lamisil only rarely can be correlated with hair loss (one to one relationship).
Hi. Dr. Rassman,
I had an eyebrow transplant a month ago and still have redness and bumps like goose pimples. Most of the donor hairs have fallen out but I haved had a few pimples in the donor area. I still have not been out in public since (work out of my house) it looks obvious something was done to my face. Am I one of the few that this procedure might not work? I’m starting to worry, and I do see my doctor next week for a follow up. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. By the way I’m a 47 yr. old male with fair skin. (Swedish mostly). Thank you
The best thing is to follow-up with the doctor who did your eyebrow transplants. It seems you may have local irritation and may have developed local folliculitis, which can all be a normal part of healing or it can be an infection of the new follicles. There’s really no way for me to tell if there is something wrong from just a brief description without knowing what was done and how it was done (only your doctor knows this information) and what it looks like to my eye.
Dear Dr. Rassman,
First off, great site! Very informative.
I’m a 21 year old male, and am currently on Propecia. My hairloss isn’t noticeable yet, and in fact am not even sure I’m losing it yet (need to get it mapped out for minaturization), but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get lucky in the genetic lottery. When/if I ever need a transplant, I’m definitely coming to you.
Anyway, this is all unrelated to the question I wanted to ask you. I’ve begin to wonder recently what my head would look like shaved, and I think I’d look really awesome. I tried this stuff called Nair on my leg- and it removed the hair as well as any doubts I had about its efficacy. But, would it work on headhair? The directions instruct not to apply it to the face- but I’d like an alternative to shaving, as I have sensitive skin.
I always wondered about that myself. Beard hair is thicker, so it may be resistent to the way that product works on leg hair. If I were you, I’d follow the intended instructions and NOT apply it to the face. I just did some searching and discovered that there is a Nair Cream for Face that would probably be your best bet for the facial hair.
I have written before, forgive the repeated question (I have not seen it answered to date). I’m 36, female, thin hair. Is there a certain amount of thinning hair that should have taken place to be on Minoxidil (generic Rogaine-women)? It’s over the counter, and I’m having hair shedding now, due to either childbirth (I had a baby 5 months ago) or medications. My hair is thin and my dermatologist recomended I take minixidil for three months, tapering off it at that point, to get hair jump-started growing. I’m scared to not stay on it once I start it for fear of losing hair again, and want to know if there’s anything wrong with being on Minoxidil if you are not really thin-haired or balding? What constitutes the need for it? Is it up to the consumer?
If you have lost hair from the pregnancy, chances are that your hair loss will reverse over the next 6 months or so. You might want to hold off on the minoxidil, just for the reasons you suggest. If the hair came back and you were on the medication, you might ascribe it to the drug rather than the normal reversal which you will probably experience. If after 5-6 months, you still have not had your hair loss begin reversing, then consider the drug at that time.
I am a 20 year old male with no sign of baldness or a maturing hairline. However, I have been taking Propecia for almost 2 months and I have noticed that just below my hairline I am starting to sprout hair.
Thank you for such a great blog!!!
If you ‘think’ that you may eventually developing balding, then follow your hair mapping yearly for miniaturization to find out if and when you start balding. If you tke the drug without knowning, you will never know if it has value until you stop it. Simply put, you should not be taking Propecia without a prescription, and you should not be taking Propecia if you do not have male pattern hair loss! Why give the drug company your money when you have no benefit to achieve.
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I seem to have come down with gray hair at an alarmingly young age, but as per your website, this is apparently possible and common. However, I would like to know if such a thing is related to premature hair loss. Could you please answer, if you could spare the time?
In my experience I have not seen a good correlation. It is just a genetic puzzle that we are still trying to figure out. We are all different.
An interesting point to note about hair color though, I have read that being a red head is associated with high pain tolerance. See Melanocortin-1 Gene for Red Hair and Pain Tolerance for details.
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Hi Dr,
I started losing my hair when I was 17 after becoming bulimic for a wrestling season to keep my weight down (I only did this for one year). Ever since then I have gone through periods of shedding and at 31 my hair keeps getting thinner, mainly on top, not so much the crown or hairline. The odd thing is sometimes I will not lose much hair for months and then all of a sudden it is non-stop.
It seems that my hair has become hyper sensitive to change, medicine, illness… anything results in shedding. I take propecia (for about 2 years) with little results and Rogain seems just as useless.
There is no history of baldness in my family and the doctors can not seem to find anything. You are my last hope, what could it be and how do I stop it?
Thank you
You need to develop a personal relationship with a doctor who will:
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Actually I don’t think I’m a candidate yet for grafts. My question is about Propecia. I have tried propecia twice: once at the normal dose and once at a much lower dose. Both times I have experienced mild breast enlargement. I have a job for which having a full head of hair is very important. Given this, what I’m wondering is, if a low dose of Tamoxifen or some other anti-estrogen could be justified.
The following link shows the side effects of Tamoxifen in men. I have no experience with this or other approaches like other anti-estrogens.
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