Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Aminexil vs Minoxidil

Hello,
can you please explain the difference between “Minoxidil” (Regaine) and “Aminexil” (Dercos SP94)? I am having troubles choosing between these two products.
Many thanks.

Aminexil is made by the large cosmetics company L’Oreal and is reported to act in a similar manner as minoxidil. As L’Oreal is behind it, there is an aura of credibility to it. Aminexil is not tested according to the FDA, so there is no way for me to judge from reading the material if there is value similar to minoxidil, as stated in the various publications I read.


2007-05-08 08:33:29Aminexil vs Minoxidil

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Americans Haven’t Voted a Bald President Into Office in 51 Years

Lincoln (bald)
16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (image manipulated)

In the November 5th issue of TIME Magazine there is an interesting article titled ‘The Bald Truth‘, which talks despairingly about the absence of a full head of hair for a presidential candidate. Not since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and Martin Van Buren in 1836 has any bald man been elected to be president of the United States.

From the article — “The country’s most prolifically failed presidential candidate, Harold Stassen, ran nine times, and in many of those elections he wore a toupee so alarming that the Washington Post thought it resembled a ‘sullen possum that had been dipped in bronze.’”

The essay by Steve Rushin is well written and shows society’s strong prejudice against bald men for political office. Many other such articles back up this position on the need for hair and it is pointed out that “the last time Giuliani was elected to anything (re-elected as mayor of New York City in 1997), he had a scalp full of hair“.

Some years ago when I was doing my radio show, The Inner Man, we had a caller who was vice president of sales for a rather large company. He said that although he was bald, he would never hire a bald man for a senior position. What does that say?

Full article — TIME Magazine – The Bald Truth

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Aminogen and Hair Loss?

Can the enzyme aminogen cause hair loss?

Thank you!!!!!!!!

There is no information on any connection. It appears that Aminogen is made from whey and it a nutritional supplement.


2009-04-16 16:07:03Aminogen and Hair Loss?

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An Island of Hair Around Transplant

Two things should be evident when you look at this photo. (1) the scar from the hair transplant (easily taken care of with scalp micropigmentation, see here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/gallery/scar-covering/#!https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/scalp_micropigmentation-new_hair_institute-146-scalp_scars.jpg and (2) the Island of Hair surrounded by the balding that occurred after he had his hair transplant (easily fixed with another hair transplant). The surgeon and the patient didn’t recognize that he was going to develop a Class 7 pattern at the time of his original hair transplant. I hope that the patient was aware that hair loss is progressive and that this progression is a real risk for this type of hair transplant in advanced pattern balding men. Fortunately, it looks like he has enough hair to fix this problem.


2020-12-18 06:52:04An Island of Hair Around Transplant

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Ambien and Hair Loss

I have been taking Ambien for about 5 month. Over the past 5 months, my hair has receded almost 2 inches from hair line. I could not figure out why until my husband advised me to Google the medicine I was taking. It’s such a relief to see that I am not alone and I have the same symptoms with the tingling, sometimes itchy, scalp. Please tell me that the hair will grow back?

There are no reports indicating that Ambien causes hair loss. Many people taking Ambien may be stressed or have other conditions that can cause hair loss.


2018-08-03 09:25:12Ambien and Hair Loss

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Analyzing the Results of the HairMax Laser Comb

I have added a link to some of the before and after pics of people who have apparently used the lasercomb.

What do you think?

https://www.lasercomb.net/beforeafter.htm

Thanks again Dr! I’m addicted to your site now!!!

Ah, the HairMax LaserComb by Lexington International. It’s worth noting that lasercomb.net and hairmax.com both go to the exact same site, so the link you sent is the official site of this product. The page you sent (linked above) has 2 groups of photographs, each with multiple before/after sets. The 1st group is apparently patient results, and the 2nd group is of clinical trial macro photos.

So let’s start with the first group of photos — the patient results. I looked carefully at these, and there is a real question in my mind as to what I am seeing. A few of these pictures have longer hair that is possibly responsible for the changes that I can see. I wanted to get an enlarged version of the photos to see the details that would tell me what I was looking at, but they are not available on the site. The first before/after set in the group are a good example to start with. There is a suggestion that the scalp has coloring to it (Dermatch or something similar), but as I can’t enlarge the photos, I can’t try to determine what it might be. Could the difference be lighting or combing style? I don’t know, honestly. Many of the photographs suggest styling differences. In no case was there any significant change in the hair coverage, though. Either the person had plenty of hair when they started or there was not enough hair when they finished treatment.

