Hair Loss Causes – Page 279

October 9, 2006

My Hair Is Hyper-Sensitive to Change, Medication, Sickness – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Dr,

I started losing my hair when I was 17 after becoming bulimic for a wrestling season to keep my weight down (I only did this for one year). Ever since then I have gone through periods of shedding and at 31 my hair keeps getting thinner, mainly on top, not so much the crown or hairline. The odd thing is sometimes I will not lose much hair for months and then all of a sudden it is non-stop.

It seems that my hair has become hyper sensitive to change, medicine, illness… anything results in shedding. I take propecia (for about 2 years) with little results and Rogain seems just as useless.

There is no history of baldness in my family and the doctors can not seem to find anything. You are my last hope, what could it be and how do I stop it?

Thank you

You need to develop a personal relationship with a doctor who will:

examine you by mapping out your hair for miniaturization
take a careful history to determine what it is that you are actually seeing
find out if you possibly have some medical disease causing your problem
care about you and is willing and able to work with you

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October 6, 2006

Hair Loss InformationTopical Solution for Treating Alopecia Areata? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a 37 year old hispanic female. less than 2 months ago I noticed a small bald patch (the size of a nickle) on the crown of my head. I thought it was ringwom and so did my doctor. He gave me a cream and shampoo to treat it. A week later I noticed another but smaller bald patch not to far from the first one. at this point my doctor sent me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said it alopecia areata and gave me a topical solution that will help grow my hair back and to see him again in a month. Now I noticed that the hair on the top part of my head is thinning and some areas are read and burn a little. (not much itching) I don’t find hair on my pillows, towels, brush, or floor, but I can start to se my scalp specially where I part my hair. Does this mean I will lose all my hair? Is it common to have bald patches and then thining of the rest of the hair at the same time?

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Alopecia areata is a known condition which you can learn about at National Alopecia Areata Foundation. I am confused with your history. To make a firm diagnosis of alopecia areata, you would need a biopsy. The questions you are asking are reasonable questions which your doctor should answer for you. As I have not examined you myself, I can not do any justice by giving you advice, unseen. In the past I have been surprised at the simplicity of the questions that should be asked of the treating physician. I wonder if doctors are becoming detached from the people they are treating and just treating the condition. When my son entered his surgery training, I gave him some simple advice. I said: “Never refer to your patient as the man in room 202 with the amputated right leg. Always talk about Mr. Smith in room 202, the musician (or carpenter, or father of four daughters). You need to relate to the human being and his/her human needs. In doing so, you will relate to Mr. Smith, a man in need of your services and a person who you are there for you to help, not the man with the amputated leg.”

He told me that he remembered my advice. He told me that he learned to listen to his patients and in becoming a good listener, he became a better doctor. The woman with her scalp problem reached out for insights into her condition. She has reasonable questions and she should expect that her doctor will answer them. If she picked the wrong doctor, she should make it right and get another one.

October 4, 2006

I Lost Hair After Using Hair Dye – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I used hair dye a few time to much in a one month period and i ran my hands through my hair and it came out in clumps. I was wondering if it would come back. Its been about a year since i last used hair dye and i dont see more hair loss or notice any more falling out. But its hard to notice if its getting better. I’ve been to so many doctors and they never tell me anything helpful. Is there anything i can do? I tried rogaine but didnt notice any difference with it. what should i do? help please. thank you

If you have been evaluated by many doctors and have come to a dead end, I doubt I can be much help either. Hair loss from hair dyes are a difficult problem, because it is difficult to treat or even understand why it happens. You may have induced genetic hair loss with the use of chemicals, but the chemicals themselves may have worked their way down the hair shafts into the growth center of the hair and killed or damaged it. As long as you have ruled out any medically related causes of hair loss, there are no proven treatments available (many products claim to reverse hair loss, but it is a buyer beware market and it targets the desperate consumers in a society obsessed with personal appearance and image). Minoxidil may help and is worth a try. With respect to hair loss after using a hair coloring dye, your hair should have grown back after a year.

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October 3, 2006

Hair Loss from MRI Scan? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr. Im a 20 yr old, white male. Over the past few months my hairline has begun to recede. I’ve also noticed large amounts of hairloss in the shower(150 hairs everytime i wash it). The hairloss began in June and has continued without showing any signs of stopping. I still have a full head of hair and it’s still growing at the same rate, but it’s become thinner, especially on the sides. I’ve also observed that i can pull out some hair easily from any part of my scalp. It doesn’t come out in clumps ,just individual hairs. My scalp has also become alot more itchy and scratching it just causes more hair to fall out. My worry is I had an MRI scan a few years ago – could radiation from that cause my hairloss now or does this sound like male pattern baldness to you? Thank you for help.

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One Way The MRI does not use radiation, it uses magnetic fields. There is no connection between magnetic fields and hair loss. You are at the right age for the appearance of genetic hair loss. If you are losing 150 hairs/day, it does sound like you need to have your hair mapped out for miniaturization to get a diagnosis firmly in hand. If you are genetically balding, then drugs like Propecia work to slow, stop, or reverse hair loss. Now is the time in your life that if you take charge, you are best able to manage it. The more hair you lose, the further down the ‘one way street’ you will go to becoming bald.

October 3, 2006

How Bald Will I Become? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dr. Rassman – I went to a dermatologist today and she did a tug test on my hair and looked at my head and said i’m a class 3, althouh a bit abnormal since my hairline hasn’t receeded at all. She said I’m a good candidate for Propecia. BUT, she never said anything about miniturization. Am I to assume that my hair (thinning in the crown) is as a result of miniturization, and if that’s the case, then I will be bald, for sure at some point?

