Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Hair Loss InformationCan Happiness Levels Have Anything to Do with Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr Rassman

I am a 19 year old who has had temple recession since the age of 17. I am a norwood 3 with a strong window peak (My right temple has a larger bald surface area than the left). I have the following questions.

1) Do happiness and relaxation levels have anything to do with triggering hair loss?

2) I am very conscious of my hair thinning, and sometimes have slight sensations in my head when I think my hair line is receding, is this possible or could this all be triggered by anxiety?

3) My hair line is definitely not symmetrical. If someones balding is only a norwood 3 and not higher, does it have to be symmetrical, or can people stabilize at norwood 3 have unsymmetrical hair lines for the rest of their lives?

thank you for your help

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Stress is a cause of hair loss. So if you’re stressed, you’re not going to be relaxed. In that sense, they are related. As for the sensations you feel at your hairline, I’d guess it was probably anxiety.

The fact that your hairline is asymmetrical indicates that the lower side will rise to the level of the higher side eventually. The higher side may also rise.

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Minoxidil Has Regrown Some Hair, But The Rest of My Hair Is Very Fine Now! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

(female)

I’ve been using Minoxidil for about a year. It seemed to stop my hair from falling out, with new regrowth. But, my hair is so fine now; the strands are very thin, that gains seem to have been replaced with thin fragile hairs. Is this typical? If I stop using it, will the strands that grow back stay fine, or thicker as they were before? Any comments on weight gain, as a small percentage side effect? Thank you so much!

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If you stop using it and if your hair is minoxidil dependent, then you will lose hair along with whatever benefits you’ve gotten since you started the medication. I don’t know how much regrowth you saw since I don’t have before and after photos of your hair, but you need to continue using the minoxidil for life in order to maintain the gains you made.

Fine hair is fine hair, but minoxidil did not cause that. Minoxidil doesn’t change the character of hair. Fragile hair occurs in some people, but you might check with your hair stylist for a solution to this one. Remember the hair that you are treating with minoxidil is fragile by its nature if it is miniaturized due to the genetic balding, so I would imagine that your minoxidil treated hair will be easily broken if you are rough in handling it.

Female hair loss is tricky, and there are many possible reasons for the loss you see. If you were diagnosed with genetic loss by a doctor, that’s one thing, but if you are just treating yourself, there are common blood tests you can have done to see if there is another potential cause (see here).

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Could Propecia or Rogaine Help Me To Grow a Goatee? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Im a male of 20yrs but i hardly have any facial hair. i’ve always wanted a thick Goatie beard but i dont have any hair there. is it good to use Rogaine or Propecia?? plz help.

Thanks for the help 🙂

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Rogaine has been known to grow hair in the skin and it might help facial hair, but the hair will probably not be strong like a real beard. You’re 20 years old, so your best bet would be to just wait a little longer to see if the facial hair starts to come in on its own. Some men just have very little facial hair in general, though.

Propecia won’t grow a goatee.

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In the News – What Makes Hair Curly? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Snippet from the article:

Curly hairWhy a strand of hair bends or falls the way it does may sound like a simple question, but the answer is rather convoluted. On one level, the texture of a person’s hair derives from his or her genes. A 2009 study looked at the genetics of waves and curls and reported a heritability of between 85 and 95 percent. (That means about nine tenths of the variation in hair texture within the sample could be ascribed to DNA.) How does this play out at the level of a single hair? Research shows that the curvature of a strand depends on the nature of its follicle. When a follicle is asymmetrical, the hair that it produces is oval in shape and tends to curl. When it’s symmetrical, the strand that emerges grows round and straight.

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Read the rest — FYI: What Makes Hair Curly? (via Neatorama)

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Hair Loss InformationReader’s Minoxidil Theories About Side Effects – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I just wanted to see what your thoughts were about my “theories” in regards to Minoxidil 5%.

Firstly, I have read online about how it has caused erectile dysfunction, anxiety, heart palpitations, etc.

Are there any studies that show that these are legitimate side effects, or are they just symptoms listed by individuals? I think it is highly possible that these individuals could be effected by the listed side effects due to psychological issues due to their hair loss, and assuming the minoxidil is causing these physiological symptoms.. What do you think?

Secondly, do you think that the failure rates of minoxidil are due to people who stop using the solution too early on, rather than the minoxidil not “working”?

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What you read on the web isn’t always true.

The official reported side effects are listed on the minoxidil insert and the drug profile (see here). Minoxidil taken orally in pill form is a blood pressure lowering mediation, so it is conceivable you can get lightheartedness and heart palpitations if your body absorbs too much of the topical. Chest pain and fainting are also possible if you’re sensitive to the medication. Erectile dysfunction is more likely to be due to a psychological issue or an underlying medical issue, rather than minoxidil.

With respect to the failure rates of minoxidil, I believe it is partly because of compliance issues. Many men and women have a hard time adhering to a twice a day schedule, and therefore do not get the full benefit of the treatment.

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Hair Loss InformationI’ve Taken Finasteride 5mg for MPB, And I Had Total Impotence and Penis Shrinkage in 3 Months – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi doctor, I’ve been using finasteride 5 mg for MPB, but in the third month I had total impotence and shrinkage, i stopped, sexual organs returned to normal size hear some gain libido,but erectile Dysfunction persists even after 6 months ( no morning erections, or nocturnal) and and I also have pain in the prostate, what should I do? ( I used previously for 2 years finasteride of 1mg without side effects.

