Author: Dr. William Rassman

Dear Balding Blog,

First of all, trust all of you are well. Let me express my sincere thanks for this wonderful blog. Honestly, I am sure, and many would agree with me, that this is the best website for information regarding such matters. It is very simple, very informative, and very consoling.

My Question to you is regarding my Mother. Let me provide you with some background information.

My Mother is 51 Years old, She was diagnosed with Thyroid about 22 years ago. Before that she had beautiful hair. However, after her diagnosis, she began to lose her hair rapidly (starting from her hairline to the crown, until now it ended up like a norwood 6, much like in the pattern of male baldness). It is unfortunate that nothing could be done, she was in Pakistan at the time and no effort was made on the Doctors part to help quite honestly. That being said, I really want to see if a hair transplant is possible in her case. She is living in Dubai at the moment, and has been to several doctors. However, I trust your opinion above theirs. So just to summarize:

-51 year old Female
-With Hypothyroidism
-Hair loss has been significant (almost a Norwood Class 6)

Relative to these factors, is there a chance of a hair transplant? Or any other way for a hair treatment? Possibly any other option?

I am desperate as I know she has suffered a lot because of this, and not once has she complained. I am very eager to help her.

Thank you so much for your time and effort. I am forever grateful.

Thank you for writing to us. When you call hair balding pattern a Class 6, I suspect you are talking about thinning, not complete balding. Women almost never develop complete balding. Depending on the degree of thinning, the one approach to a thinning pattern is Scalp Micropigmentation. Generally hair transplants for women are not productive if the donor supply (hair on the back and side of the head) shows significant miniaturization (this is the case in most women with female genetic balding). If a woman has hair loss pattern like Class 6 Norwood pattern balding, then she would need a good examination and a diagnosis of the hair loss cause and an assessment of the extent of balding, to include what the hair in the back and sides of the head looks like. She would also need to understand the limitation of a hair transplant surgery and realistic expectation since a hair transplant surgery does not restore all of your lost hair, and in many cases, it is not possible to achieve this goal. Women with known thyroid disease, often are not candidates for hair transplants as their donor area contains many miniaturized hairs

We really cannot give you a plan or a diagnosis for your mother on a blog. She needs to see a doctor in person, or as a start, contact us for a formal consultation. Many women are good candidates for Scalpmicropigmentation (SMP) even if they are not good candidates for hair transplants (see: www.scalpmicripigment.com)

You can also visit our other websites New Hair Institute Medical Group and Scalp Micropigmentation

I have a small wart on the scalp on one of my temples. My dermatologist suggested freezing it with liquid nitrogen. Will this kill the hair located there? He suggested it would not if applied properly. I am nervous that it might cause a small bald spot. Are there safe ways for removal of the wart that will not damage hair that you know of? Thank you for your time!

Please ask your doctor. Liquid nitrogen might kill the hair follicles. Removing the wart itself may leave scarring devoid of hair. If you do have hair loss in the area, and it bothers you, there is always an option to transplant a few hairs in the area.

This is a review of the SMP Scalp MicroPigmenation results at NHI. This patient had been wearing a hair piece (wig) for his balding for years. Notice the white untanned scalp area that the wig covered from the sun. He finally decided to discard the hair piece and get SMP. He developed a nice looking bold look that gave him confidence.

Scalp MicroPigmentation SMP – No More Hair Piece !

Do Ashkenazi Jews have a higher incidence of baldness than other ethnicities?

