Category: Hair Loss Causes

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I’m New to Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Sir,
I am 27 year old from Bangalore, India. I have lost most of my hair due to male pattern baldness. You can say i am almost bald. I would like to get my hair back. Is there any way I can? I am not sure who to concact for this. Please advise.

I do not know where to start. First, please review newhair.com, as I believe it is as a fairly complete directory for hair loss and hair restoration information (possibly the largest and most complete site anywhere on the internet). Then review this blog site, which now has over 1300 questions and answers to various problems people have experienced with their hair. Then with that education, seek professional help. You can use the physician search at ISHRS.org to find a doctor in your area. You must exercise your brain and do good research to avoid the scams that are widely promoted around the world. Many of them are identified on this blog site, by people like you who do good research and share that research with me. This is a buyer ‘beware business’, but there are many good things that can be done for the average person with hair loss (which impacts almost 50% of all men and women in their lifetime). Good luck with the research and target me with questions once you are more informed.

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College Students with Stresses – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello doctor,
I am a 19 year old freshman at university. The transition seemed like a decent one. I didn’t feel like I was experiencing too much stress during the first month. However during the end of first simester when essays and midterms were coming up I started sleeping less, my face was covered with large zits that would not surface and then leave marks (some of which I still have 2-4 months later). During this period which started about 5 months ago, I was on an emotional rollercoaster too. I had almost no time to see my friends. My social life was quickly becoming extinct. I had no self-esteem because of my new-developed acne problem. It was bad. I think I have started to get the hang of the stress, now that winter is almost over everything seems a lot easier to deal with. But what I have been noticing for the last 2 months is a lot of thinning at the hairline. It was not so bad about a month ago but now my scalp is becomeing VERY visible to the point where I cannot use all the hair I have at the front to cover somewhat “balding” areas. There are no patches persay. It is ver diffuse, but also very noticable. I have had at least 3 people commnt on it. It is beggining to scare me. I have always had fine hair but my scalp has never been visible before. I started taking Vitamin B Complex about 2 months ago for the stress, and am now taking this product called samson’s secret which is full of nutrients that nurish the hair for about 5 weeks.
My question is, does this sound like a temporary thing such as telogen effluvium? And if so when should I be expecting to notice my hair back to normal? Also I am worried because final exams are coming up next month along with more essays worth an even larger percentage of my mark. I am doing amazing but that only makes my expectations of myself even higher, causing me to stress out lest I mess up and the GPA I have worked so hard to achieve and maintain falls. Does this mean that I am only setting myself up for more hairloss and a vicious cycle that will make it extremely hard for the hair to grow back?

I realize this is a rather long post, thank you so much for your time.

Stress definitely plays a part in hair loss. However if you have a component of genetic male pattern hair loss , hair will not grow back. If this become a big problem for you, you may consider making an appointment with a hair transplant surgeon who can map your scalp hair for miniaturization pattern and formulate a Master Plan for future hair loss.

You have many issues, and some of these things like self-esteem are inside your head as much as outside. For example, when I turned 60 four years ago, the changes in my body should have taken my self-esteem down to low levels, but I somehow managed to focus on the good things in my life. I have said many times, you are the director, writer and actor in your ‘life story’, so write it the way you want it to be. Direct it to work out that way (if hair loss is the issue then tackle it correctly). Act like the man you want to be and get your grades up, for that is clearly in your power. The world will not march to a down tune, only to an upbeat one.

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Did My Neck Hair Cause My Head Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

my hairline has receded gradually around the temples for approx the past 5 years. The recession is more obvious on one side than the other (the right side more that the left). I have one question:

Can excessive hair growth (lower neck) be a factor in hair loss?

I have hair growing on my lower neck region. This growth roughly coincided with my hair loss approx 5 years ago. It would have started as soft, blond type hair. Eventually I would have plucked them out. They are now growing quite thick. This growth is heavier on the right hand side of my neck as opposed to the left side.

Looking forward to your reply. Many Thanks

This is actually a good question. Why? Well DHT is the cause of both the growth of the neck hair and the loss of the frontal scalp hair. DHT is the result of testosterone metabolism and it is one of the hormones that a boy’s body uses to create this thing we become, a man. These attributes include beard and body hair growth (including neck hair), a change in voice (lower tone), sweating and under arm odors, nose and ear hair (I hope you love this one), and interestingly enough, loss of the neck hair as you get older (the same hair that was grown by DHT).