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We never recommend taking the 5mg dose of finasteride for the treatment of hair loss. Did you increase the dosage on your own to 5 times the normal amount for treating hair loss, or did your doctor prescribe this to you? And if you took the recommended 1mg dose for years without side effects, why was your dosage even increased?

In any case, you should see a urologist. These are prescription medications, and I don’t know enough about you (medical history, age) to really have an idea of what is going on.

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Hair Loss InformationGynecologist Perfomed Hair Transplant on Female Patient with Catastrophic Results! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

“Let the buyer beware” has been placed at the end of many of our posts. Researching your doctor is your responsibility. You must do the necessary research to protect yourself from doctors who claim expertise in the hair transplant surgery field and then can not deliver what they promote.

A gynecologist in Puerto Rico moved to California and set up shop doing hair transplants. Unfortunately, the reviews this woman found online for this doctor lead her to have surgery with him, resulting in horrible complications. I don’t know how much research was done beyond reviews (did she meet patients to see real results in person?), but I feel for this woman and her story should be a cautionary tale for everyone.

I found this video from NBC News in the Bay Area (Northern California), which I’ve embedded below. Warning – The photos shown in the video require a tough stomach.

In California, there are no restrictions on what a doctor can do, so for example, an eye surgeon can legally do heart surgery. This video shows one of the worst complications from what appears to be either an FUE procedure or too many recipient sites in the crown area (either most likely created with a surgical punch). The use of a punch that was too large with sites that were placed too close together would be an obvious cause of this horrendous complication. I have also seen necrosis from strip surgery when the surgeon took out too much scalp and could not close the wounds.

At one of the ISHRS meetings, some doctors reported cases where too many FUEs done too close together produced necrosis of the scalp. Doctors get paid by the graft, so the more FUEs that are performed, the more money the doctor makes. Without details of the surgery, I can not comment on the cause of the necrosis, but the failure of the doctor to recognize patient safety issues in this case is flagellant.

Some complications in the hands of doctors who do not understand what they are doing go as far as death. A hair transplant is a surgical procedure and as such, requires experience with a focus upon patient safety and predictable results. Unsuspecting patients fall victim to the amoral physicians who just look at the patient as another dollar for the picking.

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How Do I Know My Surgeon Has My Best Interests in Mind? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

First of all, I’m a huge fan of your blog, it helped me a lot.

I visited a surgeon a year ago and he said he would do the surgery for me, but finally i did not have it done. I’m 24 and I haven’t noticed any hair loss for a year or so. I’m only balding in the front and it’s not too bad either.

I’m thinking of doing it now. But I read here that it’s usually not suggested to have it done at this age. Does usually mean that there are exceptions and occasionally you have patients at this age? How do I know my surgeon has my best interest? I actually do trust him. He is a member of ISHRS and seems very trustworthy. He said he usually doesn’t do it for young people, but that I have a lot of hair in the donor area and that since my hair is bright and curly, it’s easy to hide the balding.

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We put together this post to help people like you to select a doctor: Selecting a Hair Transplant Doctor. You have to apply judgment in filtering out the variables discussed in this reference.

At 24 years old, you are at the marginal edge for doing hair transplants. Ask yourself — what is the rush? Is it bothering you enough to do something about it now or would waiting another year help you make the decision?

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Hair Loss InformationMy Hair Looks Weird After My Bout of Dermatillomania – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I recently suffered from an OCD scalp-picking condition (dermatillomania) from high levels of stress, for about a year. Now, there are no scales on my scalp and it is really sensitive. All the hair is still there, it just sits really strangely on my head (without direction). I wanted to take steps to returning it to its original condition, but I’m not sure where to start. Thank you!

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I’m not sure how you would be able to correct the direction of the hairs. You might try topical conditioners and test many of them. You may have caused permanent damage to the skin and thus seeing the directional issues with the hair.

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Hair Loss InformationIf Exercise Increases Testosterone, Wouldn’t it Also Increase DHT and Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I noticed your recent post about protein powders and how they have no effect on DHT and hair loss. I’ve seen some posts on your site, but I feel that exercise and supplements (other than steroids which obviously impact hair loss) have not been adequately addressed.

For example, many studies indicate that creatine increases testosterone and DHT. Also, generally speaking, exercising increases testosterone levels. Therefore, wouldn’t exercise and working out increase DHT and therefore hair loss? Also, maybe we can get a more straight forward answer on certain common supplements such as Creatine and Glucosamine. Thanks

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I do not believe that working out will increase hair loss, but the straight forward answer is that we don’t know for sure. If you search the web, many talk about creatine and how it may relate to increased DHT, and ultimately hair loss. I do not know of any well constructed, reliable, or definitive studies about it, though.

In the world of genetic male pattern hair loss, the keyword is genetic. I suppose there are extraneous things you can do or take (anabolic steroids – a drug/hormone – not a supplement) to make the genetic trait worse or accelerate it. But in the end, even if you don’t do anything, but you have the genes for it, you will lose hair.

If taking creatine or glucosamine or other supplements worries you, then consider not taking them. Prioritize your goals. If you are taking these supplements to enhance your workout and gain muscle etc, nothing beats actually working out (an extra day per week or an extra 10 minutes in the gym is better than any supplements in my personal opinion).