Category: Hair Loss Causes

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Allergic Reaction to Hair Dye Causing Thinning in 15 Year Old? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Im am a 15 year old male and have noticed i’ve been losing my hair on a regular basis since i dyed my hair a year ago, i think i might have taken an alergic reaction but its been over a year and im still losing my hair. i do get paranoid and depressed about it as i have longish hair and that is one of my better qualitys. it is receding at the front and strangely the part above the ear doesnt grow in very well. i could really use an opinion either way just to settle my mind. thank you

There is no way to answer your question without examining you. Since there seems to be a one to one relationship between dying your hair and the hair loss, I suspect that the connection may be real and that some damage was done during the dying process. Was it done professionally? Can you go back to those that did it and ask them about it? Generally, good professionals who dye the hair usually know about mixture and concentrations that are safe. If you did it yourself, maybe it was not done safely. Tooooooo many questions that need to be answered here for this to be an ‘online’ interchange for producing value.

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Causes for Miniaturized Hairs in Women – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman:

Does the shedding of miniaturized hairs always indicate AGA, or can the presence of miniaturized hairs be due to another cause of hair loss? If so, what else can cause it?

Thank you for any input

Hair grows in cycles. During the stages of the cycle, individual hairs may go through physical changes often referred to as miniaturization. In normal non-balding people, the miniaturized hairs will represent less than 20% of the hair population. Miniaturization is the process where a normal thickness hair shaft becomes thinner and thinner over time. It can be due to the genetically determined effects of aging and/or androgenic hormones on the terminal (normal) hair follicle or other stress related or medical conditions (physical stress, mental stress, stress from chemicals or drugs, diseases, dietary problems, etc).

Miniaturization does not necessarily indicate AGA. It does not in itself give you a diagnosis, but a general state of hair health. The diagnosis comes from a good history and physical exam with a complete mapping of the scalp hairs for miniaturization.

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Counting Falling Hairs – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello, Im a 20 year old male who has short but thick curly hair. Over the past few weeks i’ve started losing alot more hair than usual. I usually wash my hair twice a week and see maybe 20-25 hairs in the bath. Now im seeing between 70 and 200- depending how often i wash it. If I run through my hair with my hands over a basin i will see anything from 30-150 hairs fall out. And i notice that almost every hair has a white tip at the end which im guessing is the root? Its not dandruff. Does this mean that the hair won’t grow back or does the root always come out with the hair? I’ve tried changing my diet but alot of hair still comes out. Im not on any medication , should i be worried about this? I’d be grateful for any advice. Thank you.

Bring in the hairs and have a good doctor analyze it and perform a pull test for the hair that is on your head. Getting your hair mapped out for miniaturization is part of the diagnostic test that should be performed as well. Sometimes, people go through a shedding phase. I recommend that you monitor your hair loss more carefully and put all of them in the bag to be calculated more accurately. Losing more than 150 hairs per day is high if that is actually the number of hairs you are losing. You have to consider that your hair maybe broken into pieces which may falsely increase the number of the hairs you are losing.

Look at the hairs in the picture. Estimating them is like counting marbles in a jar. They often seem more than they are, or is it the other way? I’m confused! So you should be!

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Hairline Lowering Procedure or Hair Transplants? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr Rassman
I am 23 years old and started receding 5 years ago. Being a med student, I had heard of propecia, and started taking it 3 and a half years ago, my doctor also sugested I use minoxidil.

Thankfully, I re-grew a bit of hair, and I have stopped the hair loss. I am quite certain that I am no longer receding, and my hairloss is not substantial. I have naturally had a high hairline, and it bothers me alot, and I was wondering if in my situation, a Hairline Lowering Procedure would be better than a transplant. May I send you some pictures? Thank you for your advice and trouble!

Women with a high forehead sometimes seek hairline lowering procedures. We have had experience doing these procedures, but it is a more extensive and involved surgery, a sort of reversed brow lift surgery. Hair transplants are also used to lower the hairline and the results are just as comparable. There are obvious pros and cons to both procedures and its utility is patient specific. The actual hairline lowering procedure is virtually instantaneous, not having to wait out the normal transplant growth cycle.

For men, hairline lowering is generally not a good idea because of the balding risk that is as high as 40% of the male population. Lowering the hairline and then losing hair again (men with frontal balding) does not do much to permanently solve the problem. You can certainly send your pictures and I would be happy to review them.

