Dr. William Rassman – Page 1823

April 19, 2006

Woman Losing Eyelashes and Eyebrow Hairs – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello. I am a 23 year old female who started to notice I was losing my hair about a year and a half ago – which was a half a year after having been severly ill with mono. I am not sure if that is directly related to my hair loss, but I have heard it’s true for other people. Since then, I have tried 2% Minoxidil (plus a supplement pill suggested by the Hair Club for Men and Women), Spironolactone (recommended by a dermatologist), and now a Progesterone cream plus the Minoxidil. Not only have I not seen any new hairs growing back, but I have noticed a dramatic increase in my hair loss, along with the loss of eyelashes and eyebrow hairs. I am very discouraged and am running out of hope, time, and money. Any advice as to what is wrong would be helpful and appreciated.

Thank You.

ps – I was tested for hypothyroidism, but it was negative. Also, there is no history of hair loss in my family, so I really don’t think it is alopecia.

If you feel that the medications you are taking may be contributing to your progressive hair loss, then you should should discuss stopping them with the doctor who prescribed them. You problem sounds complex, certainly too complex for internet management. Be sure that your medical work up is complete and covers eczema, malnutrition, autoimmune disease, drug reactions, infections, genetics, etc.

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April 18, 2006

Catch-Up Period When Stopping Finasteride – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Dr Rassman,
Can you please explain the ‘catch up period’ scientifically when someone stop using proscar?
Kind regards

Propecia and Proscar (both Finasteride) block the effect of DHT on the impacted hair follicle. In simpler terms, it interferes with the ‘dying’ cycle for that particular hair. Each hair is programmed to live a particular number of hair cycles. It is believed that either the hair cycle is prolonged or another few hair cycles are obtained when the DHT is blocked. When the DHT is released from the blocking effect of Propecia, then it remembers where it should have been and goes directly to its genetic programming, whatever that destiny is. We see similar effects when we treat leukemia with one of the newer magic bullets. The same is true for Insulin and Diabetes, and Steroids for Addison’s Disease (John Kennedy had it). Provided that the patient stays on the drug, the disease is blocked from taking its normal course. If the medication is stopped, or the drug is not maintained at its recommended dose, these diseases may take the life of the person, or by maintaining the drug they may hold off the effects of the disease indefinitely. Propecia may hold the hair in a more healthy state for long periods (each person varies with the power of the inherited genetic profile found in that particular individual). As we are each different with different genetics, some people will have a long, more effective course with blocking DHT than others. The good news is that we are not talking life or death here, just hary or balding.

April 18, 2006

Curis and Alopecia Universalis? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

will curis cure alopecia universalis?

There is no information on the actions of this drug as it is not released at this time. The drug manufacturer would be banned from releasing such information until FDA studies are complete. See previous Curis posts.

April 18, 2006

Hair Loss from Accutane – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Dr. Rassman,
First off, thanks for the helpful site. My question is regarding accucate-induced hairloss. I am a male and started losing my hair in a diffuse pattern, all over the head but more severe on the top, after a course of accutane when I was 15. It has been a very slow, gradual loss but now at age 21 it is extremely prononunced. I probably have a little less than 50% of my original density. I wasn’t sure that the hair loss was a direct result of accutane until I had a scal biopsy done by a dermatologist recently and she confirmed that it was accuate-induced (not sure how she knew that from the biopsy but that’s what she told me – I think it was something about the “properties” of the follicle). I’ve attached 2 pictures – these were from about 8 months ago and the hair loss is considerably more now than it was then.

My first question is whether there are any clinics/hospitals/studies you are aware of that are studying the side effects of accutane – either in order to test treatments or just to track users that are experiencing side effects. I’m pretty sure that my condition is untreatable and I’m just going to have to live with it, but I would be open to trying experimental treatments in order to help others out. Second, do you think there is any use in using propecia/minoxidil to try to slow the loss, or would they be useless since this loss is probably acting by a totally different mechanism? I have used both in the past without evident results, but it’s hard to tell if they were slowing the loss or doing nothing at all.

Thanks very much for your advice.

Unfortunately, there are no solutions to your Accutane problem, other than to stay away from that drug. If you have genetic balding on top of the Accutane problem, then you should get your hair analysis for miniaturization to be sure one way or the other, the status of genetic balding compounding the problem you already have. I do not have any people to recommend who are experimenting with problems like yours. Also, please see previous Accutane related posts.

April 18, 2006

Haircut After Strip Procedure – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Scarring from a strip procedure is a big concern of mine. What method do you use to close the donor area, and how noticeable would this scar be? For example, would my barber notice it while cutting my hair if he cut it to 1/2 inch length?

