Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Anti-Graying Pill — Go Away Gray

Hi,

I have recently come across with this product: Go Away Gray

Your remarks will be appreciated.

I have no experience with Go Away Gray (and this is the first I’ve read of it), but I invite my readers to comment if they do have experience with this pill that promises to make gray hair disappear. What I could find on it (aside from a ton of sites trying to sell it) was that the pill contains catalase, and a study from last year did find that gray hair was caused by the body’s lack of catalase production as we age. That isn’t enough to convince me just yet, but I am open to learning more about this and reading some actual reviews. You can read more about last year’s gray/catalase stories here and here.

CBS stations around the US picked up the story and ran it in their local markets, causing at least one TV critic to dig a little deeper into why the product is getting all this publicity (see here).


2010-05-14 06:40:20Anti-Graying Pill — Go Away Gray

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Balding Blog – Hair Loss Information – Your hair loss questions, answered daily.

CDC recommends young women avoid alcohol unless they are using contraception

USA Today (2/2, Szabo) reports, “Women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol unless they’re using contraception, federal health officials said” yesterday. “‘Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant,’ said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Schuchat pointed out, “About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won’t know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking.”

The Washington Post (2/2, Izadi) reports in “Health & Science” that “an estimated 3.3 million women who drink are sexually active but not on birth control,” according to a CDC report released yesterday. In addition, “three out of four women who want to get pregnant don’t stop drinking alcohol when they stop using” contraception. The agency “warns that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders,” and “there is no known amount of alcohol that’s safe to consume while pregnant.”

Hair transplant surgery, or in fact any surgical procedure has the potential to harm a fetus in the first trimester of pregnancy. For women who have such surgery and are not on birth control pills, they should get a pregnancy test BEFORE undergoing any such type of surgery to avoid miscarriages or other fetal problems.

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Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Although this post isn’t hair loss related and it is about an article that is nearly 2 years old, this is an important read for those who buy into the antioxidant solution to anti-aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and the like. The question raised here is whether you can get these antioxidants from pills or do you have to get them from fresh fruits and vegetables?

Snippet from the article:

Cranberry capsules. Green tea extract. Effervescent vitamin C. Pomegranate concentrate. Beta carotene. Selenium. Grape seed extract. High-dose vitamin E. Pine bark extract. Bee spit.

You name it, if it’s an antioxidant, we’ll swallow it by the bucket-load. According to some estimates around half the adults in the US take antioxidant pills daily in the belief they promote good health and stave off disease. We have become antioxidant devotees. But are they doing us any good? Evidence gathered over the past few years shows that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health. At worst, they may even have the opposite effect, promoting the very problems they are supposed to stamp out.

Full text at NewScientist — The antioxidant myth: a medical fairy tale

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Another Hair Transplant Failure from Turkey (Photo)

This was repaired by Dr. Schambach on the right. She redid the previous hair transplant and moved the hairline forward. In her hands, these grafts will grow. It just shows that there are no bargains that you can depend upon in this field.


2020-06-04 19:41:44Another Hair Transplant Failure from Turkey (Photo)

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Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA) and DUPA

Doctor, when a patient have DUPA, his/her ANF (Anti-Nuclear Factor) is positive? I have no balding parents nor relatives (until the 4th generation above myself), but I think I’m suffering DUPA and it began just after a heavy stressing period

The diagnosis of DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia) is made by mapping out your hair and scalp for miniaturization. A good examination is critical. Hair loss in men comes about for four reasons:

  1. Genes
  2. Male hormones
  3. Stress (you seem stressed)
  4. Time (the longer #1-3, the worse the problem will become)

To avoid confusion, ANF and ANA are the same thing (see Wikipedia for more info). I am not familiar with a positive ANA factor as a participating cause of DUPA. Conditions like DUPA can occur with a variety of autoimmune diseases of which some of them may have positive ANAs.


2008-05-29 15:29:48Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA) and DUPA

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Anxiety, Mood Swings From Propecia?

