Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Could a Beanie Cause Traction Alopecia?

I have a few questions about traction alopecia. Firstly, I understand that it comes from pulling on the hair.

However, my questions are:
1) In which cases can traction alopecia arise from wearing a hat/beanie? Suppose the beanie/hat isn’t tight, but it is placed on your head in a way that holds long hair back (sort of like in a pony tail without actually tying the hair back)? I am not sure if this causes pulling, I do not think it does, but the main concern is with the fact that the hair is being held back.

2) Sometimes when I wear a beanie for a long time, I feel that the area around the nape of my neck is getting a bit sore or irritated. I think this is because the hat begins to “ride up” and it causes my skin to get irritated. Is this cause for concern when it comes to hair loss?

Thanks.

A beanie can theoretically cause traction alopecia if you wear it all the time and the beanie is either too tight or fixed with a set of clips at the same location each time it is used. This is all within reasonable limits. If you notice the irritation then it isn’t a good sign. You don’t need me to tell you this, do you?

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CoQ10 and Finasteride

Dear doctor, this site has been helping me and guiding me a lot about hair loss. I suggested my brother to start Propecia 3 years ago and with doctor’s prescription he started it and has really been doing very well. Propecia controlled his hair loss and he even got some reversal. He was very happy about it till 2 months ago, where he was prescribed COQ10 by one of his endocrinologist. He started reading all kinds of information regarding COQ10 interactions with finasteride and found this article.

He became so nervous about parathyroid tumor they mentioned in that web site. He is blaming me for suggesting such drug to him now. He has been taking Co-enzyme 10 since 2 months and is worried a lot whether the parathyroid tumour has already started. Please please help him with his anxiety. Do they really interact with each other? What is the solution for such problem.? Your reply will help him get rid of his anxiety.

The COQ10 interaction is news to me. Although I doubt a parathyroid tumor connection, if that is one of his worries, he should seek medical attention to calm his fears. Parathyroid tumors can be diagnosed if he has one.

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Cosmetic Follicle Therapy?

What’s your thoughts on the procedures on Cosmetic Follicle Therapy?

I believe the procedure is to take a sample from your head (where there is hair). Take it to the US have it replicated 50-70k times. What this means is match with synthetic hair of some sort. Then attach it to the burn skin material and then place it on the balding part of your head. Similar to a system or wig type piece but more refined.

Do you know and understand this type of treatment?

Thanks

Burned skin? Implanting artificial hair is dangerous (due to scarring, infection, and irritation)… and not legal in the US. I’ve warned people about artificial hair implants on this site for over half a decade now. If you’re suggesting that some company is creating 50-70k real hairs in a lab and re-implanting those, well, that technology doesn’t exist.

It’s more likely an expensive hair system, and if that’s the case, the name would be the only thing unique about it. I’m hoping you’re just misunderstanding what some company is offering, though. If they are trying to sell you on having your hairs cloned in a lab, it’s a scam.


2011-01-21 11:40:19Cosmetic Follicle Therapy?

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Could a Traumatic Experience Cause My Transplanted Hair To Fall Out?

Have you ever had or known in your experience of a man having a hair transplant and everything was going wonderful for the first six or seven months and then a traumatic event reversing things? My age is 62 and I was doing well until I started having severe stomach pain at about 6 months after the procedure.

I guess I passed out and was taken to the hospital unconscious. I had to have a transfusion of a small amount of blood. I had a stomach aneurism and almost died. I had to have some metal clips placed in my stomach so I had to have general anesthetic. Could this event have caused me to lose a lot of my transplanted hair? I seem to be losing more all the time.

I’ve been taking iron pills because I’ve been told that I’m anemic. Is it possible that the implanted hair could be coming out due to this incident? If that is true do you think my transplanted hair will ever grow back again once I regain my full health again? I have asked my surgeon these questions but feel like I’m gettin the “run around”. My surgeon has recommended that i start taking propecia or rogaine. I did take propecia for at least a couple months before my surgery and about 5 months afterwards. I did have some sexual side effects with the drug so was told that I had taken it long enough.

It has been 10 months since my surgery and I am feeling like I went through all this and may not end up with all the hair I had after about 5 months after the HT. Could you give me your thoughts and feelings on my story because I read your column frequently and I do respect your opinion. I would be willing to have another HT if you think that would be the answer to this mess. I had 2400 implants the first time. Thanks for your opinion.

It sounds like you are lucky to be alive. We do know that stress can cause hair loss and I guess it could delay the growth of your new hair for 10-12 months, so all may not be lost.

Most people who lose hair after a traumatic event, will lose their non-transplanted native hair, but I have heard and have seen some patients lose their transplanted hair some 3-5 years after the transplant was done. We say that transplanted hair is permanent, but that is a general rule… and all rules can be broken.

Your hair growth is clearly delayed, so I would wait out another few months and see if the Rogaine helps. I am assuming that your transplant doctor knows what we/she is doing and generally gets good responses from the transplants he/she performs.


2013-03-04 10:49:03Could a Traumatic Experience Cause My Transplanted Hair To Fall Out?

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Could a Little Sun Each Day Damage a Hair Transplant?

