Category: Hair Loss Causes

Snippet from the article:

There’s not much evidence that vitamins can prevent heart disease or cancer – the two leading killers of Americans, experts said Monday.

Even though half the U.S. population pops vitamins in the belief they can help people live longer, healthier lives, a very extensive look at the studies that have been done show it may be a waste of time when it comes to preventing the diseases most likely to kill you.

The findings, by a team at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., being used as the basis to update recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), aren’t clear-cut. They are likely to add to confusion over the benefits of vitamins.

Read the rest — Vitamins don’t prevent heart disease or cancer, experts find

With nearly $12 billion annually spent on vitamins and supplements in the US, the article adds that “study after study has returned mixed evidence, at best, that they help most people in any way. The exceptions are people with vitamin deficiencies.”

Snippet from the article:

Seven per cent of Singaporeans would contemplate breaking off relations with their partners, and a further 10 per cent would be embarrassed about introducing their partners to friends and family, if their partners were suffering from hair loss.

These were the findings of a study which sought to understand the perceptions of Singaporeans towards the hairy issue of balding.

In contrast, a majority of the 600 respondents – nearly 75 per cent – reported a more moderate response, choosing instead to urge their partners to seek treatment immediately.

The survey also found that hair loss negatively affects first impression.

Read the rest — Hair loss threatens nearly 1 in 5 relationships in Singapore: Survey

Some time ago, I had a radio show for a year called “The Inner Man” and it covered a wide range of subjects. One of the shows focused upon prejudice against balding people. I remember a caller who said he had an advanced balding pattern, but that even though he was a Senior VP of a large company, he would not hire balding men because he claimed they often couldn’t be trusted. So it does seem that prejudice runs deep in our culture.

will hair grow back when there is a pimple scar? my hair around the scar had dropped off and the area is quite big. please help me in this.

I would expect that this is temporary loss, but I don’t have enough information. How long has it been that this bald spot has lasted?

I know you get bombarded with inquires and can not answer each one. I figured I’d give it another shot. You answered my general inquiry about what is a “follicular unit” (1-4 terminal hairs including 1-2 permanent vellus hairs). This isn’t really another question, more a clarification on some of your other blog posts.

On your site you stated non-balding men and women have miniaturized hairs, and these hairs fall out eventually and a new hair grows in its place that most likely will be miniaturized as well. The percentage of these miniaturized hairs in non-balding men and women are low (under 20%). And if one looks at these hairs they are the vellus (short hairs) found in the follicular unit. Further.., (In every hair follicular unit there are one or two vellus hairs which are short and thin. They go through the hair cycle like their big brothers in that follicular unit.)

1.) I was curious.., say the < 20% miniaturized hairs in the FU for non-balding men / women, “Example (10% – 15%)”. Given the average 100,000 scalp hairs for an individual, a non-balding person would have 10,000 – 15,000 vellus hairs within their follicular units…give or take? Using the (10%-15% example) being less than 20,000 -20% figure.

2.) I also read on your blog in response to another inquiry that these “FU vellus hairs will always stay as vellus hairs”. Why would propecia / finastride not have an affect on these FU vellus hairs? Are they just genetically programmed to only grow to 1cm-2m? I know what it is supposed to do to the factors it is to affect. I didn’t know if the drug caused all hairs to grow and thicken / strengthen.

And by vellus hairs Im assuming this is what you referring per the definition from adermatology website (vellus hairs are in 1-2 cm length, light colored, occasionally pigmented and tiny shaped. They either have no pigments or have a little). Ranging in length of between a few mm – 2cm or so.

Vellus hairs are present in all follicular units, as are miniaturized hairs. As you stated, that vellus hairs do not grow long, have less bulk, and are without sebaceous glands attached to the upper shaft, typical of the “terminal hairs” that are the majority of hairs in the follicular unit.

There are many things I just don’t know about the subjects you raised. I don’t know what the effects of finasteride are on vellus hairs, but I do know that when the follicular units dies under the influence of the apoptotic “death” of genetic balding, the vellus hairs go with it. Miniaturized hairs cycle from anagen to telogen and will regrow, but the cycle is longer and the miniaturized hairs are those that are most impacted by the balding process. I see some miniaturized hairs in normal people, but the total count of these hairs is under 20% of the total. Many miniaturized hairs, when they go into telogen, just never return into another anagen cycle when genetic balding is present.

