i saw a dermatologist yesterday and she recommended that i take b complex and biotin. she also said that rogaine is not harmful. can rogaine cause hairloss if i dont need it and am using it.
thanks
I think that you know the answer to that question. Rogaine has many side effect including skin irritation, dizziness and skin dryness to name a few. No one should take any medication that they do not need.
Recently I’ve noticed short hairs that are also extremely and unusually thin appearing on my comb after I comb my hair. I only see them on occasion (small minority of my hairs), but nontheless they are there. Does this indicate that the miniturization process has started to some extent, or do normal hairs sometimes go through thin/short phases only to return to normal eventually?
I would want to know if you are male or female and if you are having signs of balding present. What is your age?
People with miniaturized hair will find the hair to be more fragile and easier to be pulled out with combing and brushing. Large-toothed brushes are probably worth using as they do not place the full power of the ‘pull’ on each hair. If you are concerned about miniaturization, get your scalp mapped out for it and you will know for sure.
Hi Doctor,
I have been adviced by a hair transplant surgeon against FUE, instead he suggested FUT.
The reason he gave was – the scars of FUE, which are generally left open to heal are very dangerous in weather condition like south asia. The scars are prone to get infected. Also he mentioned about various types of sealing but he also added that it doesnt help much.
He advocated FUT over FUE for- its less prone to infection, it takes less time, its costing much less and the it suitable for large number of grafts (I need around 2000 grafts on frontal area).
I am confused as I dont want the scar involved in FUT, but want a safer procedure.
So is FUT more safer/better suited alternative than FUE for my condition?
First, if you are clean and wash your hair regularly, FUE is not a problem even in wet or warm climates.
I agree with your doctor otherwise. The FUT is less expensive, easier to get larger sessions, and probably in his hands, safer than FUE. I personally try to tell my patients that scarring above 3mm occurs in less than 5% of patients. The use of a trichophytic incision and fascial closures as discussed in this blog, should address the scarring risks in most patients.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
I am constantly asked how long it will take for a typical patient to be able to go back to work. This patient is 10 days post-surgery and went back to work in 4 days. He had 1,677 grafts transplanted and is a class 3A on the Norwood scale. He has the advantage of a blonde hair so that the beard of transplanted hair is also blonde. There is a small beard if you look carefully. The skin of the transplant is still slightly swollen with a fine pink hue (he is sandy blonde with white skin, known for showing a pink hue) and this will subside over the next week or so. The hair he has presently covers these changes so that it had not been seen in either his work or in any social setting. Click photos to enlarge.
is minoxidil safe in pregnancy?
Any medication that you take on the skin will go through the skin and into the body. If the baby gets exposed to this drug by absorption through the skin, there’d be at least one report of babies with more hair than normal. Unfortunately, good studies are not available to answer this question. This may be an issue of benefits vs risks, so I would suggest that you ask your OB doctor and see if that causes him/her concern.
I’m 25 and I used finasteride for more than 3 years now, with no sucess at all. I also had a lot of problems with dandruff and irritation on my face and scalp. I was really worried about this, than I decided to take dutasteride. I’m also taking now minoxidil 2%, and using folligen spray and revivogen shampoo. I noticed some very little hairs in my left temple. Not too many. But I also felt a difference in my sex drive, and some shedding. My dandruff desapired, I think because anf the folligen, it really resolved my irritation in the first week. Do you think I should keep this treatment? Should I worry about the shedding and libido, or this could be a transitional state?
thanks a bunch!
Finasteride may be working by preventing hair loss progression, but just not growing new hair. I gather that the dutasteride has reduced your libido, which is not a surprise at all. Folligen spray contains copper peptides which have had some unsubstantialed scientific claims for hair re-growth. I am happy to hear of your positive response to the dandruff with the routine you are using. Hair shedding and libido having appeared brings you to a decision: Is the benefits (or proposed benefits) worth the price? How do you rate your sex drive balanced against having hair?
I recently read a posting on baldingblog where a women suggested the use of Visine to stop hairloss. I’ve heard of using visine to help sooth razorburn an ingrown hair as I assume it has antiflammatory medication.
