Delaying hair loss depends upon (1) the types of genetic hair loss you have inherited, (2) its overall aggressiveness, (3) your ability to get good responses to drugs like minoxidil or finasteride. The drug finasteride can be very effective in delaying hairloss providing that the genes are not very aggressive.
2020-02-26 04:00:262020-02-27 11:40:25How Long Can You Realistically Delay Hair Loss?
Generally, they live as long as the source hair where they came from. The donor area in the back of your head generally lasts your lifetime so when it is transplanted, it lasts our lifetime 98% of the time.
Hello Doctor,
Maybe a slightly unique question here… I have about an inch forehead scar in the hairline(above right temple side of head) I received from injury back in April, and had it revised with a scar revision procedure in June. Results are good (about 2 months into the healing/remodeling phase), but I’m facing facts here: I want the hair back where the incision-line scar is, no matter how less/ or barely visible the scar is overall…My question would be at the 3 month mark here in September (if 3 months matters, as that is when I have my follow-up with the plastic surgeon who performed the revision at that time as well), would I be able go forward with the minor transplant without jeopardizing the healing scar? It’s primary (main) healing phase is already complete, right? So, would I be safe in getting the procedure done? Or could I jeopardize the scar or general healing phase of the area at all? Thanks so much for your help; I read your blogs frequently.
I would have no hesitation to transplant the area after 3 months have passed, but might be concerned at less than that time period. The basic scar healing should be complete by then. For those curious about the various phases of wound healing, check out this article.
2009-08-19 08:35:572009-08-18 08:54:02How Long Do I Need to Wait After Injury Heals to Transplant Into It?
Dear Dr.
I recently went through a stressful patch and now I’ve lost a quite disastrous amount of hair in a very short time frame. If this hair loss is related to stress how long will it take to recover after the stressful period is over?Thanks!
Stress related hair loss may generally take up to one year to grow back for women, but for men it may reflect an acceleration of the genetic pattern that they are destined for.
Hi,
This is a great blog. Very insightful and well written.My question is how many years/ no. of surgeries or grafts would it take for surgeons to be competent at FUE?
If someone has only been providing the FUE service for a year or so (even though he has been tinkering for a few years previous to this with smaller sessions ie less than 600 grafts), should I feel comfortable enough to go ahead with a 2000 graft FUE offered by him for my frontal hairline?
Thank you very much for your help.
It isn’t just about how competent a surgeon is at extracting grafts with a punch or a follicular unit extraction (FUE) tool, it is about a combination of factors, of which extraction may be the most difficult for the beginner. Most surgeons take a few years to learn the extraction process and once they got it, it is relatively easy. The next skill is placing the grafts into the scalp without drying them or damaging them. When the grafts come out in the extraction process, the surgical team must trim the excess tissue from the FUE graft (which some doctors do not do), make sure the direction of transplanted hair is correct (which some doctors never get), make sure the medical staff are handling the grafts properly (quality control issue), and commanding the artistic process for each particular patient by controlling the distribution and direction of the grafts so that the fullest look will be obtained.
Hair transplantation is an art and technical skill that takes years to master for the doctor and the staff. Some people don’t realize that the doctor is not the one who inserts the grafts into the scalp (placing), but the doctor is the one that determines the direction and distribution of the grafts, and trains the staff to do it correctly. These are the most critical aspect in how well a hair transplant surgery turns out. With respect to inserting the grafts, it usually takes over a year for the medical staff to learn to insert the grafts efficiently. Some doctors will hire per-diem workers to do this work, so the quality will vary day by day, worker by worker.
I have said this before: cosmetic surgery is not like buying a car. It is not a commodity. No matter what the technique is advertised, each and every surgeon and their work is different. This is where due diligence comes into play. Before you put your head in the hands of any surgeon you should be well informed. There is no reason not to ask the surgeon if you can see his/her previous FUE patients and to speak with them about their experience. Find out if they were happy with the results and if their expectations were met. You should always voice any concerns you have so that any and all issues are addressed to your satisfaction prior to giving your consent to surgery.
Bottom line — some surgeons are more talented than others and there are a variety of factors that influence the outcome of any given procedure, therefore it is difficult to judge a surgeon based solely on the length of time they have been doing a particular procedure.