Moving on to the 2nd group of pictures, the clinical trial macro photos —

We analyzed two sets of the before/after high-powered magnification photos, which also includes the data that they based their research upon. The actual hair counts as they did them are well presented and can be seen by magnifying the circular areas of hair density assessments. Each hair grouping was identified, numbered, and the authors put the actual count on each follicular unit as they made the measurement. They did not separate or identify those hairs that were miniaturized. Because all of the information is present in the material presented on their website, it was easy for us to repeat their measurements and to ascertain if their numbers corresponded to an independent assessment.

Here’s a breakdown of what I found in the macro photos that Hairmax presents on their LaserComb site.

Macro Photo Set 1 – Before picture:

  • HairMax’s hair count: 107
  • My hair count: 115
  • Of these hairs, 12 were miniaturized

Macro Photo Set 1 – After picture:

  • HairMax’s hair count: 148
  • My hair count: 128
  • Of these hairs, 10 were miniaturized

See the image on the LaserComb site

Statistically, the percent difference between the before and after photos (according to my count) is insignificant. Therefore, in the first set of photos the LaserComb made no real difference.

In the second sequential set of photos, I discovered that the after photo actually had less hair than the before photo —

Macro Photo Set 2 – Before picture:

  • HairMax’s hair count: 147
  • My hair count: 161
  • Of these hairs, 12 were miniaturized

Macro Photo Set 2 – After picture:

  • HairMax’s hair count: 184
  • My hair count: 159
  • Of these hairs, 10 were miniaturized

See the image on the LaserComb site

Yes, I actually counted three fewer hairs after the LaserComb was used. My measurements of the data on their official site do not support the findings they offer.

I am comfortable saying that I am one of the world’s experts in hair densitometry. I can prove this as I am the inventor of this technology and hold the U.S. Patent on the instruments used by HairMax (or Lexington International) to demonstrate their findings (see: USPTO.gov). With that being said, I reviewed our findings and agree with our counts. I believe that HairMax’s photos do not show any objective evidence of hair growth on the first two sets of data and that the numbers that they derived do not correspond to the assessments made by us. Lots of good hype if you’re into it.

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Anatomy of a hair

For those of you who perform microneedling, you want to reach the area between the gland and the skin which is between 1 – 1.5 mm from the skin edge

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Analysis of My Donor Area

I have about 90 cm2 of baldness and about 200 cm2 of possible donor area. When I counted 1 cm2 of donor 3 times, I got 110,113 hairs and 123 follicular units per 1 cm2. I was wondering if the ones with red arrow are still the same follicular unit even though the hairs are spaced out compared to one with green arrow.

You are pointing out the follicular units that have more than one hair. Sometimes they exit the same pore and sometimes it appears to exit next to the main pore. The count of 110,113 hairs is about the average hair count in a Caucasian male and the number of follicular units are about 50,000 or 2.2 hairs per follicular unit on average. Clearly, some of the Follicular units have higher hair counts and others may just have a single hair. If you look at the leading edge of a normal hairline, you will see all single hair follicular units transitioning into more hairs per follicular unit as you move away from the leading edge. You were very astute in your analysis. The next step is to calculate the size of the balding area you are thinking about transplanting. That is just the beginning of the next analysis where multivariate analysis comes into play. The other variables that must be considered are (a) hair thickness, (b) character of your hair (wavy or straight), (c) the thickness of the hair shafts (fine, medium or coarse) and last and most important is where you are heading with your existing balding (based upon HAIRCHECK analysis, family history, your age, if you are going to treat the progressive nature of balding, and your long term medical plan with regard to going forward management).


2019-02-14 06:54:32Analysis of My Donor Area

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Anemic Teen Girl Losing Hair

i am an 18 year old girl and for about 6 months my hair has been falling out-particularly in the shower. it used to be fairly thick and now has become so much thinner. The doctors have said i am anemic- with very low ferritin in my blood. i am on iron pills and have been for two months. how long should it take to restore these levels and thus stop my hair loss? i have no problems with thyroid and no genetic history of premature balding if balding at all. what else could you suggest and is it worth buying any hair loss products? please help!

Iron deficiency in one of the medical conditions that could lead to hair loss or could accelerate hair loss due to other causes. Its treatment is not always easy and it may take a few months. You need to be checked with blood work periodically to assure that you are heading in the right direction with your treatment. When the iron deficiency is treated, your lost hair may re-grow within a few months.


2007-04-02 11:33:29Anemic Teen Girl Losing Hair