Category: Other

I just received this email from a patient of mine and thought I’d share it with you, as it brought a smile to my face. Periodically, I want to share the joys of this uniquely wonderful medical practice with my blog audience as I am getting terrific feedback for many of you.

Good afternoon, Dr. Rassman. I thought this might be of help to your new transplant patients and those considering a procedure. I have been a happy client of NHI since 1999. Your organization actually turned me away prior to that until you thought I would receive sufficient benefit.

In September of 2004 you yourself did a whopping 1400 or so in the crown area (your organization did 1200 grafts prior) . Now this is the reason I am writing to you (in addition to just finding this blog business on your website): your prospective patients, especially the younger guys, need to know that balding is a long process. Although they may awake to the process all at once with the “bell in the brain” event, it is likely that the process has been in place for sometime and will likely continue. In my case technology and my finances came together and I was able to get ahead so that I never had a bald spot period in my life and managed to keep the “shine through” months to a minimum. To this day it is a hoot to tell new friends or business aqaintances that I’ve had transplants and would have a spectacular bald spot had I not chosen NHI. None, and I repeat none, believe me. Even when I show them evidence of the donor scar most assume I am pulling their leg. Now, for the second reason for writing after reading a number of your blogs. Last week one and a half years after I started the process, I was lolling in the tub and discovered a veritable thicket of new stumps in the thinest area of my swirl. I made a mental genuflection to LA and hollered to the wife: blog the good doctor and tell him that, as in the previous two sessions, his theory of waves of hair growth continues to be proven.

Sorry about the length of email but continue to reassure your younger patients with confidence that it takes time to grow. My only regret continues to be that in never having gone bald I never got to qualify for your “before and after” photos. However, my dream may yet come true. At the advanced age of 57 my front hairline is going. You may see me back in LA or San Jose for splotch in the front. Please let me know if you are running any “forelock specials” and be prepared to guarantee me a minimum half-page pic in your next updated booklet and I’m there. Remember, there are many other hair docs who would benefit greatly from claiming your good work and artistry for their own were I to rent out to them my forehead and crown as an advert. Perhaps I should hold out for a 3/4 page or maybe an inside back cover. Thank you again for your time and attention to my skull. My wife sends her regards and hints that she needs another free shopping day so she’s hoping the front falls out. I’ll remind you that it was an inappropriate comment you made during my last session that all the other wives who drive their husbands get five free hours at the mall with the husband’s credit card. Through sessions one and two I had had her convinced her it was sufficient reward for her to share my salad at mid-surgery point.

dear doctor,
i am a 21 year old with a naturally high hairline. when i was a baby i had a caput quadratum (if i spelled it correctly). but now its bothering me a bit because people keep asking me if my hair is falling off. what do you suggest? thank you

Caput quadratum is an irregular shaped skull resulting in frontal bossing or a prominent, sometimes square, forehead. It’s name implies a problem in newborn babies.

Using hair to change the appearance of the shape of the head is something that is worth considering. I have used hair transplants to hide skull defects in the frontal hairline by bringing it down, on the back of the head to make a flat skull appear rounded, and side of the head defects from brain surgery or accidents and I burn patients have had wonderful benefits from hair or scalp redistribution. Please send me some photos and let me know where you are and how to reach you by phone so that I can call you after I review the pictures. Anything we discuss will be kept private and will not be shared with my readership, that is, unless you specifically allow it. Please send your photos to the address on the Contact page.

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Hello Doctor,

I have personally seen someone being benifitted by this exercise where hair color has turned from gray to black!

Everyday, rubbing your nails against each other for 10 minutes in morning and evening… (after you do it for 10 mins, you will get the feeling of your blood getting circulated. it means you’ve done your exercise right…). This exercise can be done while traveling in train, bus, wherever. It’s a YOGA exercise and turns hair from gray to black. Some say it can stop hair loss too. Just thought of sharing it. Nothing like if it helps someone concerned with the problem. It takes 3-6 months to show results.

Stress reducing activities are known to reduce hair loss. I am not familiar with reversal of hair loss or return of original hair color, but I love the idea of using Yoga to reduce stress (one of the leading causes of accelerating hair loss).

