Dr. William Rassman – Page 1740

September 21, 2006

Revivogen vs Propecia – Balding Blog

I stopped using propecia about 4 months ago because, after about a year, I started to experience sensitivity in my testes. I will say that my hair loss totally stopped, but I couldn’t handle the pain. So, about 2 1/2 months ago, I started the revivogen/tricomin pack, and I had been experiencing large amounts of shedding! Every morning in the shower there’s hair everywhere. Revivogen states that some shedding is expected for the first month and that it’ll stop, but the future doesn’t look promising. Should I get off of it? If propecia worked exceptionally well as a DHT inbitor, shouldn’t revivogen do the same?

Propecia (finasteride) is a known DHT blocker while Revivogen is not main stream for DHT blocking and there is minimal science to back up the claims for DHT blocking in that product. I have heard about pain in testicles just recently with Propecia. Sounds to me like you are going to lose a lot a hair by the choices you’ve made. Four months is about ‘no man’s land’ with regard to going back to your state from before you stopped the Propecia. If I were you, I would go back on the Propecia and then if the hair loss reversed, consider reducing the dose if the pain in your testicles continued. You are (I believe) right that the hair loss “future doesn’t look promising”.

September 20, 2006

Cycling Finasteride to Avoid Side Effects? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Two questions,

I started on 1mg propecia a month ago experienced sides in a week, started 0.4 mg propecia have experience sides again. After reading the study on your webpage that said 0.05 mg was good enough and propecia could be dissolved in ehtanol, would it be advisable for me to dissolve a 5 mg tablet in 500 ml of vodka and drink 5 ml everyday?

You said finesteride stays in you hair follicle for a month but your blood for a day, could I just cycle propecia to avoid sides, one week on three weeks off?

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I never suggested that ethanol be used. I generally do not like to recommend anything except for the FDA prescribed dose for finasteride, but have shown information that is reflective of my educated readership. If you want to drink vodka, I would tell you that you should do what you want, but do not tie it to your hair loss or your hair treatments.

I really do not understand the cycling you are talking about. I think part of what you are saying is that there are sexual side effects that you are trying to get around by changing or reducing your dose. If that is what you are saying, go for it.

September 20, 2006

4 Years After Hair Transplant, I Am Still Numb – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I had a HT from another surgeon about 4 years ago. The numbness area has still not gone away after 4 years. I was told it would take 3 months to a year. Is there still hope for my nerves to reconnect on their own? If not, is this correctible by surgery or any other methods?

Thanks.

Numbness after a year reflects some nerve damage. I would want to know where you are numb. There are nerves in the back of the head than can be damaged from surgery. They are the greater and lesser occipital nerves, temporal and third occipital nerve. The following image shows the major nerve distribution and it may correspond to the area where your sensation is impacted:

As you can see from the picture, these nerves specifically cover different areas of the scalp. If any of these nerves are injured, a sensory defect will reflect the nerve’s distribution. We are fortunate that these nerves overlap in most people, and if one is damaged, the other has a distribution that covers the damaged nerve. It sounds like your back-up system did not work.

After 4 years, the nerves usually are dead, so that surgery (which is very difficult anyway) will not work. If there is pain in these nerves, then there are things that can be done to alleviate the pain, but usually after 4 years, all pain should have gone away.

(image source: eMedicine)

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September 20, 2006

Any Advice on How to Ween Off Avodart? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

dr. rassman,

i’m a 23 year old male with MPB. i’ve been on avodart for about 18 months (0.5 mg/day) and have noticed little results. i’m not sure, however, if the medication has slowed my hair loss and to what degree. i want to swap back to propecia for health/safety reasons..but i’d like to avoid a huge shed. any advice for how to make the swap? should i ween off the avodart?

I am using judgment, not experience in answering this question. As Avodart (dutasteride) has a 5 week half life and stays in your system for months, I would stop it cold, and start taking Propecia after a month. You can actually start Propecia (finasteride) earlier and as long as you do not get side effects (sexual side effects in particular) the double dosing should have no negative effect.

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September 20, 2006

Did Jamie Foxx Have a Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I would like to know the difference between FUE and FUT and scarring between them. Also, looking at the actor Jamie Foxx, it seems like he has had a hair transplant. I see him having really short hair or shaved head, so his scar would be visible. What would you recommend to reduce the scar? Also, looking at this website, there is a difference in his hairline. It is low and perfectly lined so would you do a procedure on someone to give them that exact perfect symmetrical hairline or would you say no because it does not look natural? Is it the doctors decision or patients choice??