I have only seen one patient who went on finasteride (Propecia) and lost body and leg hair from the blocking effects on DHT, but if you are losing your hair from male patterned genetic hair loss you should probably be on this drug anyway. Be sure to get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization before you start it and you might want to get a neck hair count to see if the actual neck hair density decreases from the drug.

Asymmetrical hair loss in the front is common with genetic balding. The one thing for sure is that the “good” side will eventually follow the “bad” side in terms of thinning or loss. Finasteride may stop this progression or even reverse it.

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Hair Loss InformationIf I Quit Smoking, Will My Hair Regrow? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

While it is a reasonable hypothesis that smoking can cause hair loss, will giving up smoking lead to/assist in hair regrowth – or is the damage that has been done by smoking permanent? i.e is it reversible?
Thanks in advance.

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Generally it is believed that damage from smoking is additive. We know that about the lungs, heart disease, and emphysema. We also know that for those that stop smoking, the additive impact does slow or stop, but the smoking-induced coronary disease or emphysema does not go away. Now if you extend that logic to hair loss, then by stopping your smoking, you may stop whatever balding smoking is causing, but it would not reverse.

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Transplanted Hair Fell Out After I Had Spinal Surgery – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I had a hair transplant 8 months ago to supplement the hair transplant I had 25 years earlier. This recent hair transplant was to soften the hairline and add fullness. After about 3-5 months the hairgrafts were successful and I was quite pleased with the result. However, in late January I had major surgery (spinal fusion with titanium implants). Since that time it appears that many of the recent grafts have fallen out revealing the crude hairline from my original hair transplant and less fullness than before spinal surgery. Is this a form of “shock loss”? If so, will these grafts recovery and grow hair?

It is highly unusual for transplanted hair (taken from the correct donor area) to fall out. In the few instances I have seen it, every time I have observiced ‘permanent hair’ falling out for some reason, the hair returned. This was never in response to another surgery (e.g spinal surgery), but rather usually a response to another hair transplant. If this is truely hair taken from the permanent zone, it will almost certainly return. What I said abobe applies to men’s permanent donor hair zone.

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Hair Loss and Testosterone Replacement Therapy – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i have been on testosterone repl. therapy on and off for 7 years. i get a 300mg shot every 2 weeks and use androgel in between. i have noticed rapid hair loss in front and on top in a 3 week period. the doctors office called and said my t level was over 2200mg. would this cause the hair loss and will it grow back when levels are back down thanks

Your situation is described on the New Hair Institute website:

The specific relationship between testosterone and hormonally induced hair loss was discovered by a psychiatrist early in this century. At that time, castration was commonly performed on patients with certain types of mental illness. The rationale behind this procedure was that it was believed to be a treatment for mental illness at a time when there were no other forms of real treatment. Castration seemed to have a calming effect upon many patients and castration reduced the sex drive of patients who had no outlet for their desires. The doctor noted that the identical twin brother of one patient was profoundly bald while the mentally ill twin had a full head of hair. The doctor decided to determine the effect of treating his patient with testosterone, which had recently become available in a purified form. He injected his patient, the hairy twin, with testosterone to see what would happen. Within weeks, the hairy twin began to lose all but his wreath of permanent hair, just like his normal twin. The doctor, then, stopped giving the testosterone to see whether the process would be reversed, but the balding process continued and his patient never regained his full head of hair. It was apparent to him that eliminating testosterone will slow, or stop, further hair loss once it has begun, but it will not revive any dead follicles.

In short, you are experiening androgenic hair loss or male pattern baldness. Stopping your testosterone replacement therapy will not make your hair grow back.

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I Lose 50-70 Hairs a Day – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am 33 years old, male. You say it is normal to loose 100 to 150 hairs a day. Until about 8 months ago I estimate I lost about 1-5 hairs a day, having a thick, full head of hair. Since then, I have been loosing about 50-70 hairs a day and my hair is certainly feels and looks thinner, for example, I can now see gaps in my hair line. Since I am not loosing over 150 hairs a day, how is it possible that I can go in such a sort time to loosing almost no hair daily to loosing around 50-70 hairs and have noticably thinner hair? Surely if it was ‘normal’ my hair would not be getting thinner, as it is?

Also it is possible to have my hair analyzed for hairloss and an opinion made after just one appointment with a specialist?

Your last question is the answer to your first one. Get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization and then with a diagnosis in hand in just one visit, you can make plans accordingly. It is often difficult for me to make assessments about hair loss when I do not have the opportunity to see the patient first-hand. A good doctor will be able to assist you further once your scalp is mapped.