Everyone is different in how they respond to finasteride. Some people get good quick responses while others may never get a response. Anything in between is reasonable.
2020-02-26 04:00:392020-02-27 11:39:24How Long Does It Take for Minoxidil to work best?
Finasteride actually works fast (ignoring a shed) by at least slowing or stopping the hair loss within a week or two.
Dear Dr Rassman
I am a 19 year old male with a Norwood 3 balding pattern. I was wondering whether it is possible for hair loss to stabilise before a NW4 or larger phase occurs?
Also how long does it take for someone who is destined for a NW5+ to become a NW5 from a NW3?
Thank you very much
The Norwood hair loss patterns are not meant to be seen as a progression of hair loss, but rather how you fit into a certain pattern trait. You can be a Norwood 3 your entire life once the pattern forms. Or you can be an early Norwood 5 in your 20s (now) and eventually lose all your hair in this pattern to a full, clearly defined Norwood 5 later on in life. So there’s no defined length of time for a pattern to fully emerge, as everyone is different.
In general, you can tell by looking at your pattern under a bright light when your hair is wet. In the office we also have the luxury of seeing if there is a pattern using miniaturization mapping and taking hair bulk measurements.
2013-01-04 12:15:482013-01-03 09:58:35How Long Does It Take for a Norwood 5 to Take Shape?
I had a hair transplant done 4 weeks ago and noticed i had thinned considerably on the front side of my scalp. I hear this “shock loss” process is a temporary stage.
How long would you say that this “shock loss” process will end?
Shock loss following a hair transplant usually occurs within 1-4 months of the surgery. The process might be temporary, but the results are likely permanent (the hair won’t regrow).
I just wrote a blog post about shock loss last week that explains more about ways to avoid it and why it occurs.
Dr. Rassman,
I have been taking 2% topical minoxidil since late December 2005. I have ALWAYS taken more than the recommended doses. I would estimate at first 2-3 times the amount, later on 4-5 times the amount. By mid March I noticed my sex drive was really low and and I had a harder time getting and maintaining an erection. I read online from the Mayo Clinic that too much absorption of topical minoxidil can lower sex drive and performance. I have stopped taking it for a week and sexually I’m better, but not quite normal. I also still have some heart palpitations. Could you please tell me when my body will “clear-out” the excess minoxidil?
Some drugs are metabolized fairly quickly, while others can take a long time before they are eliminated. We quantify this with the use of the term “half-life.” The half-life of a given medication is how long it takes for the body to get rid of half of the dose. When the patient is taking a medication on a regular basis, there is an ongoing process of drug absorption in the form of each dose of the drug and, concurrently, an ongoing process of drug removal with the drug’s metabolism and clearance. Eventually, there comes a point when the amount of drug going in is the same as the amount of drug getting taken out. We call this “steady state.” It takes somewhere between 5 and 6 half-lives for a medication to reach steady state. Thus, medications with short half-lives reach steady state relatively quickly, while those with long half-lives take a long time to reach steady state. Minoxidil has a blood half-life of about 4 hours, but I can not determine how long it hangs around the kidney, heart, or other organs when it is out of the blood. Most of the good studies are on oral administration of the drug for treatment of high blood pressure and here is what I read on RxList.com: “The extent and time-course of blood pressure reduction by minoxidil do not correspond closely to its concentration in plasma. After an effective single oral dose, blood pressure usually starts to decline within one-half hour, reaches a minimum between 2 and 3 hours and recovers at an arithmetically linear rate of about 30%/day. The total duration of effect is approximately 75 hours. When minoxidil is administered chronically, once or twice a day, the time required to achieve maximum effect on blood pressure with a given daily dose is inversely related to the size of the dose. Thus, maximum effect is achieved on 10 mg/day within 7 days, on 20 mg/day within 5 days, and on 40 mg/day within 3 days.” This may be more than you asked for.
If you have heart palpitations, you should be seeing a doctor about that. This is a worrysome problem, something that is far too important than to take it to a doctor like me who advises on general questions over the internet. Minoxidil may be out of your system by now and the fact that you are getting better is good, but having a heart problem needs prompt and proper medical treatment, so get it to see a doctor ASAP.
2006-04-21 12:32:012006-04-21 08:34:04How Long Does Minoxidil Stay In My Body?
