Hair Loss Causes – Page 306

March 7, 2006

Norwood Class 4 at Age 20 – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello,
Well i am a 20 yr old guy. I started losing my hair since i was 16. By now i am a Class 4 patient with receded hairline from the front and at the top of the head. Many people have told me that hair transplant is not safe for a 20 yr old male. Is it true? ANd does it have any side effects. Kindly let me know on that.
Regards

At the young age of 20, you are experiencing accelerated hair loss. Your final pattern may be reflected in your family, so probe the entire history of hair loss amongst the men from both your mother’s and father’s sides. Having a hair transplant at this early age may lead to further hair loss, called shock loss, from the trauma of surgery itself. Thus, the net benefit of hair transplantion may outweight the hair loss experienced from shock loss and most (not all) 20 year olds are asked to wait for more time to pass. We can not determine the true pattern of your hair loss until you’re later in age. Hopefully, you have been using Propecia since the beginning of the balding process and this finding reflects a failure of the drug. If not, it is prudent to go on Propecia for now and wait for a response (in about a year). The drug can stabilize or reverse the hair loss in someone of your age. If you bond with a doctor and have been on the Propecia for a year or so, then you can discuss a hair transplant. Going forward along the surgery route requires that you develop a Master Plan for your future hair loss management taking your worst case scenario and balancing it with the worst case ‘donor’ hair availability (that is what is meant as a Master Plan for your hair loss).

March 6, 2006

Hair Loss InformationI Have Diffuse Thinning and Am Unhappy With Your Last Answer – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hey Doc, I have posted before and you replied, but I was very unhappy with your posted answer so I though I would rephrase my question. I am a 22 year old male who has thinning the kind you see in old women. Its pretty thin, and when i shower or go in the pool you can clearly see my scalp, its embarassing. Is DHT the chemical responsible for my balding. PLEASE dont tell me to see a doctor and leave it at that. I have Truly DIFFUSE UNPATTERNED alopecia. Hypothetically speaking, if you were my doctor, and you determined this what would you tell me to do short, SHORT of a hair transplant. Is Rogaine more effective than Propecia or Avodart for my kind of balding? Does Rogain work well in Women? Thanks for the help, your website kicks ass and has really helped me.

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Male hair loss presenting as Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA) is different from male pattern hair loss. If you have a diffuse pattern hair loss, that would include in what we call the donor area, which is the area in the occipital and bitemporal areas (the fringe around your head and sides), then you need to be evaluated first with blood work to rule out hypothyroidism, anemia, hormone imbalance, autoimmune disease, etc. Possibly, a dermatologist can biopsy your head if you have inflammatory disease on your scalp which can cause diffuse pattern hair loss. The process we call DUPA, when there is no metabolic or autoimmune problem indentified, may respond to Propecia (about 50% of men will get a partial reversal in my experience).

March 6, 2006

Hair Damage from Very Hot Shower? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I just wanna say that you’re doing an amazing job answering people questions! And also I have a quick question, I came home a little drunk one night and decided to hop in the shower..I could not really feel the temperature of the water I was in, but I expect it was quite warm as I woke up to my hair looking almost twice as thin as it was the day before???? also many hairs in the front are broken in the middle and some are very short broken? Perhaps I had an overly warm shower that cooked my hair? I believe my scalp when I touched it felt a little burnt…If this did contribute to the baldness would it grow back? There is still a fair bit of hair left but it is thined out on the front where i suspect the shower head was nailing it…maybe im wrong maybe im just goin bald but it happened so quick I dunno…Im just turning 19.

Thank you kind sir.

Thanks for your kind words. Hot water from a shower should not cause hair loss. I am assuming that you did not get burns as a result of that shower. Scalding hot water can cause hair loss, but it would have also burned your skin. Wait it out and it should return, that is, unless you have genetic balding and you are denying the relationships of a progressive hair loss over time and just haven’t noticed until this showering event.

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March 3, 2006

Help, I Lost 35-40% Of My Hair In 1 Month! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i have a serious problem. i am 20 yrs old and about a month ago i noticed my hair falling out.i believe in this past month i have lost 35-40% of my hair. yet it is not coming from the usual places for a pattern baldness condition. i have no receding hair line at all and my vertex is fine. i notice it mostly on the top and upper sides. from my research i found in most cases pattern baldness elapses over a long period of time i.e years or more. is it possible to have such an accelerated case. About 6 months ago i underwent lasik surgery and about the time this started i had gotten a huge tattoo done that took 2 seatings of 5 hours each which were very painful. i also feel huge anxiety and very stressed even before this and worse because of it. currently i am on propecia for 4 days and rogaine for 4 days. i am awaiting blood test results but my doctor informs me the chances of this not being perminant are very small. i have no bald or balding family members on either side. this makes absolutley no sense, out of no where and so fast. if it really is pattern baldness and my symptoms continue at this rate all my hair will be gone before the medicine even starts to work. i eagerly await your comments on this letter.

It is normal to lose hair after a stressful event in one’s life – a process called “Telogen Effluvium,” but it is less common (although not unheard of) to have an accelerated case such as you describe. Since your hair is falling out generally all over, I doubt this is male pattern hair loss, especially given your age and prior history. So your doctor is right to do blood tests – fast hair loss like you have can be the sign of a more serious underlying medical condition. I can’t reassure you completely without seeing you and examining you myself, but you should definitely wait and see what the tests show, and calm yourself if you can (stress will set up one of those vicious cycles).

