Author: Dr. William Rassman

Posted on

Am I balding?

This is a 17 year old with a family history of advanced balding. He is seeing some hair in the shower and is frightened abut what his future holds for him. The question is reasonable and is best answered with a HAIRCHECK TEST with an instrument that some doctors have in their offices. This is an accurate way to answer this young man’s question as seen in this previous patient: https://baldingblog.com/2017/01/10/value-haircheck-bulk-measurements-two-patients-seen-today/

Here is a picture of the 17 year old who asked the question. His picture is similar to the example I showed above in the link I supplied.


2020-07-02 08:18:58Am I balding?

Posted on

Am I balding or am I developing a mature hairline? (photo)

It looks like you have a maturing hairline developing. I can tell this because the highest crease in your furrowed brow is just one finger breadth above the lowest part of your hairline. It will eventually take on a typical male V-Shape. In the future, you might yet develop frontal recession, but now it does not look like that


2019-07-17 14:48:37Am I balding or am I developing a mature hairline? (photo)

Posted on

Am I balding with appearance of widow’s peak

I currently have a full head of hair, but have noticed that my hairline continues to recede into a widow’s peak. I’m becoming increasingly self-conscious of this and recently bought rogaine to see if that will help. Has anyone here used rogaine for a similar problem and did it work? I read the warnings on the Rogaine box and it made me a little hesitant to use the product since my hair loss isn’t on the crown of my head nor do I understand why I’m losing hair (other than the fact that my maternal grandfather was bald).

The appearance of a widows peak indicates that your hairline has only receded about half way to a mature hairline. I wrote the book on this here: https://newhair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/phenotype-article-published.pdf Send me your photos if you like to info@newhair.com.


2020-12-16 10:16:52Am I balding with appearance of widow’s peak

Posted on

Am I Balding? I Am 17 Years Old. Should I Take Finasteride?

Your photos show a maturing hairline, not balding. If you want to find out if you have hair loss behind the hairline, then get a HAIR CHECK test (https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-and-what-its-value/), and then you will know for sure. The age of 17 is not too young to get finasteride if the HAIR CHECK test showed hair loss behind the hairline.

 


2020-05-18 11:42:45Am I Balding? I Am 17 Years Old. Should I Take Finasteride?

Posted on

Am I Covered for Hair Loss?

HI DR. RASSMAN, I would like to tell you what I am using… propecia, monoxidil 10% with retina-A .. revivogen, nizoral and n-t gel shampoo. I would like to know if you can offer me something better then this or is this plan good???? PLEASE get back to me.

This plan seems to cover everything and every potential as the ads state. Some of the things you use are not in my bag of tricks (like retin A, which I believe probably does more harm than good because it produces a type of chemical burn to the skin). Nothing more to add.

Posted on

Am I balding (photos)

Yes, you have a very early recession developing with miniaturization of the hairs in the frontal hairline. This could be reversed with minoxidil, finasteride and possibly microneedling.


2020-09-01 09:42:41Am I balding (photos)

Posted on

Am I Experiencing New Hair Growth on the Crown?

Dr Rassman,

thanks for all your blog has done, its really a great resource and place for answers. Its been a great help for me.

I am turning 25 soon, and for the past year have been driving myself crazy because my hair has thinned. I did catch it very early, its far from noticable to the naked eye, and ive been on propecia for almost 10 months.

Heres my question, I recently noticed what feels like short spikey hairs on my scalp, my hair is long so i cant see them, only feel them.

would this be considered new hair growth? I know all about miniaturization (thanks to this blog) but these hairs feel very hard and spikey. And im sure they werent there a few months ago. The spikey hairs are only on the crown and other areas my hair has thinned.

any comments you have to help answer my question are greatly appreciated

You could be experiencing new hair growth. Follow it over the next few months and get some good photographs if you can ASAP and then more later on to compare.


2007-02-14 14:53:02Am I Experiencing New Hair Growth on the Crown?

Posted on

Am I Breaking Out in Hives from Propecia?

Hello Doctor,

Thanks for maintaining such a great blog.

I am a 20-year-old student who started taking Propecia about a month ago. Since then, I’ve broken out in hives about once every two weeks. The breakout lasts for about 3 days.

I have three questions for you:
– Do you think that this is an allergic reaction to Propecia?
– If I am indeed allergic to Propecia, do you think that it will be less effective?
– I have experienced a noticeable increase in shedding since starting Propecia. The Internet tells me that this could be a good sign, but we both know there’s a lot of misinformation out there.

Again, thanks for the great blog.

First of all, if you are breaking out in hives I would see a doctor. This is not a place to get a medical diagnosis or treatment. Any medications can cause a reaction or side effects, but I do not know anything about your medical history or health or habits to even guess why you are breaking out in these two week intervals. Are you doing something different every two weeks?

In general, patients do not shed after taking Propecia. Patients lose hair with or without the medication from natural genetic causes. The “increased shedding” people refer to is very abstract and hard to quantify. This is one of the main reasons you need to see a doctor before you start Propecia and have some form of documentation of where you are starting from (such as a picture of your hair, miniaturization study, or even a bulk measurement). Without anything objective to compare to, it is just anyone’s guess.

Finally, I would guess there are people who are allergic to Propecia, but I have not met anyone face to face at my medical practice who have these allergies people write about on the Internet.

Posted on

Am I Losing Hair?

I have a few follow up questions:

I am from Canada and am not sure if the local dermatologists will have this device. Are there any comparable alternatives?

If hair miniaturization and loss is caused by stress, even though I may have the hair loss gene, would decreasing stress stop or slow down the hair loss? (I am curious about this because through the observation of hair loss in my family, significant hair loss is nonexistent aside from one uncle on my dad’s side.)

Given my current description of hair loss, would you recommend medication such as finasteride and/or minoxidil or do you think a change in lifestyle should be the first line of defense?

Thank you in advance.

You do need to see a specialist to find out if you are losing hair. You have what appears to be a juvenile hairline in transition to a mature hairline. This is not balding. What I would do is perform a HAIRCHECK test to see if you are really losing hair. If you are, I would recommend finasteride and then follow your progress over a year to see if the hair loss was reversed by repeating the HAIRCHECK test. However, if you are not balding according to the HAIRCHECK test, then I would not recommend finasteride. Finasteride will not stop the movement from a juvenile to a mature hairline. (see: https://baldingblog.com/value-haircheck-bulk-measurements-two-patients-seen-today/)

juvenile hairline2