ConcreteLoop.com

Jamie Foxx Follicular unit transplantation means that the grafts occur in their natural unit anatomy and are transplanted that way into the recipient area. FUE is a harvesting mechanism and should be taking out the grafts as follicular units so that they are completely natural (that may not happen, however). Strip harvesting is the second harvesting mechanism and may or may not yield FUT, depending upon decisions by the surgeon and his team.

With regard to Jamie Foxx and hair transplants, the site you sent me does present some very interesting photos. There is a difference in his hairlines over time so it is possible that he did have a hair transplant. If these photos are to be believed (I am not disputing them, but I do not know the source), then it does appear that his hairline is quite a bit lower now than it previously was. Maybe there’s another explanation — his hairline could naturally be very low and he shaves it higher to achieve a different look at different times. I really don’t know, though. The perfection of his hairline may be the result of styling control that he exerts, but as a good hair transplant is undetectable, I can not tell from these photographs.

An interesting thread about this was on HairLossHelp about a year ago (found via Google) — here.

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September 20, 2006

Doctors Refuse to Transplant Me — What Should I Do? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

went to more than 6 institutes and all of them refuse to do the natural hair transplant because i’m not completly bald. and in new york they told me that my donor area is not strong or not enough. what should i do? would bio fiber be the solution?

Certainly you do not have to be bald to get a hair transplant, as most of our patients show clearly in the NHI Patient Photo Galleries.

There are conditions that may impact your donor supply, either a very low density or a disease called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) which may make hair transplants a poor solution for you. Without examing you, I can not tell you why the doctors turned you down, but that is a good question you should ask them. See the ‘Managing the Patient with Diffuse Androgenetic Alopecia, Definition and Types‘ section in Follicular Transplantation: Patient Evaluation and Surgical Planning? for more information.

September 20, 2006

I’ve Had a Bald Spot My Entire Life – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi I’m a 25 year old male and i have a patch of hair on the side of my head that has never grown in… It is approx 2 inches above my right ear, and it is about 3/4″ to 1″ in diamater. I am not asking about hair loss because my whole life, the spot has been there. I can’t get my hair cut certain ways as this spot makes me very self-conscious. My question is: Would i be able to benefit from a hair transplant even if there was no hair in that spot to begin with? As far as I know, there has never been hair there

This sounds like an ideal case for hair transplantation. So the answer is simply, yes. Follow the rules set up here on how to select a hair transplant doctor. With today’s techniques, you won’t even know that you even had a bald spot with the right surgeon and team.

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September 20, 2006

Scalp Reduction After Face Lift? – Balding Blog

(female) I read on your site about someone with hairloss after a face lift. I had the procedure also about a year ago and I am left with big long bald areas behind my temples. My question is can SCALP REDUCTION method be perfomed to remove the bald areas as opposed to a hair tranplant?

Thank you

I think that you are telling me that there is hair loss above your ears and behind the temple hairline. If that is the case, hair transplants are the way to treat it. I have done hundreds of women who have had this type of problem after face lifts and brow lifts and the results of this surgery has been excellent. Scalp reductions in this area, however, will be disasterous.

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September 19, 2006

Hair on Back of 12 Year Old Son’s Head Doesn’t Grow Anymore – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My mixed race (black/white) 12-1/2 year old son has had a mini afro since he was 2. It is sort of his “trademark.” About 3 months ago, the back of his head has lost its growth, and is much shorter than the rest of his hair. He is devestated, and fearing some kind of baldness issue. Why do you think this happened? Any suggestions?

He should be examined by a good doctor (dermatologist) and get his hair mapped out for miniaturization. I am just guessing here without the benefit of knowing much about your son’s history. Is this hair that is located on the high neck, rather than the low scalp? I clearly need to know more. If you’d like, you can send photos and mark on the photo where the notch is on the back of his skull. All men have a prominent notch on the back of the skull (a male characteristic). Please reference this posting if you do send photos.

September 19, 2006

My Multi-Vitamin Contains Saw Palmetto – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have been on Propecia for roughly 4 months now. It is working great. I noticed MPB early, got a scalp biopsy (and consequently a diagnosis), and obtained the finasteride all within 10 days. I am relatively happy. Great blog by the way.

This morning, I just noticed that my multi-vitamin contains Saw Palmetto, 50mg. My dermotologist had mentioned that you should either take one or the other, and not both, but I’m hoping the dosage is small enough to not matter. My question is could this have a stacking effect? How much Saw Palmetto is “prescribed” for MPB? Is this even near a dose? Am I now forced to always take 50 mg of this for life too? Just curious.

Saw palmetto is often ineffective for treating MPB. If it works at all, it is a weak DHT blocker so that there should be no stacking impact with Propecia. If you should stop saw palmetto at any time, there should not be a withdrawal effect, so you can safely stop the saw palmetto at any time.

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