Note: The above photo of Tyra Banks is for illustrative purposes only. I do not wish to imply that Ms. Banks had any procedure to her hairline. I also would like to note that she is quite beautiful and that would apply to her wherever her hairline was.

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Indicators of Diffuse Patterned Alopecia (DPA)? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman,
I am a 28 year old male. I have experience hair loss since I was about 22 years old. My hair loss is most evident in my temples and vertex. However, there is significant miniturization on the whole top of my head (excluding the lower back and the sides). Is this a significant indicator of Diffuse Patterned Alopecia? In addition, I have read that men with DPA are to be treated as if they were completly bald (NC VII). Is this the case? How are the results (typically)? What can I expect you would do for me at this time assuming DPA? As a note I am on propecia and 5% minoxidil.

Get metrics (put numbers to it) on the degree and location of the miniaturization by mapping your scalp hair and establishing a pattern for predictive purposes. Propecia is the correct medication for controlling this and you need to compare the degree of miniaturization over time. Diffuse Patterned Alopecia (DPA) can lead to full balding in the pattern of thinning, but it also may not. If the degree of miniaturization is stable, then it is a good scenario — if it is worsening, then where is it getting worse? If it is better, pat yourself on the back for being very smart and thinking carefully through your Master Plan.

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Left Side of Scalp Is Different From My Right Side – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr Rassman,

I am a 26 y/o asian male who started experience significant hairloss in the last couple years. My right temple is receeding and there is slight thinning on the top of the crown. I started taking propecia about 3 months ago. It has been effective in the crown area but not for my frontal hairloss. The odd part is that I do not lose any hair at my left temple (or the left side of my head in general) but I am experiencing significant hairloss in my right temple. I would also like to mention that i have straight hair on the left side of my head, while the right side of my head is more wavy hair. I also notice some dandruff and bulbs in between my hairs on the right side of my head. My hair loss is causing me much emotional distress and i am almost afraid to even touch the right side of my head b/c i am afraid of losing more hair. It depresses me just looking in the mirror b/c my hairline is nothing close to straight. it appears as if i have my hair combed over when in actuality it is standing straight up. I know you mentioned that you recommend being on propecia for 8 months prior to getting a hair transplant. I really would like to get a hair transplant to fix my hairline. If i stay on propecia for 8 months, will I experience any shock loss? I am concerned b/c although there is noticable recession of the right temple, it is not drastic. I appreciate your help, and I do not know what I would do without your blog!

You should be evaluated by an honest and competent doctor. Depending upon the hair loss and what it looks like, a good doctor can usually predict what will happen to you and build a Master Plan around that. Transplants may be in your future, but there is no substitute for a good doctor/patient relationship. Since we seem to be bonding, you can send me photos (good ones) and I will give you an opinion (which will not be posted here without your permission, so do not worry about that).

Timing is everything. Yes, you might be able to get a hair transplant provided that you are on Propecia. There is often a difference between the two sides, one side being more advanced than the other. If you let nature takes its course, the retarded side will catch up, but the key here is to not let it catch up. Stop it with Propecia and eventually (timing is everything) fix both sides of the frontal hairline.

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Does a Maturing Hairline Show Miniaturization Too? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello,

I have some recession in the front and sides of my scalp. I have always had a bit of a recessed hairline. But now it seems, now that I look close, hair around the area of recession is thin and short (some hairs are very small, lacking color and are almost transparent). It appears, form a distance that the hairline is not defined well.

Is this part of a normal receding hairline or rather the onset of male pattern baldness.

I am 30 years old and the remainder of my hair is very thick and full.

Thank you in advance for you reply.

A maturing hairline generally appears in the late teenage years to the late twenties. A small degree of recession in the corners can certainly be normal, but that always seems to be determined by the individual’s perception. To answer your question, miniaturization of hair may occur as the frontal hair slowly falls out or more often just starts falling out front to back with a slow rise in the frontal hairline that is very subtle in those without frontal balding. It is normal for hair to go through cycling phases of rest/shedding (catagen/telogen). In conclusion, a maturing hairline may show miniaturization, but not always.


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Hair Regrowth Cycles – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I am a 43 year old lady with increased hairloss usually between 150-200 hairs a day at the moment.