The person above is talking about removing a stip of skin for donor area harvesting, the common standard surgery for today’s hair transplant. Only about 5% of the population will have a scar wider than 2-3 mm on a single surgery. With a deep fascial closure and trichophytic incisions (see Techniques to Minimize Donor Area Scarring ) these numbers should show a smaller incidence. Even with a 2-3 mm scar, you should easily be able to cut your hair to 3/8th of an inch without being observable.

April 18, 2006

I Am 75 and My Hair Started Falling Out 2 Months Ago – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I always had a very heavy head of hair and thick eyebrows until about two monts ago. one eyebrow is gone and the other is gone in places. the hair on the top of my head is getting very thin i am 75 years my father died after his 93rd birthday and he had a full head of hair as did my mother. what could be causing this?

Be sure that you are healthy and do not have some early manifestation of some progressing medical problem. Sometimes, hair loss is an early sign of something going wrong. If I assume that it is not a medical problem, then Propecia may work to stop the process, if the hair loss is genetic with very late on-set balding. I have seen this late on-set balding in some 60 and 70 year old men, although it is very rare to commence at your age.

April 18, 2006

I Stopped Propecia and My Hair Fell Out — I Want It Back – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Dr. Rassman,
I have a question about using propecia. I am now 26 years old. I started noticing hair loss at about 22 years of age and started taking propecia at 23. I took propecia for about two years and it worked very well. My hair loss stopped completely and it appeared to me that I even experienced regrowth. I stopped taking propecia about one year ago. Since that time, I’ve lost a considerable amount of hair. I did not react well to my hair loss and so I have started taking the propecia again. I’m wondering how much, if any, of the hair I’ve lost in past year may return? Also, I’m interested in hanging on to every last hair in my forelock that I can. Is there any chance that adding minoxidil to my treatment could aid in maintaining my hairline while I wait for the propecia to take effect?

This is the classic thing I warn patients about. Propecia is a lifetime commitment, else balding is the consequence. You will most likely not regain all of what you lost since stopping the drug, though possibly some of it may come back. Holding on to what you have may be the thing you now need to focus on now. Any return of the hair will be a bonus. I hope that this message reaches anyone thinking about stopping their Propecia, even if they think it is not working (it most likely is working, at least in slowing or stopping the progressive loss).

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April 18, 2006

Kevis and IntraUterine Device (IUD) – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman,
i have had andorgenetic alopecia for year now. it started at the age of 12 or 13 and now i am 26. i have lost more than half of my hair. it is really devastating. i have been on kevis for about a year now. in the beginning, i felt my hair loss problem was going to be a thing of the past but now i am experiencing a great amount of hair loss. i am confused as to what is the reason. i have had an IUD inserted also about a year ago- it caused great amounts of bleeding. could it be that i now have acquired a low serum ferritin count that is causing this imbalance? i also have irregular menses, could it be a hormonal imbalance caused by the IUD (it was a copper IUD). The reason i ask this is because the IUD caused me to have delayed periods and bleeing for more than a week.
i am really stressed out and do not know if to continue the kevis or not. i am so thankful that you have a website like this for people like me.
thank you

Bleeding and anemia can cause hair loss. Low ferritin can also contribute to hair loss, as well as hormonal abnormalities which you seem to have. Kevis is incidental, I suspect. The active ingedient in Kevis is minoxidil, so I would suggest that you switch to it and simplify what is happening to you. You need to get your doctor very involved in this problem.

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April 18, 2006

Promel – New Drug For Graying Hair? – Balding Blog

See this link from NewTechSpy.com — World’s First Drug to Reverse Gray Hair

It sounds interesting, but I cannot find any other source of information on this ‘new’ drug. I am not familiar with the drug but I wonder how it would affect skin color since melanocytes are what gives us pigment in our skin as well as hair. I would be interested in seeing clinical studies or pharmaceutical data and FDA clearance addressing the critical safety and effectiveness issues before I jump on this bandwagon. If the drug is not safe, I would rather be gray than dead. Not to say it would go that far as that would be quite an extreme example, but at this stage I do not have more information and safety is always the critical element in the decision to take a drug.

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April 18, 2006

Woman’s Hair Loss: LA Times – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

A different pattern to female baldness

The above link is to an interesting article which appeared April 17, 2006 (yesterday) in the Los Angeles Times. The article discusses the differences between male and female hair loss, but offers few viable solutions to the female hair loss problems that face nearly half of women past menopause and many young women. The article paints hair transplantation into a distorted positive view, suggesting it is a solution for many women. In my experience, women who make good hair transplant candidates are few and if the transplant option is played in most women who are not suitable candidates, not only is there often poor results, but the women that are inappropriately transplanted could be worse off than if they were to have left it alone or just put on drugs like minoxidil. I hope that women who read this article do not rush into a surgical solution that is not the answer to their dreams for if they do it may take their dreams and turn them into nightmares.

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