Ashkenazi Jews are known to have have certain genetic issues but genetic balding is likely universal all around. In fact Ashkenazi Jews are probably more diverse than other ethnicity peoples (Ref: Science Daily August 27, 2010). Certain genetic conditions such as Tay-Sachs disease prevalent in the Ashkenazi Jewish population may be attributable to a phenomenon known as population bottle neck or genetic drift thousands of years ago. I am not sure how this may affect the balding gene and I am not certain if the percentage variation in male pattern balding has been studied in the various geographic Jewish populations. In general, Genetic Male Pattern Balding affects roughly 50% of the male population and I am not certain if the gene has been identified or linked to a specific chromosome (If it has, it has not been studied or compared with respect to specific ethnicity or race). In general, about 7 to 8 percent of the men go on to be completely bald (Norwood 7). The rest fit into the the many patterns outlined by the Norwood Classification (II-V)

This patient just wanted to shave his head but his old hair transplant scar got in the way. The scar is still there but now it looks blended.

SMP Scalp MicroPigmentation to hair transplant scar

Ever walk into a room with some purpose in mind, only to completely forget what that purpose was?

Turns out, doors themselves are to blame for these strange memory lapses.

Psychologists at the University of Notre Dame have discovered that passing through a doorway triggers what’s known as an Event Boundary in the mind, separating one set of thoughts and memories from the next. Your brain files away the thoughts you had in the previous room and prepares a blank slate for the new locale.

Thank goodness for studies like this. It’s not our age, it’s that damn door!

Reuters (8/19, Seaman) reports that research published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that too many individuals are being screened for cancer near the end of their lives, not when they are young when early cancer screening can pick-up deadly cancers when they are curable.

Bloomberg News (8/19, Ostrow) reports that researchers found that “more than half of men 65 and older who had a very high risk of dying in nine years were screened for prostate cancer, a slow-moving disease.” Nearly “38 percent of older women with a similar life expectancy were screened for breast cancer and 31 percent were screened for cervical cancer despite some having undergone a hysterectomy.”

Vox (8/19) reports, “Among patients with the shortest life expectancies (about five years), 40 percent had been screened for colorectal cancer.”

As baldingblog’s readership is largely young, you should ask yourself ‘what you are doing to detect an early cancer?’ Young people don’t think cancer, because they think that their bodies are fortresses and as such, are immune to cancer. Nothing can be more tragic then cancers in young people. Women who get ovarian cancer or colon cancer when they are under 40, have a high risk of early death because the disease is often picked up too late. Men who get colon cancer under 40, often die early. Smokers develop lung cancer at all ages. Early detection can address this problem at the diseases earliest stage. What is the message here? Go see your doctor and get a good history taken and have a physical examination and make sure you are screened for cancer. Don’t wait until you are 70, because you might just not make 70 or even 50 if you are victimized by some of these difficult diseases.

1. Have DPA young patients (Early 20´s) more oportunities with finasteride in comparasion with a MBP who have a normal patron (NW 6).
2. Have you ever seen a early 20´s with DPA who have a good response to finasteride for a long time (10 years)?

I am a 21 years old and I have taken finasteride since I was 18 years.. My dermatologist prescribed it to me.

Here you have photos of mine when I start the treatment (2012) and now
(2014).

You have my permission to publicly use it.

Diffuse Pattern Alopecia (DPA) is basically the same as Male Pattern Balding otherwise known as Androgenic Alopecia. DPA, as the term implies, shows up as diffuse hair loss that occur in a “pattern” such as you see in male pattern balding but the permanent zone on the back and side of your head not impacted.

Finasteride (Propecia) is used for the treatment of this condition (DPA, AGA, MPB – they are all the same).

There is another condition called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA), which may be genetic, but does not respond to the drug finasteride (Propecia). DUPA is uncommon; however, it is critical to have your doctor make this diagnosis before being considered a candidate for hair transplant or medication. These DUPA male patients often get a failure of the transplant, even if on the drug finasteride.

I cannot make a diagnosis with your photo and this blog is not a place for making diagnosis. I also cannot predict what will happen in 10 years. I am not a fortune teller. I have seen men in their early 20’s start finasteride for male pattern balding and has kept most of their hair. I have also seen them lose their hair rapidly despite being on finasteride as their genetic predisposition overtook the drugs ability to slow things down. It doesn’t mean that the drug didn’t work.