My mother and I both shed much more hair than the 200 hair maximum for normal hairloss. The odd thing is that my mother and I both show no signs of balding. What’s going on here?
You would need to be evaluated and examined. If you are really losing 200+ hairs per day, something other than genetic patterned balding is present.
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Hello I am an 19 year old african american male that has small patches of missing hair on my scalp. When i was about seven years old I contracted a sever case of ring worm on my head, due to picking at it, when it healed i was left with small patches if missing hair. Since then, i have always had hair styles such as braids, afro, and now dreads mainly to cover the few small spots. I am now wanting to cut my hair and in some spots small patches still appear, how can i fix this?
As long as you are not still picking at the area (which is either trichotillomania or dermatillomania), you can consider a small hair transplant surgery to put hair back into the bald patches. If you are still picking these areas, any transplanted grafts will be lost from the picking.
Snippet from the article:
Tufts of frozen woolly mammoth hair have yielded a rough draft of its genome. It’s the most successful attempt to sequence the DNA of an extinct ancient animal to date, and although we won’t see resurrected mammoths grazing the tundra anytime soon, it could give us a peek into the reasons for their extinction.
Sequencing extinct organisms is tricky since DNA strands quickly degrade after death into short fragments that are difficult to piece back together. In porous tissue like bone, these fragments can also become flooded by DNA from bacteria and fungi growing on the decomposing body, making it hard to pick out the genetic material of interest.
Read the full text at NewScientist — Frozen hair gives up first mammoth genome
This is very, very cool stuff. We can learn much about the genetics of an animal from the DNA of hair. Scientists now know that elephants and mammoths are closely related (more so than previously thought), and this is the best example of a near complete genome of an extinct animal, since they used an elephant as the blueprint.
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Hi,
I’m 22 and starting to bald. My stylist said it’s from High DHT levels. She gave me NIOXIN System 1 and told me not to worry that my scalp is still alive and NIOXIN will take care of it. It’s been a month and I’m still gradually thinning. There’s evidence of it all over my head. especially my sides receeding and my sideburns thinning. She said NIOXIN would help me keep most of my hair.What should be my next step. Speak with my dermatologist? I don’t really know any hair experts. I have long hair, and it’s a big part of me. I really want to hold on to it. I’d hate to lose it before I’m 24. Is my baldness inevitable? Or is it really possible to catch it early and take care of it with the NIOXIN S1 treatment? I’d be thankful just to hold on to what I have now. Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks for your time
Well, of course your scalp is alive. Unless you have gangrene all over your head, I think that would be a given. Your hair stylist isn’t necessarily going to be an expert in treating hair loss, but I’m sure she’s an expert in selling products that are available in the salon. The Nioxin won’t solve your hair loss problems, and I’ve found that medication such as Propecia and/or Rogaine are the best bets. You can discuss a Propecia prescription with your dermatologist, and Rogaine is available over the counter.
I don’t know if your balding is inevitable since I haven’t seen you. I’ve found much success in treating patients with Propecia, and even if you don’t see regrowth with that daily pill, it’ll at least hold onto the hair you have. If you want to try to make your own diagnosis, look to Mapping Your Own Scalp for Miniaturization.
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Doc, I am an active, healthy 37 year old. After taking Propecia for 6+ years with little side effects, I started to notice a decreased libido, difficulty maintaining an erection, no morning erections, a smaller penis in the flaccid state and a feeling of “disconnect” (mind from penis). I stopped taking it 6 weeks ago and have not noticed a change, other than my hair loss has increased again. I have read on other sites men complaining of similar symptoms and claiming they are permanent. I have considered getting a testosterone level, A DHT level, FSH/LH, E-2, and Prolactin levels. I haven’t mentioned any of my concerns to my (female) physician. Any suggestions (other than discussing them with her? -which I will).
Decreased libido and difficultly maintaining an erection are reported side effects that occur in 1 to 2% of men taking Propecia, but the same symptoms are prevalent in more than 2% of the men who are NOT taking Propecia. You may have other unrelated health issues (undiagnosed diabetes, blood pressure problems, etc) that can also contribute to this. That is why you are doing the right thing by seeing your primary care physician. See Propecia Gave Me Side Effects — How Can I Get My Sex Drive Back? for more.