As for treatment, that will depend on the cause but you should be reassured that you are on the only two medications that we can prove work for male pattern hair loss. Propecia and Rogaine will take months to work, about as long as the hair would normally take to grow back, so don’t give up on those medications in the meantime. Take heart, hair can grow back! – It often does miraculously even after seemingly huge losses, and you don’t have any answers yet that should make you despair!

March 3, 2006

Shock Loss? – Balding Blog

I had my hair checked about 18 months ago as it was receding a bit in the frontal area. I am 52 years old and have no issues anywhere but the front. I started Propecia at that time and it worked. No real regrowth in the front, but no more loss and some thickening everywhere else. I was told by the Doctor that he didn’t think I was a good candidate for a transplant because I still had some frontal hair and that it would fall out if I had transplant and the overall gain would be the same as before. There was a name for this, but I can’t remember it. Have you heard of this?

Shock loss occurs when pre-existing hair is shed after hair transplant. This event occurs mostly in patients who are younger (often less than 30 years old) and a first time surgery patient. Although this event does occur with men who are on Propecia, it is more common for the young men not on the drug. With that said, those are two factors going for you which decreases the chance of shock loss following a hair transplant. Just being 52 years old, the chance for you makes shock loss is unlikely (less than about 2%). Using Propecia protects most people from experiencing the problem. It sounds to me like your doctor just does not know enough about today’s risks. Maybe we should educate him.

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March 2, 2006

Thinning on One Side of Head – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello I am 21 years old, male. My grandfather on my father’s side is bald and my uncle my father’s brother is balding, my father however did not go bald. He has a receeding hairline but he is 47 and i think its just his natural recession since he hasnt really lost much of his hair. I however have my mother’s hair, which is very thick/wavy and we have a lot of it. No one on my mother’s side is bald but im concerned becuase i recently shaved my head and I noticed that on ONE of the sides of my forhead my hair is a little thin and is blonder, yet on the other side its still thick and strong. I used to have long hair and I noticed that that side of my hair was thin as well. I dont really see hair fall out in my shower or my pillow but I am concerned that I may be starting to lose my hair. The funny thing is that I am not experiening the horse shoe loss, I just see a thining on one side. Is this a sign of early balding?

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To determine this, you need to have the diagnosis of male pattern hair loss made with a good thorough mapping of your scalp for miniaturization. It is not unusual with male pattern hair loss that one side is ahead of the other. The side that is not bad, will unfortunately catch up with the good side. The hair can miniaturize first and then disappear without ever falling out. At 21, the Master Plan that you need to develop may not show the balding as far back or to the sides of the permanent rim of hair, assuming the you will go that far back (Class 7 Pattern). But the miniaturization measurement will show how far back the early part of the balding process is.

Propecia is the best treatment for balding in the young man. Get a diagnosis and then start the treatment quickly. There is a good possibility that if you are just miniaturizing your hair, at your age much of it may regrow or thicken with Propecia.

March 2, 2006

Mom’s Male Family Is Bald — Dad’s Family Has Hair – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

if my mom’s father and brothers are all bald and my dad’s family including my dad all have hair, where does that leave me in the genetic mix?

Balding genes can be inherited through the mother or father’s family line (54% may be the maternal side connection). Even if you have the gene, there must be environmental influence to express it and for men it is hormones, time, and stress. The balding genes are not fully understood and there is what is called “expression” of the gene, which means that having it and showing it are two separate things. In other words, you may or may not have the gene and if you do, you may or may not show the gene with genetic balding in your lifetime, yet you can still pass that down to your children or children’s children who may then show it with balding in their lifetime. You won’t know until you begin to lose hair and then you will have to be examined thoroughly.

March 2, 2006

Dry, Itchy Scalp – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Is itchy scalp a symptom of MPB? I have noticed my hair thinning for a few years now and recently started taking propecia. For the past couple of years my scalp has been noticably more itchy than it was before my hair started thinning. Also, when I scratch my scalp I notice tiny pieces of dry skin on my fingernails.

I am just curious if dry, itchy scalp are associated with MPB or if the two are unrelated.

Thanks.

An itchy scalp is not a symptom of male pattern balding. You may have underlying skin problem which contribute to a dry, itchy scalp. Are you using new shampoo or new gel or chemicals on your head which could cause the dryness or itch? There are shampoos made for dry scalp which you should use with a good conditioner. You may want to visit a dermatologist to evaluate your scalp if the problem persists.

February 28, 2006

My Hair Loss Started After I Moved – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have just moved to Jordan from London to live and I notice that more hair than usual (enough for me to worry) comes out when I brush my hair and wash my hair (in particular). It has been quite stressful moving and adjusting, plus I have a 5 month old son. There is no history of hairloss in my family – should I worry?

Many thanks

Hair loss comes when a person has genetic tendencies for it (many people find that they may not have it in the short family history but that it exists in the ancestry somewhere). Add hormones and stress to that and you have a deadly hair combo. Well, not “deadly”, but you get the idea. Then add time and you cement the process. Moving from one country to another with your family will almost certainly cause a high degree of stress. Hiar loss is caused by genes, hormones, time and stress. Do you have it all? Yes, you should worry and get your hair assessed for early balding. The drug Propecia (for men only) should slow it down or reverse it if the diagnosis is made.

February 28, 2006

Will Shaving My Head Increase The Hair Loss Rate? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am 23 and have experienced significant hairloss in the past 5 months. I did not start taking Propecia and now I am currently studying in China and the medication is unavailable here. To stop the anxiety of noticing my rapid hairloss I was considering shaving my head. Will this at all increase the rate of hairloss until I can begin treatment on Propecia, Minoxidil, etc?

Shaving your head will have no impact on your hair loss, one way or the other.