Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Haven’t Seen Much Growth 7 Months After My Hair Transplant

Hi,

I had a hair transplant about 7 months ago and I really have not seen any major improvement. I had the transplant of the hair line. What has happened is that some of the transplanted hair never fell out and has continued to grow but I have seen no regrowth where the transplants shed.

Is this a failure or will it still grow.

My hairline is still a little red.

Thank you

At 7 months, you should see growth from the transplants. It sounds like it’s possible that your transplants grew in right away (seen in 5% of patients), but you may have experienced shock loss in the surrounding hair, leaving you no better off than before you started. As for redness, it should’ve subsided months ago. I don’t know enough about your procedure (number of grafts, hair type, technique used) or your skin type to be able to reflect on the persistent redness or if the transplant was a failure or not. I would discuss your concerns with the physician that performed the surgery and use the pre-operative photographs when you discuss this with him/her.

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Haven’t taken finasteride for a week

I haven’t taken my fin for a week, i’m getting a new script tomorrow. Is 1 week enough time for noticable hair loss? Kinda worried. thanks

One week of no finasteride will have no impact as it stays in your hair follicles for at least a couple of weeks.


2020-09-15 12:36:39Haven’t taken finasteride for a week

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Having a baby on finasteride

I have been on Propecia for the last 3 years and it’s worked well. It has come to a stage where I would like to have a child with my wife. I have been researching for answers about effects of Propecia whilst conceiving on the internet and although there are many answers stating that it’s safe to carry on taking whilst trying to conceive, I am still unsure and not convinced. In the end I would not want to jeopardize the health of the child. May I ask, if I was to halt taking Propecia, how long should I wait to be sure that it is completely out of my system and that the sperm count and morphology would be completely back to normal?

This is a difficult question to answer. There are millions of men on this drug and I don’t believe that there is any report of the defect that is known if women took the drug. Also the semen levels are very, very low and the drug really impacts the growing fetus in the first trimester. Most of the warnings are medical-legal ones. The drug fixes to tissues in the body and this tissue fixation lasts about 1 week. If there are sperm reductions, it could take up to 6 months for this to reverse, probably less.


2017-10-12 07:23:11Having a baby on finasteride

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Having Sex After a Hair Transplant?

Can you have sex after a hair transplant? Just wondering!

I tell my patients that they can have sex after a hair transplant and use sound judgement. You can also exercise after a hair transplant, but must also use sound judgement. In general, we ask patients to take it easy for the first two weeks…. but some patients who have very active lifestyles will do light exercises even after 2-3 days and be fine.

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Having Blood Work Done Before and During Propecia Use?

A comment received from the recent post about Propecia and free testosterone levels –

doctor…as an athlete, this is something about propecia which interests me greatly – but there just doesn’t seem to be enough information available about it.

Would there be anything to stop doctors like yourself taking bloodwork of patients before and during finasteride use so that you (as someone in a position who sees finasteride users daily) could report back to us – so we could make informed decisions taking into account not only our hair, but other matters also of interest to us like hormone levels?

Would really appreciate a response. Thanks.

This can be done, but insurance may not cover these tests. If someone wants to pay for the tests out of pocket, it would be in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And even if these tests were free, what would we do with the results? What significance or interpretations would come from the tests?

If you look in the literature, I am sure there have been similar studies done before Propecia or finasteride was approved by the FDA. You need to know what you’re looking for before searching for data points.

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Having SMP and Hair Transplants Done as a Combo?

Thanks for the amazing blog, doctor(s). I believe it literally saves people’s lives.

You’ve briefly mentioned previously that some people haven chosen to get FUT transplants, buzz their hair short, and get SMP, but I was wondering, why don’t more men who have gotten transplants but suffer from the “see through” look get SMP to help combat this issue? Does this SMP+HT combo idea work, aesthetically?

Look at our SMP site and you will see that this technique is a great adjunct to a hair transplant, properly timed of course. We are doing more and more of these every day.

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Having SMP Done in Between Transplanted Grafts?

Hey Dr Rassman,

If a patient were to come and request to have as many grafts that their donor supply would allow then have the SMP procedure done in between those grafts and also had the scar camouflaged in the back of the scalp, wouldn’t it be nearly impossible to tell the persons head of hair from a non balding person?

Like for those individuals with high donor densities if some had 10,000 grafts placed on their scalp then had the micro pigmentation procedure done i would think they would be able to get close to their juvenile hairline back and they would also be able to grow their hair out to probably a number 1 clipper without it looking too odd. What are your thoughts on this?

Yes, we have done this before. Here’s an example of a patient that wasn’t satisfied with his transplant and had SMP done to give it a fuller look. Another patient that comes to mind had SMP done first, then had 500 or so FUE grafts placed into his head to give him the feel of stubble.

Though, if you’re going to have 10,000 grafts placed, I would probably wonder why you’d want to shave your head down to a 1 guard.

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Head Fungus from Diet Pills?

could my prescribed diet pills be the cause of my head fungus and breakouts on my face? the prescription’s name is phentermine. i took the pills for 1 yr and a year later my head fungus developed. could another possibility for my head fungus be my nerves and stress? should i get therapy?

Just so I’m clear, here’s the summary of what you’ve told me is going on…

    1. Diet pills
    2. Head fungus
    3. Breakouts on the face
    4. Nerves and stress

Perhaps you are on the right track of considering therapy.

Phentermine is a potentially dangerous diet medication and you should be under close medical supervision. I do not believe phentermine would potentiate head fungus. It may be multifactorial — including your stress level causing a depression in your natural body’s defense system.


2007-06-07 15:14:39Head Fungus from Diet Pills?

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Head is Sensitive After Wearing a Beanie

I just realized recently that after wearing a beanie (all types…polyester, cotton etc.) for a long period, my head becomes all sensitive. My brother experienced this too…and hypothesized that because the hair follicle is ‘pushed’ into one direction for so long, it becomes sensitive. It made me think…perhaps they (hair follicles) are really fragile? But then I think…this never happens when I wear a regular hat…do you have any idea why this happens?

BeanieMany of the Jewish faith wear yarmulkes, and the Pope wears a zucchetto (both are skullcaps), and they keep it on most of the time. These are loose fitting and non-constricting. If your beanie is tight, then maybe it is putting pressure on the peripheral nerves and causing your problem. I do not believe that there is any connection to the fabric, because you have used caps with different fabrics and still experience the same reaction. I don’t really have an answer for you, unfortunately, except for the too tight explanation, but you know how tight it is on your head. Covering part or all of the head is essentially the same, whether with a skullcap, beanie, or even a baseball cap.