As far as the DHT and testosterone or FSH/LH tests, I really don’t have an opinion, as your endocrinologist will be better suited to advise you on whether you need those tests. With respect to a smaller penis size, I highly doubt a drug is shrinking your penis… just as there is no drug that grows your penis size. With respect to a disconnect with your penis, you may want to see a counselor. I highly doubt this problem is from Propecia. I wonder what Sigmund Freud would say…
Hi Dr. 2 questions
- I was curious if you believe there to be correlations between weightlifting and baldness for those genetically predisposed to it Clearly testosterone increases when weightlifting which I guess may increase DHT levels?
- I have either scalp psoriasis or seborrhea I’ve seen many dermatologists over the years and have heard different things from different docs. Anyways I read that biotin supplements may help manage the issue as a sufferer yourself what are your thoughts?
Hi reader. 2 answers:
I have a family member that was brutally attacked and handfuls of her beautiful blond hair was pulled from her head with the roots. Will her hair grow back or has she been permanently damaged.
I have seen cases like this before, and I can tell you that the hair will most likely return in up to 6 months, if not sooner.
Hi Dr. William,
I have been on steroids (Wysolone) for 6 months as I was diagnosed for Lupus Nephritis. I have lost hair significantly. Now the steriods have stopped, i need to know will the hair come back or is there something that I can try to stimulate hair growth.
Thanks
Lupus is one of the medical cause of hair loss. Corticosteroid (Wynsolone) is another potential cause of hair loss or hair thinning (as well as other side effects). The only medical option you may have at this time is topical minoxidil (Rogaine). As your hair loss was not a cause of male pattern baldness (I am assuming you are not male), drugs such as Propecia will not help.
Unfortunately there really is no drug or other treatments to grow back hair completely. There are many products out there that claim to grow hair, but I would take caution as there are no such products.
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Hello!
First i’d like to say thank you for begin such wonderful source information on hair loss.
I went to see a dermatologist to find out why i’m losing my hair. All the Dr. did was look at my hair very quickly ( i believe i’m a norwood 3 , and i’m ok with that) no miniaturization test was given and told me its hereditary . The Dr. said that I will most likely lose a good amount of hair , I’m 34 years old .
He told me about propecia and wrote me a prescription. In your opinion should the Dr. have done other tests? Would it be ok for me to start the propecia ? I’d really like to move on and be happy that i’ve done what i can to stop or slow my hair loss .
Thank you for your time.
According to you, your doctor did not use his skills in the diagnosis in your case. While it’s likely the hair loss is due to your genetics and your doctor was right (particularly if you had a pattern develop corresponding to the Norwood Classification for hair loss), I assume that you paid for the doctor’s visit and expected a little more from him. Assuming that his diagnosis is correct, Propecia would be the right choice, but you seem to feel strongly that the doctor should do more than wave his hand over your head like a wand and be able to tell you the hair loss was hereditary. You have a responsibility, of course, to ask questions of your doctor. Questions like, “How do you know it is genetic?” and “Is Propecia the right choice?” Since I’m not your prescribing doctor, I can’t really answer that.
I feel strongly that we need to have a firm diagnosis and that good measurements are important to establishing that and possibly in keeping tabs on the progress of the balding if there is no visual change with regard to growth and fullness in 8-12 months. A miniaturization study isn’t going to replace any treatment for your hair loss — it’s just to initially get a baseline measurement so that you can follow-up in 6 months to a year to see if the treatment is actually doing anything for you. Some doctors just don’t want to be bothered with giving you a microscopic view of your hair loss, and that is disappointing to me and should be disappointing to any patient that experiences that. I recently wrote about performing this exam on your own head (you’ll need a video microscope that costs under $100), and you can read about that in Mapping Your Own Scalp for Miniaturization.
Some emails lately have suggested that they don’t think a mapping of your scalp really matters, and that’s fine if that’s your view. I suppose you also don’t like a mechanic to check out the problem in your engine before deciding you need a new transmission or even your dermatologist to run a biopsy before telling you that the mole on your body has become cancerous. I like to give people value for their money, and especially considering that at the present time I’m still doing these exams at no charge, I’d say people are getting a pretty good value.
We have developed a take charge approach to empower men and women to map out their own scalps and determine if balding is really present. I will review all miniaturization studies that are posted to BaldingForum.com and if you also upload a photo of yourself (and it’s fine if your face is blurred or cropped out) I am even willing to speak with you over the phone at no charge to help you decide what you have and what you should be doing about it.
As promised, I’ve uploaded a tutorial video for the miniaturization mapping. You can find the thread with the video at BaldingForum. I encourage you to sign up at the forum to post any questions you might have about the video or the process, as well as posting your miniaturization results if you’d like me to analyze them.
See the video at BaldingForum.com! |
If you missed the first 2 parts, be sure to read up!
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