Category: Hair Loss Causes

A few years back I went to you for a consult where you recommended 1,500 grafts to fill in my front hair line, but I went with another doctor that gave me 4000 grafts at a lower cost per graft. The total surgery price was more but what is bad about putting in 2,500 more grafts than you recommended? I have coarse, dark hair and wanted dense packing.

Individuals with a coarser hair do not need as many grafts as a person with a finer hair, so dense packing may not have been necessary.

If we would have put only 1500 grafts into that area and the other doctor got 4000 grafts, that indicates to me that the surgeon must have transplanted into the normal non-balding area (possibly just to make a few dollars extra). Some doctors may claim that preventative hair transplantation into the fringe behind the balding area is an acceptable practice, but with good drug therapy (finasteride) the progression of balding is often less of a problem. I find that for those doctors that say the normal fringe area is going to eventually bald anyway, that excuse is a self-serving financial decision by the doctor which only feeds his pocket.

Still worse, as the average person only has about 7000 grafts to utilize in his lifetime, depletion of the donor supply will absolutely leave many people worse off if the balding become progressive and moves into a more advanced balding pattern, like a Norwood class 6 or 7. Maybe the crown will start balding when the frontal area is stabilized on finasteride, so by putting these extra hairs into the frontal area, the surgeon only deprives the patient of hair for a balding crown if it should develop.

I have two crowns on the top of my head. If I can expect to start thinning at the crown later in life, will it be from one crown over the other, or both? One of my crowns in more centralized in respect to the other. If only one were to experience thinning, would that be the most likely culprit?

Also, any news on the alleged hair loss creme that reduces PGD2 levels in men? It was announced in 2012 that because there are already cremes that reduce PGD2 levels for other ailments, that we could expect it on shelves as early as 2014.

Two crowns…. do you have two heads? The crown is the top of your head. Are you referring to two cowlicks or swirls on your head? If you were born with the genes for male pattern baldness, then you will lose your hair in a certain pattern as described in the Norwood classification chart (see here).

I am not privy to any new hair loss treatment creams that work. Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) was being touted as a potential baldness “cure”, but the last I remember reading about it was that it was going to start clinical trials in a couple years, not necessarily be on shelves by then. There’s a long way to go still before PGD2 is proven to work for humans beyond hypotheses and lab mice research.

Hello Doctor,
I came across this article regarding Follica – Hairloss Cure: Could Follica Be A New Breakthrough In Baldness Prevention Products?

What are your thoughts about this? Is it something you are looking forward to?

Would you peel your scalp skin back? As the article states: …“sounds mildly terrifying: they start with a process called ‘skin-peturbation’ where the top layers of the scalp are peeled back.”

There’s a long way to go before Follica would be able to be taken to market, so I’m not going to get excited about it yet. I’ve seen a lot of promising “cures” go nowhere over the years. We shall see.

Snippet from the article:

In 2007, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka reprogrammed adult skin cells into a stem-like state using a quartet of genes. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) earned Yamanaka a Nobel Prize in 2012, kicked off a flood of research, and promised a way of growing bespoke tissues.

But reprogramming techniques are still notoriously inefficient. At best, they can convert around 10 percent of adult cells into iPSCs; often, they only manage around 0.1 percent. Worse still, the process seemed random, and it was impossible to predict which cells would be successfully reprogrammed.

This roadblock may be a thing of the past. Jacob Hanna at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science has found a straightforward way of producing iPSCs with almost 100 percent efficiency. Hanna’s team simply disabled a single gene, Mbd3, which seems to repress pluripotency.

Read the rest — Inducing Pluripotency Every Time

The techniques that have been known since Yamanaka’s research in 2007 were not efficient; however, doctors from all over the world are trying to do the same thing with more efficiency. These cells, if they can be produced, holds the secrets to regrowing or repairing organs, the dream of scientists world wide.

It seems to be a major breakthrough, and although much more research will be done, for those of you who keep writing to me to ask when we will see hair regeneration, perhaps the answer will come from this research.

It looks like I have a norwood 2A with a persistent forelock just like my 50 year old Dad and Uncle. you can just make out a strong norwood 2A when a light shines directly on top of their heads.

I started at 15 and my hair has quickly receded then slowly receded and hasn’t moved much anywhere in 2 years with just the thinness that is left on the right side. The right side of my forelock on the leading edge is looking thin but the corners on both side and the leading edge on the left sides plus the rest of my hair is thick and strong as its ever been. so is it possible to have a asymmetrical hairline after recession? My right temple point is higher than the left, my juvenile hairline was higher on the right and also the highest crease is not symmetrical with it being higher on the right.

Another question is I have a swirl in my forelock much like the one you have at the back of our head, I have had this since I was little and wondering if that could contribute to thinning on the right when light is shined on it.

Asymmetrical balding and/or recession is common. Swirls in the forelock are also very common. Direct lighting will often make hair appear thinner than it actually is.

Snippet from the article:

She’s had a difficult few months following her split from Robert Pattinson. And it seems Kristen Stewart’s traumatic personal life has taken a toll on the 23-year-old actress, who has been seen with what seems to be a large bald patch on her head.

Kristen, who usually conceals her locks beneath hats and caps, was pictured in Berlin, Germany, last month displaying the dramatic hair loss on the right side of her scalp – thought to be down to stress.

Read the rest — Kristen Stewart displays noticeable hair loss due to ‘stress following split from Robert Pattinson’

See the photos over at the above link.

(female)
I had a gastric bypass 8 years ago and I have lost 180 pounds since the surgery. I had maintained my weight of 120 pounds, but this year I have been putting on weight and I am up to 170 of which just terrifies me. I dont feel like my eating habits have changed or portions because my children tell me I dont eat enough to keep a bird alive. Since the surgery my hair has never been the same. its thin and brittle. I try and take vitamins but it doesnt seem to work. please help!!!!!

Weight loss and nutritional problems can cause the hair issues that you’re describing. I would make an appointment to see your doctor about your nutritional status.