I have been talking propecia for about two weeks and I have been experiencing wierd side effects like anxiety attacks, feeling out of it, slight mood swings, etc. However, when I asked my doctor about it, he said that he had never heard of anything like it. There are a number of people online who have complained about similar side effects and I feel that these symptoms are a direct result of propecia. I was wondering if you had ever encountered any similar cases and if so will these side effects go away. Thanks

Finasteride blocks the conversion of testosterone to DHT. As a result, there will be a temporary increase in testosterone and changes in androgens as well which might (theoretically) produce side effects like those experienced by women with PMS. One of my patients had a real complaint like this and he was a very credible physician. When he stopped the Propecia the symptoms went away. Can hormonal imbalance affect mood swings? Possibly! Some patients have repored changes in the way they feel on Propecia and I have generally discounted these report but now I will make a note of this and watch for more patient comments and blog emails that bring this up. I aleady spoke to a Merck rep about it and hopefully the verbal report will work its way back to headquarters. If I hear more of these type of complaints, I will be more vocal on sharing this with you through this blog.


2006-04-19 20:22:49Anxiety, Mood Swings From Propecia?

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Any Hair Growth Miracle Stories?

Doctor — I know you don’t want to raise anybody’s hopes. But here’s a question you’ve haven’t addressed before (amazingly) — I think.

Are there any miracle stories you’ve seen? Where someone came in with a lot of miniaturization, at a young age, and somehow didn’t get much worse even without treatment?

Or someone looked in terrible shape, nearly balding, and regrew much of his hair and it was hard to see he was balding?

Virgin Mary grilled cheese miracleI honestly don’t recall anything that would really qualify as a “miracle story” using your criteria of having major hair loss, yet the hair spontaneously regrows without treatment. If someone came in with a lot of miniaturization showing at a young age (late teens to 20s), I’d probably prescribe them Propecia… so there’d be a treatment in there to prevent the progression. But if hair did spontaneously regrow (here’s your hope), chances are the patient wouldn’t come back to me for a follow-up, as he’d have no need for a doctor to look at his loss anymore.

I’ve seen plenty of miracle stories from medication though, and plenty of amazing results from hair transplantation. I guess a miracle could be labeled on a case where an extremely bald man with fine hair was able to achieve amazing results from hair transplantation and a camouflaging agent. Or like the story I mentioned a month ago, where a 79 year old friend of mine was treated with Proscar for his prostate enlargement and he regrew hair as an unexpected bonus. Or when someone with a form of alopecia areata (totalis or universalis) has even the most minor hair regrowth, that can be considered a miracle. Different people will have their own way to define a “miracle”… such as a grilled cheese with a funky toast pattern.

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Any Adolescent Hairline Transplant Photos?

Can you post a before & after photo of someone who you’ve lowered their hairline to an “adolescent hairline”. I know you’ve said in the past you usually only do this procedure on someone who makes their living by their looks & I wanted to see how much of a difference it would make. Thanks, great blog!

These three patients had their central hairline brought down to the childhood hairline position:

Also, please take a look at the hundreds of patient before and after photos on my website in the Patient Photo Galleries.


2006-10-23 14:52:22Any Adolescent Hairline Transplant Photos?

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Any Point in Taking 5mg Finasteride to Treat Hair Loss?

Dear Doctor,

I just wanted to know if there is any point of taking 5mg proscar for hairloss? From my research I think the answer is no but I have taken 5mg for last 6 weeks. I have noticed a lack of motivation and being a bit down but I am not exactly sure if they are related to taking the 5mg or due to other things in my life. Could there be any side effects for taking for the 5mg for the past 6 weeks? If I just cut down to the quarter Proscar tablet (1.25mg) will my body take long to readjust after having taking 5mg dosage?

Thanks you for your time,

Kind regards

There is no point in taking finasteride 5mg (Proscar) for treating hair loss. Aside from the increased side effect possibility, it will not work any better for hair loss. I really cannot comment on your lack of motivation and its relation to the medication. Maybe you have the holiday blues? Side effects from medications should generally reverse in about a week or two.