I guess I’m trying to understand – and would follow-up with the dermatologist, but she was pretty rushed with me – if my hair has miniturization in that region, and if that’s the case, then the hair loss will continue?

Is miniturization test the true way to determine whether I’ll be bald or not, and if she didn’t do a miniturization test then is she just giving me her gut instinct on what she can see with the naked eye, and thus should I get a 2nd opinion?

Thanks for your input.

Miniaturization mapping is a predictor of future hair loss, but by itself, the mapping will not tell you how fast your hair loss will advance. There are other factors that I use to determine this, and they include:

Rate of progression of the miniaturization
Distribution and pattern of the miniaturization
Family history
Your age and the pattern you are now showing
Response to medications like Propecia (finasteride)

With that knowledge, I can make an educated guess. As an expert doing this for 15 years, I have built some good judgments in making such assessments and therefore it is something that I am comfortable with.

October 2, 2006

So, What Should I Look for In a Doctor? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello, I am a 27 year old male who is seriously considering a hair transplant in the begining of next summer. My concern is to make sure I find a good surgeon. Do you have any other surgeons that would reccomend. Maybe, its just yourself and whoever works with you.

What should somone look for?
Are there any new technological breakthroughs to look for?
What can I do to make sure my scar is not very bad? I always wanted to get a fade again. Maybe Im just dreaming but in getting a fade, the side of the head is shaved and the scar would be present.

I have thinning along the middle of my head and a clear receding hair line. I now shave my head to conceal it.

My last question, is how long does it take for it to look and feel normal after and a transplant. Also, how long should my hair be when I go for a consultation?

Thanks for your time

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I wrote a book on these very subjects (with Dr. Robert Bernstein), so rewriting it for this blog would just be too time consuming. You can request a copy of the book and I will send it to you or to any of my readers that want a copy. Or, even easier, the text of the book can be downloaded in PDF format here. Also, I posted a blog entry just a couple weeks ago that may be of interest to you — How to Tell if You’ve Found the Right Hair Transplant Doctor.

With regard to your other questions, thinning along the middle is an unusual presentation of genetic balding, but I have seen it. You need to get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine if there is genetic balding or not.

A person who has a hair transplant will feel normal (no pain in the back of the head at all) usually within 2 weeks or less. I generally like people to keep their hair long for the consultation, because I want to understand the impact of balding in a styled hairline. Sometimes thinning hair looks full when it is styled or longer.

October 2, 2006

Is My Barber Possibly Pulling Hair Out? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello i think this website is great. I had one question…im experiencing some thinning in my bi-tempural areas. I get my hair shaved (not bald) every two weeks. I notice that my barber is a little rough with the clippers/shaver…could this be pulling my hair out??? Would this cause further miniaturization??

Does rubbing your scalp really work at reviving thinning hair??? thanks

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If your barber is pulling out your hair, he is not furthering his business. Being rough with hair brushing will not accelerate miniaturization, but it can loosen hair that is on the way out to produce premature thinning.

Rubbing the scalp feels good, but you have to be careful that the rubbing does not pull out the weak hairs that are miniaturizing.

September 29, 2006

Hair Loss InformationHair Loss on Top of Head, Hairline is Fine – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 29, male. Recently I got my hair cut rather short, and it has kind of spiked up, somewhat resembling a porcupine, i guess you could say. I notice when looking at my head from above that my hair seems thinner, like there are some areas not as full as others. Is this a sign of hair loss? My hair line is not receding, and my hair is fine at the crown/point at back of head, where you usually see bald spots in people going bald. Do you have any idea what I am seeing in the mirror? Is there a pattern of baldness where you start to lose hair on the top or in the middle of your head? Thanks in advance for your comments.

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Some people will develop thinning behind the hairline, leaving a normal hairline. We also see thinning in the crown with no problem in the frontal area as well. The first 3/4 inch from the highest crease or the wrinkled brow is the juvenile component of the frontal look. Behind this first 3/4 inch starts what I call the mature hairline.

The shorter you cut your hair, the more you will see of any thinning that is present. To find out what this means, map out your hair and scalp for miniaturization so that you can know if this is a genetic pattern for you. If it is genetic, Propecia works well in the crown.

September 29, 2006

Hair Loss InformationIndiaTimes Says Dandruff Causes Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Dr,
I found this new article from India Times that says dandruff is a hair loss cause. You said it wasn’t.

IndiaTimes.com

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This reads like a brief article with bits of truth and bits of confusion all mixed together. I would doubt that this was written as a means to educate by someone who is an expert. The term trichoanalysis (or as the article calls it, Tricho Analysis) indicates the analyzing of hair (tricho) which is really not informative on any level. Look at one of my recent posts on dandruff for the real scoop — What is Dandruff and Why Do I Have More of It Than My Friends?

September 29, 2006

Broccoli and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Is it true that broccoli causes hairloss?

Bush No, there is no connection between broccoli and hair loss.

Broccoli causes a great deal of gas that seemed to bother even former US President George Herbert Walker Bush (aka Bush Sr.), who waged a war of sorts on the vegetable, famously saying “No more broccoli on the White House menu” after he took office. He’s also been quoted as saying, “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.”

But no, broccoli doesn’t cause hair loss. In looking at this photo (at right), I see that his corners are reflective of some genetic hair loss, which according to his many photographs was present for many years. I wonder if his hair loss reflected a deficiency of broccoli in his daily diet?

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