I’ve read other places that some people think hairloss is a type of immune response of our body, where DHT causes the structure of the hair follicle to change. At some point our own immune systems reject the changed follicle and attack it, ultimately causing the phenomenon we see as balding. Somewhere else I read that in cases, such as people getting transplants take immune suppressing drugs such as Cyclocsporine, to stop organ rejection, actually noticed hair regrowth.
Going back to the woman who earlier spoke of the Visine treatment that she heard, this woman said that her hairloss got worse after she moved. Speaking from my own experience, I have noticed that certain immune responses happen when one changes environment. For instance, I grew up in New Jersey and never suffered any real allergies or medical problems. When I moved out to California when I was 16, notice an increase in my hyper-histamine.. or histamine positive response. I believe thats what you called it. In particular, I developed an allergic reaction to heat.
Anyhow, its interesting to think that environment may have a small role in a complex immune response that results in hair loss.
Is hairloss a more modern occurrence? I mean, does hairloss occur more in modern society? I remember reading an article recently in Wired that said that when comparing lab mice with sewer rats, the sewer rats had “better” immune systems because of their dirty environment. The immune systems of the lab rats tended to overreact to stimuli. On the other hand, the sewer rats immune systems better defended against real threats while not overreacting to things such as allergens. ( http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71185-0.html)
Anyway, thx for your blog, Dr Rassman. It’s always interesting and entertaining!
I agree with you that although hair loss is caused by genes, it can be influenced by the environment where chemical products, drugs, malnutrition, and stress can induce the expression of balding genes. Hair loss is not a modern society occurrence. Men have been bald since the beginning of recorded time. Hats and wigs have been around since the earliest records in the history of civilization.
Are we more self conscious with hair loss today? Somehow I doubt that, but we do have better communication (like this blog and the internet in general) to share what is happening to us with others. We do know that autoimmune diseases can cause hair loss by creating antibodies attacking the hair follicles, but that may not mean that hair loss is always an immune modulated disorder. A famous doctor told me once that sooner or later (he predicts) that we will learn that every disease entity will arise from either infection or genetics. At this point though, who really knows?
Hey Doc
I noticed when i started to grow hair out ive been losing strands of hair quite easily. My hair is about 3-4 inches long now, and i have a couple questions:
1. Because im growing my hair out does that mean its easier to fall out/ more noticible when it falls out?
2. And it appears that im losing hair from all sides of my head, basically every where the back, the top the sides exct. so does this mean that this is not male pattern baldness since there is no pattern to it?
This could be that because of the long hair, its easier to fall out or pull it out with styling. Therefore, it will be more noticeable when it falls out as you suggested in your question.
It is also important to know that hair length is a reflection of the length of the hair cycle and each person has a different hair cycle lasting on average between 2-7 years. As hair grows at 1/2 inch per month, just calculate length over time. If you hair cycle is short (1 year) then every hair on your head will cycle every year (just an example here, as most people have at least a 2 year hair growth cycle).
If you are losing hair on the sides and back of your head, it may not be male pattern baldness, but could be an infection or disease. To be sure, and not cause yourself more worry, you should have your hair and scalp mapped for miniaturization so you and your doctor can know what is going on.
hi there.
im a 17 year old boy who is worried about receding. i have a full head of hair but it is a bit thin in the left hand side at the temple. i have been told it has always been like this. my mothers dad went bald before 30, my dads dad did not go bald. but my dad has receeded a bit on top. when my hair is dry u cannot see my scalp but when wet it parts alot and seems thin!!also i was told that my head may have got bigger which may make it seem like it has receded! am i worrying over nothing??
Growing boys with growing and maturing heads, do not thin out their hair. You should get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to find out if you have early genetic hair loss.
Here’s a cute, brief story that I thought may be interesting to post…
When a patient of mine joined the US Marine Corp many years ago, he lost a great deal of hair, most likely from stress inducing his male pattern balding. His mother did not like the way he looked, so she complained to him that the Marine Corp was bad for his health. “If you get out of the military your hair will come back,” she would say. Eventually he got a hair transplant before leaving the military to restore what hair he lost. He visited his mother some months after getting out of the Marines and he told me she was quick to point out that because he left military service, his hair came back. It proved (to his mom) that mother is always right. She had no idea he had a hair transplant.
