Category: Other

Hello Dr. Rassman
This man who died last year had hair 20 feet long. How did it ever reach this length, i thought anagen phase was only 7 years. Or is it just fallen hair dreadlocked to attached hair. here is the link — OddityCentral.com

Indeed, that is odd. One explanation is that Tran Van Hay (the man with the longest hair) was stuck in a castle waiting for a prince to rescue him.

Another explanation is that while the anagen phase may last as long as 7 years (rate of hair growth at 1/2 inch/month) and produce approximately 4 feet of hair length, if the hair at the catagen/telogen phase (when the hair disconnects from the scalp) was intertwined with the hairs that remain in anagen (growth phase) the hairs will add length. This would create a dreadlock of sorts, but each strand will stay intertwined with the growing hairs. Note that in the photo at the right, that isn’t a hat he’s wearing.

My 114 year old grandmother (she actually lived to 114) had hair that was many feet longer than the 4 feet limit discussed above. I wasn’t yet a doctor when I saw her hair taken out of the bun she had it in. As a hair specialist today, I know that 6-8 feet hair length is not possible. Her hair was washed on rare occasions. When it was washed, it was a festive event when granddaughters worked to unravel her bun and let the hair fall to the floor. The hair was washed with soap and water (not shampoo or conditioner) and rung out by hand, but it was never brushed or combed. In hindsight, I believe I witnessed the hair “dreads” that formed from the failure to brush or comb the hair, where the hair that was growing had meshed with the disconnected loose hair. I remember that her hair was never aggressively combed or brushed, just washed and rung out and then allowed to dry on its own. Those were the days before hair dryers were common in the home (I remember this was in the 1960s, when she was already in her hundreds).

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

A Texas construction worker badly disfigured in a power line accident two years ago has received the nation’s first full face transplant at a Boston hospital.

More than 30 doctors, nurses and other staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital led by plastic surgeon Dr. Bohdan Pomahac performed the 15-hour operation last week on 25-year-old Dallas Wiens of Fort Worth, Texas. He was listed in good condition at the hospital today.

The electrical accident in November 2008 left Wiens blind and without lips, a nose or eyebrows. In Boston, doctors transplanted an entire new face, including a nose, lips, skin and muscles and nerves that animate the skin and give sensation. The donor’s identity was not disclosed nor would the hospital say exactly when the surgery was done for privacy reasons.

Read the rest — Boston Hospital Performs Nation’s First Full Face Transplant

An amazing story of perseverance. The problem that this poor man has is monumental, as is the surgery and the recovery process. His attitude and drive make him unique. We all wonder how we would respond to such an injury, asking ourselves if we are fighters or quitters?

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

A quarter of doctors who know that a colleague is underperforming or incompetent do not sound the alarm, a confidential survey reveals. They fear retribution, believe that no action would be taken, or assume that someone else is dealing with the problem.

Martin Roland of the University of Cambridge and colleagues confidentially surveyed 3000 US and UK doctors in 2009. The results suggested that almost 1 in 5 doctors had direct experience of an incompetent or poorly performing colleague in the previous three years.

Read the rest — Doctors fail to report incompetent colleagues

In the March 12, 2011 issue of New Scientist, the journal quoted a University of Cambridge survey of 3000 US and UK physicians regarding their feelings about the competence of their colleagues. Poor performing colleagues who create errors in patient care reflected an alarming 21% of practitioners in the US and 13% in the UK!

I suspect that these numbers are far worse in fields of medicine like hair restoration, because of the absence of peer review of the activities of these doctors. I could name names, but because of the legal system in the US there is no protection against slander lawsuits lodged against me… so instead I speak loudly about the problem and report to the medical boards those physicians who I know are involved in illegal and immoral acts against patients.

When you have chemo what happens to the hairs that are in the resting state after chemo finishes?

The hair starts to regrow as new hair buds enter the anagen phase of hair cycling.

I heard of a technique where your own bodily fluid is injected into the male pattern balding spot and is supposed to grow hair. Can you tell me what you know about this treatment? Is it for real, is it permanent, is it for the frontal part of the scalp etc.?

I don’t know of injecting body fluid (???) in your scalp to grow hair… but I do know some clinics offer platelet rich plasma (PRP) into the scalp in hopes it will provide faster healing after a hair transplant. Some dentists use it for faster healing after a dental procedure. I asked a few dentist friends, one of which is a professor at UCSF, and she believes PRP is controversial even in the dental field.

In the end, this method has never really been proven to grow hair on a bald scalp. If anyone can find a well controlled study for hair growth from PRP, please let me know. Some doctors charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for PRP, but I remain a bit skeptical. The patients we’ve viewed in the office haven’t had the results their doctors promised.

I am an 18 year old male who’s hairline has receded recently. I would consider myself a Norwood 1.5 on one side but the other side still maintains its juvenile perimeter. Due to my paranoia, I recently attempted to initiate a homemade miniaturization test. I plucked a hair from the corner of my receding temple and from the vertex of my head and found the corner to be slightly thinner. I then proceeded to compare with hairs on the sides of my head and hairs on the sides of my vertex. I found them all to be thinner then the thick mane that runs through the dead center of my head all the way to the hairline.

My question is, is it normal to find hairs to be slightly thinner on sides and corners than the very top of head?

What you are doing on a one-hair-at-a-time basis, is what we do for a 1 square inch area that will clearly define your hair bulk and find out with accuracy if you have less bulk on the sides than on the top. You should have good numbers (metrics) put to your observations and then you will be able to tell what is happening. If what you’re noticing is confirmed by measurements, then I’m really at a loss.

What you’re describing is unusual and almost the opposite of genetic male pattern baldness (which would mean the top thins while the sides remain thick). An examination would be critical for me to draw any conclusions at all.

Hey guys I hope you are doing well. Could one of you please explain the pros and cons of trying out a PRP only treatment for Diffuse Patterned Alopecia. The pictures you see on line look like the treatment is beneficial, and it seems like if done on a yearly basis it could really help in the uphill battle which is hairloss.

I’ve still yet to see a shred of evidence that platelet rich plasma (PRP) will benefit those with alopecia. I’ve written about PRP before.

In non-hair-loss-news:

A French father-of-two is to take GlaxoSmithKline to court on Tuesday, alleging the British firm’s drug to treat Parkinson’s disease turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict.

The 51-year-old’s lawyers say their client’s behaviour changed radically after he was first administered the drug in 2003 for the illness, which causes tremors, slows movement and disrupts speech.

Read the full story — Man claims Glaxo drug made him ‘gay sex addict’

That’s a hell of a side effect. The drug in question is Requip (also known as ropinirole).

Announcement:

This week, we’re going to take a break from publishing new content so that we can re-feature some of our favorite archived posts that didn’t get the attention we thought they initially deserved. We’ll post 2 or 3 longer articles from the archives each day.

For nearly six years, we’ve posted new blogs every weekday (excluding holidays)… and we don’t intend to stop. Not to worry, we’ll have new content again starting next Monday, February 14th, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day.

As always, thanks for visiting! The first archived post will be up in just a bit…