Author: Dr. William Rassman

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After a Long Night Out, I Woke Up With a Bald Spot! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

FightHi, i am 25 years old female. After one of the “Nights out” i got up and realized that i have bald spot on the back oh my head. It is about 1 inch long and 1/2 wide. My head is hurt all around that spot. I am not sure if it got pulled out or they just fall out on there own.

I do not know what to do. I have to put my hair up, so nobody can see it. Please, tell me if it will ever grow back…

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I would assume that you may have had a little too much to drink and got your hair pulled out. I have seen this many times before. It will come back!

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Shedding from Highlighting Hair Months Ago – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Black female 36: Hair is thinning from shedding due to highlights put in months ago. What can be done to help this?

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Don’t assume that your thinning is from the highlighting. It sounds doubtful. I can not blindly stab at an answer to your questions without access to you, get your correct history, examine you, etc. You should see a dermatologist if the hair does not regrow. Not much I can do online at this point.

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Cowlick Gives a Bald Spot Appearance – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi, I have a cowlick on the back top of my head (crown). The hair grows outward in a circular, flattened pattern giving teh appearance of a thin/bald spot. I usually attempt to cover it with longer hair combed over it and sometimes actually succeed in getting the hair to appear to go in the correct direction.

Is there anything I can do about this, it is very annoying and hard to cover since I am very blonde. It will just not grow out straight. Will short layers make this harder to cover or easier to fill in with the use of hair wax. THanks.

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Cowlicks are common. The swirl in the crown is present on 100% of people, and some folks even have two of them. It is in your nature to have them. Although it can be annoying, styling adjuncts are the best way to manage them.

The below photo is of a natural swirl in the crown of a young man. The way the hair sits may appear that there is a bald spot present, but there is actually no miniaturization here, and thus, no genetic balding. What appears to be a hole, is really the point where the hair diverges from a center point. This divergence, the radial direction of hair that covers the full 360 degrees of a circle, is the point where I say “the hair changes direction“. Only when a cowlick is present, will the hair point to what appears to be a bare section of scalp. Click the photo to enlarge.


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Hair Loss InformationHair Restoration Society Credentialing – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I read on a doctor’s resume that he is a member of the International Society of Follicular Unit Extraction Surgery. Can you shed light on the value of this society on the doctor’s resume?

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In the past, to develop expertise that is unearned, a doctor would create a society and possibly become its only member. That could make him/her the founder of the society, president of it, director or it, or whatever he/she chooses to be. For the less than knowledgeable buyer, the name of the society implies, as is here, some international expertise, some special training and certification, some special recognition by peers in the industry (like an Academy Award Society). The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (with hundreds of member physicians) has looked at creative societies with disdain and so should the buyer. There is a suggestion of a ‘slight of hand’ when one invents expertise for themselves or a group of like physicians. As the inventor of the follicular unit extraction technology and the doctor who published the authoritative article in the field, I was never invited to join that society, speak before it, or review contributions by its members in the field. I would find that strange if it were a legitimate society.

Expertise should be earned. Inventiveness is something that should be published or proven. Put the doctor and his society to that test and you will see if it meets this criteria.

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Hair Loss InformationRogaine Made Me Gain Weight – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 42 yrs (female) and have been experiencing hair loss at the front of my head to the middle I’m of african descent with natural hair. I try all products that encourage re-growth with no results. Using rogaine made me gain weight and I also suffer from anxiety. Can you help?

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I’ve never had any patient of mine report weight gain as a side effect of Rogaine (minoxidil), but it may be a side effect of your stress. As you are a woman, Rogaine would be the only medication I’d recommend, as it is the only one FDA approved to treat female hair loss.

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Hair Loss Information2 Weeks After Surgery and My Transplanted Hairs Haven’t Fallen Out Yet – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’m two weeks post op and I’m almost positive that I haven’t lost a single transplanted hair yet. I’m hoping that these little guys are going to stay in my head and continue to grow out with the rest of my hair. Is it possible to that the shedding stage can be avoided sometimes and the transplants grow out? If shedding is inevitable I’d like to speed up the process. Would it be beneficial to pluck the small guys so they can start their regret stage sooner? Thanks again for all your help!

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The transplanted grafts often stay in for 2-4 weeks. If they grow past 3/8 inch and keep on growing, they will most likely stay. That happens in about 5% of patients. Leave them alone, ignore them and just wait it out.

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I’m a Satisfied ScalpMed User – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am a scalpmed user. I have had fantastic results with this product. NONE of the other products on the market did anything to Grow hair. I noticed some hair coming out the first 3 weeks of Scalpmed use, but they were replaced by thicker hair shafts from the same spot. Now there is less and less hair loss and my head is filling up with hair. I absolutely cannot deny the truth that my bald spot is flat gone. I would be glad to provide you pictures of before and after.

I’m posting this without seeing any photographic proof, but would love to see such proof through a good third party source. I have no way to determine if this is a real user response or a company plant. The reason for my doubts is that the response here has not been typical of the many responses I have received about ScalpMed. Regardless, I’d be interested in seeing those pictures — you can send them to the email address on the Contact page. Thanks.

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Is the Consensus About Avodart for Hair Loss Mostly Positive? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Doc:

I notice that you don’t make many (if any) references to Avodart / dutasteride as an effective medication for hairloss any more. I realize that it’s not FDA approved for this use and perhaps you have some liability issues, but is the general consensus within the hair replacement community that it’s effective?

Thanks!

I can not comment on the hair transplant community as a whole. Maybe after the annual ISHRS convention in October, I will be able to report on a consensus. I had a patient yesterday who reported going from Propecia to Avodart and he did notice a complete loss of libido on the Avodart, something that he only had a mild experience with while on Propecia. I am under the impression that the DHT block is much more extensive in Avodart. I am hesitant to recommend or endorse the use of this product for treating hair loss in men unless I had some unique conditions such as the presence of diffuse unpatterned alopecia in a male that has not responded to finasteride (I don’t recommended drugs that do not have FDA clearance for treating hair loss routinely) — but if the DHT blocking in Avodart is better than Propecia, then I’d assume that equates to more protection from hair loss. Maybe it is worth another look at it for men who are losing ground on finasteride.

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