3 years ago I had two lots of traumas which caused my initial hairloss. After eventually seeing a trichologist and starting estradex lotion (containing minidoxil and phyto hormones)my hairloss reduced this took 3-4 months to see benefit. Initial the estradex made more hair come out which trichologist said normal as the estradex gets rid of the bad hair making room for better quality hair. I was also put on a antidepressant dotheipin 75mg. 12 months ago I stopped estradex, hairloss returned, not that it totally stopped but hair did look thicker. I have started back on estradex about 3 months on side of head but the partening looking slighlty wider on one side so started using estradex along this area for last 6 weeks. Still taking dothiepin 50mg – 75 mg alt days. I have recently started vitamins saw palmetto and pygeum and stinging nettle root. Sure my telogen as increased within a day of taking this vitamin could it be related. Taking high doses off this up to 2000mg. Or do you think its the estradex getting into my system (which contains 5% minidoxil)?

When I woke up yesterday, the birds were chirping and the air was crisp and I had a great day. Today when I woke up the dog was barking and the air was smoggy and I had a bad day. Do you think I had a good day because the birds where chirping or the air was crisp? Do you think I had a bad day because the dog was barking and the air was smoggy?

Your guess is as good as mine.

There’s too many variables and no direct proven relationships in the information you provided. It is normal to lose 100+ hairs a day. For most normal people, the regrowing hair will start at about the same time as the hair is lost so that the total hair count of hairs growing on the head stays constant. If you do the math, 100 hairs lost per day is about 109,500 hairs in three years (36,500/year) and that is the normal adult hair population. The hair cycling we have discussed before on this web site, is responsible for the fall out and the regrowth that is every person’s normal. The average growth cycle is 3 years for most people, so that means that in three years, most people replace 100% of the hairs on the head with new hair, one day at a time.

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I Am Noticing Thousands of Hairs Falling Out – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi my name is Nick (male) i’m 17 years old and i have recently notice thosands of hairs falling out from all over my head. I have long blonde hair and have recently been waking up and there are loads of hairs on my pillow. My dad started balding at 16 does this mean i will to? also my mums dad had a full head of hair when he died at 50. do you inherit the hair gene from mum or dad? Although alot of hair is falling out there is no signs of receding from the top what so ever. do you think i’m going to go bald are these the symptons. Thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail.

It is certainly not normal to lose THOUSANDS of hairs. The average person has 100,000 hairs on their head, so if you are really losing say 3000 hairs per day, you would have been bald in a month or so, losing 2000 hairs/day would put you at bald in a couple of months, and losing 1000 hairs/day would cause you to be bald in three months. It is typical to lose 100 hairs a day. At the rate you are describing (I think it is less than you think it is) and with your father’s history of balding starting at about 16 years old, you may be progressing to some sort of hair loss. I cannot comment on whether you will be bald, because I have not examined you. Furthermore, you may want to pay particular attention to the areas of your scalp where you are losing hair. A typical male pattern hair loss spares the back side of your scalp. If you are losing hair on the back side of your scalp there may be other medical cause that you may want to see a doctor about it and get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to obtain a diagnosis. The good news for those who are balding is that when the diagnosis is confirmed, drugs like finasteride work well to slow down or stop the hair loss, particually in the young man like you.

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Miniaturized Hair All Over, But Same Hairline As When I Was 16 – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have miniaturized thinning all over my head (top, sides, back, sideburns and facial/chin hair does not seem as thick either) which began about 2-3 years ago. At the same time my thinning began it was accompanied by depression, fatigue. I have been thinning with every growth cycle and feeling depressed, fatigued ever since until this day. I have had my thryoid tsh checked 3 times (TSH- 1st-1.98 2nd- 2.28, 3rd- 2.36) I had testosterone checked 3 times as well (1st- 320, 2nd- 385, 3rd- 360…… ref 250-850) LH hormone levels were all on the very very low side when checked w/ all 3 testosterone testes. I had ferritin checked 105 (ref 22-322) I had knee surgery about 4 months ago (left knee bone graph w/ arthroscopy). Is there anything that is causing my total hair thinning/follicle shrinkage? Is it possible to have shrinking follicles/ thinning diameter hair that is not MPB related? I have absolutely no balding, no recession at all, my hairline is the same as when I was 16! whats the matter with me? should I use minox or propecia? I once tried saw palmetto when I first noticed my thinning about 2 years ago and it gave me ED! so I know I would probably have a tough time using prop or fin! thank you

Simply put, you need a caring doctor and a good doctor/patient relationship. That is the start of surrounding your problem. There is no easy way to get this over the internet.