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Medicines and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can my high blood pressure medicine (Triamt/HCTZ tab 37.5-25) cause my hair to have breakage?

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Yes. Blood pressure medicines (and many other medicines) can cause hair loss. However, you should consider other sources of hair loss before focusing on a medication.

You should first be evaluated by your primary care doctor, because hair loss may be a symptom of an underlying medical problem.

A less than exclusive list of medications that cause hair loss are: allopurinol, arsenic, apirin, l-asparaginase, bismuth, bleomycin, boric acid, bromocriptine, carbamazepine, carbon monoxide, chlorambucil, chloramphenicol, cimetidine, colchicine, clofibrate, clomiphene citrate, coumarin anticoagulant, cyclophosphamide, cyproterone acetate, dactinomycin, danazol, diethyl carbamazepine, dipyridamole, doxorubicin, ethionamide, etoposide, etretinate, fenifibrate, gentamycin sulphate, guanethidine, heparin (telogen effluvium after 6-16 weeks ), hydroxychloroquine, ibuprofen, idoxuridine, indandione, indomethacin, interferon, iodine, isophosphamide, levamisole, levodopa, lithium, mepacrine, mercury, mesalazine, methisazone, methotrexate, methyl CCNU, methysurgide, metoprolol, mitomycin, mitrexantrone, morphine, nadolol, nafoxidine, nicotinic acid, nicotinyl alcohol, nitrofurantoin sodium, norethisterone, estrogens, oral contraceptives, para aminosalicylate, phenindione, phenprocoumon, potassium thiocyanate, procainamide, propanolol, selenium sulphide, sodium aurothiomalate, sodium valproate, spironolactone, sulphasalazine, tamoxifen, thalium acetate, thiamphenicol, terfenadine, trimethadione, troxidone, vasopressin, vincristine, vindesine, vitamin A, warfarin.

Sometimes I wonder if the hair loss side effect really occurs or if it is just verbiage that the drug companies put into their warnings to cover their legal ‘derriere’ in the event that it occurs. I so rarely see most of these drugs in action, so I am not really in a position to agree or disagree with what is published in the warnings posted on these medications.

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Inflammatory Scalp Disease – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

what is inflammatory disease on scalp ?? Is it different from male pattern baldness? I get lots of itching on my scalp…and directly entering norwood class 6… but my doc saw my hair under some glass which looks like a huge magnifying glass and said its male pattern baldness…

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Inflammatory scalp disease is when there’s an inflammatory process occuring in your scalp causing hair loss. There will be macrocyte and other white blood cells releasing histamine and other chemicals to cause the inflammatory process. The diseases which can cause skin inflammation are psoriasis, alopecia areata, eczema, a variety of autoimmune problems, or infections. This is different for male pattern baldness (MPB), because MPB is caused by DHT attacking the follicles through growth interference and not by an inflammatory process. Some forms of inflammation do not cause hair loss, so you will need a doctor to help confirm your diagnosis, which sounds like what your doctor was trying to do for you.

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How Can I Be Assured That Treatment Will Work For Me? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 23 years of age and have a bald area in the front portion of my head. Many doctors who i have consulted told me that i have class 4 hair loss and can’t be treated by drugs. This may be true somehow because my hair started falling out from the age of 17 and i didn’t take a treatment then. Can you assure me that if i get treatment now, my problem will get resolved?

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“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin

I can stop here with the answer, but if you’re not satisfied please read on:

I can not assure you that a medication will work for your hair loss. In fact, no one can assure you that any drug treatment will work. You stated that you were seen by “many doctors”, which I assume included an examination, and were still told that your hair loss couldn’t be treated with medication, yet you wrote to ask for my opinion. I suspect what the doctors were saying in ‘doctor speak’ is that Propecia usually does not regrow frontal hair so a Class 4A balding pattern (where all of the hair in the front is gone), I suspect the hair will not regrow. In a 23 year old (without seeing pictures of your balding) I would assume that there is still some hair in the frontal distribution and that what hair is there is miniaturized. Miniaturized hair will often respond to Propecia to some degree in a young man, even if it is in the frontal area. Unless you try, you will not know.

I suppose I should be flattered to be thought of as a hair loss authority to give you assurance on a medication. If your scalp has been examined for miniaturization and you have a diagnosis of Male Pattern Baldness (MPB), medication such as finasteride (Propecia) may work, but there are no guarantees.

If you need another medical opinion, feel free to make an appointment with me.