I received a hair transplant about 5 months ago on a norwood 3/4 scalp. I have been told that I should begin looking for regrowth between now and the 5 to 8 month mark, so I realize I am just at that point. My question is, given that I use minoxidil and wear a hat for any prolonged sun exposure, could very light sun exposure on a hatless head, like 5 or 10 minutes total a day, have damaged the transplanted follicles? Thanks for the help.

No, I highly doubt 5 to 10 minutes of sun exposure will damage the transplanted follicles. The UV rays from the sun can however discolor your scalp wounds immediately after a hair transplant. It wouldn’t have much effect on the follicles. I would follow up with your doctor.


2008-06-17 11:58:08Could a Little Sun Each Day Damage a Hair Transplant?

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Could Aggressive Styling Cause Uneven Hairline Maturation?

Dear Dr Rassman

I am a male in my early twenties with extremely fine hair (which tends to get curly/wavier as it gets longer) and so I tend to have to style it aggressively to make it look the way I want (i.e. make it look straighter, imitating coarser hair). This usually involves blowdrying and hairspray, and combing through with a wide-toothed comb, even after it has gone ‘hard’. Sometimes this involves straightening too. I’ve done this for years without worry, though a few years ago I did notice my hairline was moving up a bit (when I was around 19), and in my panic I consulted the internet. I found the concept of ‘mature hairline’ and was reassured. However I’m not sure if this type of aggressive styling could be causing it to develop prematurely or unevenly (since the left side has indeed risen higher than the right – though I know you say this isn’t completely unusual), or lead to some patchy baldness.

On hairspray, it seems as though you advise people with any form of alopecia to avoid rough brushing lest they make hair loss worse: Hair Spray and Hair Loss

Is it otherwise okay for people without alopecia, so long as it is not extremely rough? It seemed okay before I noticed some recession, but now I am concerned about styling practices when I know my hairline is changing. I would hate to inadvertently cause some form of hairline or uneven progression. Will hairs that are pulled out grow back fine so long as the trauma isn’t severe?

First, you need to be evaluated by an expert in hair. You can try to quantify the degree of thinning by measuring hair bulk throughout your scalp to see if there are components of genetic hair loss present.

Yes, you are right, people can damage their hair from aggressive styling (extreme form is traction alopecia from tight braids), but I don’t know exactly what you are doing in this regard. Generally, I tell people to be gentle with their hair when styling and use only good grade commercial products for grooming.


2013-04-19 11:18:19Could Aggressive Styling Cause Uneven Hairline Maturation?

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Could a Fungal Infection Mimic a Norwood Classification of Baldness?

Does fungal infection if not treated mimic Male pattern baldness say (norwood 5)?. Could u explain types of infections or fungal infections in general a little better?? would we see hair loss in patches or one might start losing hair from the front due to infection to all the way back? if treated do these conditions reverse back to having a full head of hair??

Simply put, if you let the fungal infections go on for years, it might look like patterned hair loss to the inexperienced eye. For more on fungal infections, see Wikipedia – mycosis.


2007-09-13 09:31:25Could a Fungal Infection Mimic a Norwood Classification of Baldness?

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Could brushing hair when wet damage my hair?

I know you’re not supposed to brush wet hair after the shower, but I didn’t know that until today… After I’ve been doing it for years… Thankfully, currently, I have a pretty full head of pretty thick hair and I’m obviously prepared to stop brushing my wet hair indefinitely. However, I’m worried that I’ve done damage that can’t be undone that could eventually lead to severe hair loss in the future. Should I be concerned?

When people brush hair roughly, then they can pull out miniaturized hairs easily causing evident balding in those men or women with genetic hair loss and significant miniaturization. I tell people to use gentle brushing or a wide tooth brush or comb to minimize the pulling effect on these miniaturized hairs.

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Could Fasting 2 Days a Week Slow Down the Pace of Hair Loss?

Dear Dr

There has been a lot of interest in the UK about intermittent fasting where an individual eats normally for 5 days a week and then fasts for two (not on consecutive days). There was a BBC horizon programme where it was shown to reduce IGH-1 (growth hormone) and improve insulin sensitivity. It is claimed that when a body goes into fasting mode the body starts to repair itself better by repairing cells rather than producing more cells. It was suggested that this may be beneficial to age related diseases, cancer etc.

Do you think this would slow down the pace of hairloss if insulin sensitivity improved and/or IGH-1 was reduced? Has research been done on this approach? Your thoughts would be appreciated

Genetic hair loss is not a disease. Balding is a genetic trait, like your height, body build, hair color, the way you look, etc. Even if this ‘fasting’ has value (which I would doubt), it will not change your genetics. Significant fasting can actually accelerate hair loss. You are what you are and although your patterned balding can be modified with drugs or transplants, your balding pattern is fixed in your genetics.

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Could Alopecia Areata Evolve to Totalis or DUPA?

I have been recently diagnosed with alopecia areata (one spot) and have had several HT session in the past. Recently been under a lot of work related stress. and my hair has been thinning all over event in the safe zone (I am 48 Years old). And the back of my scalp has a see thru appearance. So I am wondering if this is diffuse alopecia areata that could evolve to alopecia totalis or DUPA since my donor area is very thin?

Anything is possible, but not probable. Alopecia areata without any treatment often will resolve over time (which can take up to one year).