Under the influence of finasteride, I believe the miniaturized hairs return stronger with more bulk, particularly in younger men. When miniaturization is reversed in the few patients where I have seen almost full reversal of the balding process, the miniaturized hair must have gone through a hair cycle and come back as strong terminal hairs, but these converted miniaturized hairs probably will eventually suffer their final fate and die. When this happens, the vellus hairs almost certainly come back with the rejuvenated follicular unit under the influence of finasteride. I believe that whatever happens to the terminal hairs, happens to the vellus hairs and the miniaturized hairs in the presence of finasteride in the young man.

Hello Dr.Rassman:

I am thirty years old and balding. I have frontal recession and slight thinning in the middle forelock but I can cover it up pretty good because my hair has a slight curl to it. My crown is relatively thick. As of yet, nobody has really mentioned that I am going bald even though I know I am and my GP has told me that I am that is why I am currently on finasteride and have been for the past seven years.

I was adopted when I was a baby so I never had a chance to meet my biological parents or see them in pictures let alone see my father or real grandfathers hairlines. At this stage of the game, what do I use or who do I use to assess how bald I will become? Is there a particular age (ex. 35 or 40) where I can say I am safe from completely becoming bald or thinning out anymore then I am? I am sure there are a lot of people in my situation who are adopted and going bald and don’t know where to turn to or what the future holds for us in terms of how bald we will become.

Regards

Generally, balding can be assessed with a good examination by a knowledgeable doctor by the time you’re 35 years old. Most advanced balding patterns appear in a man’s early 20s, and stability of the patterns are evident by the mid-thirties.

Even Norwood class 3 patients will show their pattern by the late 20s (see here). With the advent of bulk monitoring of hair mass, the ability to detect early balding has been greatly increased.

I am a 24 year old male. Overall my hairs are pretty dense and thick but i occasionally suffer from alopecia areata, where a small spot of baldness appears but always goes away with 100% recovery of all hair. This has happened 2 or 3 times with me in the past 5 years and always happens after times of stress.

The problem is whenever i get these spots the hair at my crown also thin out and after 2 or 3 episodes i have a fair bit of thinning at the crown.The spots themselves make a 100% recovery. My question is first of all is the thinning at the crown due to the alopecia areata condition and stress combined and not hereditary?

Furthermore I believe that I am only concerned about having a full head of hair till 35. After that i wouldnt care. Is there a possibility that i can have a transplant at the crown and create a master plan that can address my hair loss as it comes, if it comes? Cant young people in their twenties do something that helps them get their thinning crowns filled and also work out something for the future?

Last time I checked, our lives are not usually over at the age of 35. A Master Plan doesn’t stop in your mid-30s, as that would be a Partial Plan.

I do not know what type of hair loss you have. What you describe could be alopecia areata, but I do not know (especially since AA does not reoccur over and over on the crown). Hair loss from stress generally happen diffusely. If you do have alopecia areata or stress hair loss, a hair transplant is not recommended.

I’d love to hear from you 11 years from now when you’re 35 to see if you still feel the same way about your hair.

Dr Rassman,

I am on Minoxidil 5% topical for more than 8 months now, and beginning to see modest yet much appreciated results. I love massages. I remember reading years ago that scalp massages can damage hair in early anagen phase. Would I be putting my newly growing hair at risk if I indulge? For the purposes of your answer, please assume a massage once a month by a skilled masseur applying reasonable amount of pressure.

Where did you read that scalp massage can damage anagen hairs? The only thing I remember writing was a quip about a very vigorous head massage that could potentially cause hair loss in miniaturized hairs — but not damage hairs that are in anagen (growth).

If you must indulge in scalp massage, go for it! If you are scared you’ll lose the hair, then don’t get the scalp massage.

Doc,
I have an area above my right ear where the hair is about 75% thinner — the hair itself, not the coverage, though that’s thinner too. There is also a substantial amount of grey hair here, but not the thick scraggly kind, these are also finer than the rest of my hair. Of note — I don’t have any grey hairs anywhere else but this area. No one in my family appears to have a similar condition. The only thing I can attribute it to is cell phone usage. I only hold the phone to my right ear, and while I don’t spend all day on the phone, I do take 20-30 calls/day. I’m interested in your comments.

Thanks

Some people have patches of different colored hair. This is also known as mosaicism, where different parts of the body have a different genetic make up. This can be normal and it is just the way you are. I do not know if this is related to cell phone usage, but I would think if it is from cell phone usage, you’d see many men and women walking around with patchy colored hair.