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Wow, this is the 1000th posting on BaldingBlog.com! In just 10 months, we’ve hit a huge milestone where I must once again take a moment to thank the loyal readers for making this a success. This is the first daily blog of its kind, written by a doctor specializing in hair, and while it can be quite a time-consuming endeavor, the support I’ve received by way of your encouraging emails makes it all worthwhile. Keep your questions coming in and please tell your friends, because we’re approaching our 1 year mark and we’re just getting started!

Update: The Open House event today (Saturday, February 11) at our Los Angeles office had a huge crowd and was highlighted by an appearance by CBS Sports Newscaster and NHI patient, Steve Hartman. Be sure to check out our NHI Events page for future free events.

Dear Doc,
I dunno what the lady who posted the question “I Don’t Want to Be an Unmarried, Bald Female at 28!” feels, but there are a lotta men who like bald women…

Is there any way she could get in touch with me… I would wanna talk to her!

Maybe I should run a dating service. Interesting idea. Any thoughts from my readership? Any women out there who love bald men, or vice versa? Any ideas what to call the service?

I’ve heard that the marigold flower, if rubbed on the head, will promote hair growth. True?

At the least, you can pick them from your neighbor’s lawn. This sounds like the most cost effective remedy I have heard lately and it may be as good as so many of the products I have been asked about over the past year. Be careful, the hair that grows may be yellow.

I hope my sarcasm was not missed. The short answer is most likely false.

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Hi Dr. Rassman,

Thanks for this site. It has helped me with several of my questions on multiple occasions. My question is this: I followed one of the links on your site to Bernstein Medical and noticed that you have some pictures in your before and after sections that are of exactly the same people. The caption on his site reads: “view results of patients treated at our New York and New Jersey facilities using Dr. Bernstein’s pioneering hair restoration techniques.” Your website says that the pictures are all of NHI patients. Why do you have pictures of many of the same exact patients, and how does a customer know which patient was treated by which company?

These pictures are a big part of helping me decide where to get a transplant, and it is confusing seeing the same pictures on both sites so I really appreciate your answer.

Thanks.

Dr. Robert Bernstein was part of the New Hair Institute from January 1995 – December 2004. These patients were treated by Dr. Bernstein and the NHI staff during these years. When Dr. Bernstein and I divided up the practice, the NHI staff in the east coast offices (that he and I trained) stayed with him. I had no interest in opening up another office at this time and have been trying to simplify my life with less offices. The split between Dr. Bernstein was only a business separation, as we continue to work together, sharing everything we do in this field. Any breakthroughs that either of us make are shared or jointly developed. We have continued to write scientific and clinical papers together for publication. I believe that Dr. Bernstein and I are doing almost identical work and that is because we developed almost everything together and published what we did so that the world knew it was a joint development. The patients that are shown on both sites were done by Dr. Bernstein, but they were actually patients of the New Hair Institute when Dr. Bernstein was working exclusively with us. Therefore, the photos should be on his site as well as NHI’s site.

Update: We are constantly asked about the effects of Low Laser Light Therapy (LLLT) for hair loss. A man who used the laser on our office showed me the impact of the laser on his hair with before and after pictures. He went to a company called Laser Hair Solutions, which uses a proprietary laser (we have one in our Los Angeles office) and a series of solutions which are religiously applied to the scalp. Minoxidil is one of the agents in the solutions that are applied to the scalp. I would like to say that I can tell which of the treatment solutions worked to increase the evident thickness shown in the photographs, but knowing that minoxidil alone could do it (a 3-15% chance of good growth with minoxidil alone), I can not attribute the benefits completely to the laser or to the minoxidil. I have reviewed a substantial number of publications (mostly European) on LLLT, and there is a good basis to show that LLLT does increase blood supply. Possibly when LLLT is added to Minoxidil, there is an additive effect. With that said, the results on this one patient are quite remarkable in just 90 days of using the combined treatment. Again one might ask, would the same effect have occurred with either the laser or minoxidil alone? This man was thrilled and only noted that ‘the’ treatment worked.

The below 1st set of photos were taken on October 10, 2005 before laser treatment. Click the photos to enlarge.

The below 2nd set of photos were taken on January 9, 2006 after laser treatment. Although I did not take these photos, a comparable set of photos were taken by me which essentially show the same effect as those taken on January 9th. I am comfortable that the photographs show what this man saw and is not a trick of the camera or lighting. Click the photos to enlarge.