Author: Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman, you once expressed an opinion, that hair transplant candidates should go ahead and get their hair now while they are young enough to enjoy it. Will I however be able to restore all the hair, which is harvested from the donor in a FUE, IF cloned hair one day becomes available? Do you believe that the cloned hairs can be implanted into the donor with the density as high as it was before the FUE?

My opinion remains the same. Let’s start with the basics: Hair transplant procedure is a cosmetic procedure to make you look better. If you don’t like your balding or your receding hair line and you have hair transplant procedure, you can enjoy your hair now. You don’t have to wait for cloning which still may take another 15 years and unlike a baby which we know arrives 9 months after conception, the arrival of hair cloning has been predicted as just around the corner since 1989! I always stress the Master Plan and the importance of being informed with a competent and ethical doctor who should give you a realistic expectation for your hair loss possibilities. Then you and your doctor, knowing where you are in the balding process, can set the goals you want to achieve. Hair transplant does not restore all your hair since it is basically moving hair from one location to another location. If or when cloning of hair becomes available, you will still need the same type of hair transplant to add more hair. Theoretically you will have an endless supply of hair and your hair density can be as high or higher than what you started with, but what good will it do for you if you are 80 years old when hair cloning is available.

FDA says there is little evidence testosterone treatment works.

The NBC Nightly News (9/3, story 6, 0:30, Williams) reported in its broadcast that the FDA “says there’s little evidence that testosterone boosting drugs taken by millions of American men are actually effective.” NBC notes that the agency also pointed out that it’s not convinced they carry serious risk either. “The condition has been marketed as low ‘T’ and the medications are offered to help with low sex drive and fatigue among some men,” notes NBC.

The FDA’s comments come ahead of a public meeting “to discuss the benefits and risks of treatments that raise levels of the male hormone” on Sept. 17, according to the AP (9/4, Perrone). The meeting comes after two federally funded studies “found links between testosterone therapy and heart problems in men.” The AP also testosterone boosting treatments have come under the spotlight “amid an industry marketing blitz for new pills, patches and formulations that has transformed testosterone a multibillion-dollar market.”

You said before it’s normal for non-balding men to have around 10% miniaturization on any part of their scalp.

Could take a look at these photos to help those of us who perform our own miniaturization mapping what that looks like.

Is it normal for hairs to be different thickness like this? Are the lighter colored hair in an earlier stage of growth compared to the darker thicker hairs? Could the lighter hair actually be greying in process (I already have a few grey hairs in odd places)?

Photo 1: Left permanent side above ear.

Photo 2: Right permanent side above ear.

Photo 3: Top of head (middle).

I am 25 years old, with Norwood 2 trying to figure out if my hairline is maturing or I am going bald.

In general it is normal to have what appears to be 20% of miniaturized hairs on a normal person’s scalp. Some of these finer hair are actually vellus hairs but from a microscopic view they are shorter than regular normal hairs but also appear miniaturized. There can be variations and ambiguous interpretation when the hairs are naturally fine in texture or there are different colored hairs in the mix (grey, blond, brown). The photos show similar hair thickness on the left and right and it may be that your naturally fine can be differentiated from normal hair thickness in you. Hairs on top look normal as well. I didn’t see much miniaturization on any of the photos.

One other way to diagnose very early balding that can not be seen when hair loss is less than 30%, is to have your doctor perform a bulk measurement with an instrument called HAIRCHECK. This instrument will tell you if your hair bulk has been reduced and 99% of the time any reduction is due to genetic balding in the male.

Finally, we don’t diagnose hair line patterns here on BaldingBlog. If you are worried about hair loss please see a doctor.

We conceived while taking finasteride 1mg a day for my hair loss my wife is 6 weeks pregnant should I be worried? I’m quite anxious after reading some of the stuff on line
Kind regards

The Internet is a great source of information but it can also be misleading and cause great anxiety when it comes to medical information.

Men taking Propecia/ finasteride for androgenic alopecia can still father a baby – no issues. To my knowledge, there have been no reports of abnormal babies with men fathering a child while on Propecia. The issue is if WOMEN take the medication and get pregnant, then there is risk with sexual development of the baby, particularly in the first trimester of pregnancy. You can always mention this to your doctor or your partners obstetrician to assuage your anxiety and you will likely get a similar answer.

I personally would not worry.

For more information this is the official drug insert from Merck (the makers of Propecia)

Patients often ask what their hair transplant will look like with “x” number of grafts. This patient has brown hair on fair skin and has wavy long hair. Aside from the number of grafts, these inherent characteristics play a part in the overall result after a hair transplant surgery. If this person was Asian with straight hair on with black hair on fair skin, he would have require more than 1500 grafts to achieve a similar look. (High contrast of dark hair on fair skin make you look thinner especially if you have straight hair.)

Hair Transplant at NHI with about 1500 grafts

I recently saw a few posts here talking about expressing gene in hairloss. For example, you said workout may precipitate hairloss or bad habits (smoking & drinking) could also make the hairloss occur ahead of the time, so I am wondering are these factors the triggers for hairloss? If I keep a good health condition which means I can delay my hairloss? Provided that I have the gene of hairloss, thank you.

Staying healthy is always a good idea. You’ll live longer and maybe your hair loss can be delayed a bit or maybe not. Hair ‘apoptosis’ (hair follicle death) is probably programmed in our DNA and genes. If you have the gene for hair loss, it will happen. Drugs, such as Propecia, seem to slow the process down or even seem to pause it. However even drugs do not completely stop the inevitable genetic predisposition.