Category: Other

Dear Doctor Rassman,

I have a question concerning this post- Tinea Capitis / Ringworm Scars

In this post you said there is a genetic test that can test if you have the balding gene…

I have been struggling a long time with the thought of getting off propecia. My situation is that i have DUPA, and do not know if i should continue with the medication, being that it is very expensive and i do not see any thickening from it. Would you recommend i also take this test? and why isnt this suggested to anyone who is unsure of their hairloss situation?

While the genetic testing for male pattern hair loss is novel, you don’t need a genetic test to be diagnosed with genetic male pattern baldness. A good physician can give you a diagnosis and a recommendation for treatment plan. I do not know the relationship between diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA) and classic genetic hair loss. We know very little about DUPA, but if we had 100 or so patients take the genetic test and all of them were positive, then we may learn more.

With regard to the post you referenced about ringworm, the genetic test (if normal) would rule out that patient experiencing genetic hair loss, so I would approach him differently without worrying about the impact of genetic balding on his problem. On the other hand, if he is positive for the hair loss gene, there is no assurance that he won’t bald as he gets older, so it would just confuse the situation and certainly not help in building a Master Plan for him in a worst case scenario.

I commend you for doing your homework / research, but be sure that you have a competent doctor overseeing your hair care. There are lot of subtleties that you may not be aware of and no amount of research or BaldingBlog reading can substitute for a physical exam by a qualified physician.

From the article:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, making his presence felt amid speculation about his health, has lashed out at football players sporting long hair, a Japanese newspaper said Monday.

The bouffant-haired dictator was outraged at the hairdos while watching a university match and ordered all men to go clean-cut, the Mainichi Shimbun said in its evening edition, quoting an unnamed source close to the regime.

Read the full article at Yahoo News UK

The story goes on to say that the dictator’s reasoning was because he couldn’t tell if he was watching a women’s or a men’s football (soccer) match since some of the players had long hair. Some may say clothes make the man, others feel the mane of the lion indicates it’s might… but if you can’t tell the difference between a man or a woman because of the length of their hair, you should perhaps consider never telling anyone, ever.

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Dr. Rassman,
My mother saw your picture and she says you’re very handsome. She says you look a lot like Lenny on Law & Order. She also likes your mature hairline and salt and pepper hair.

As a single, dating man, I always like to hear that kind of stuff. I don’t think I have a resemblance to the late actor Jerry Orbach from Law & Order, but I’ll take it! Thank her for making my day.

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Hi, I’m trying to figure out if I’m balding or not. I’m a 24 year old male (Korean), with thin and straight hair. I recently heard a “good” test is trying to pull on hair and see how many come out. I pulled (relatively hard) on my hair on the top of my scalp and got about 5 hairs to come out. After that, I tried to do it again, and got about 2 hairs to come out, once again, pulling pretty hard, but not ripping it out. I did it again, and got about 2 more hairs to come out.

Is this normal? Did I pull too hard? I still have a little tingly feeling on my scalp from all the hair pulling. I tried searching through your blog, but couldn’t find an answer. Thanks for all your responses.

I realize there is such a thing as a hair pull test, but this is used to identify hairs that have moved out of anagen and into the telogen cycle (read about the hair cycles). When gentle traction is placed on a group of 50 or so hairs (pull test), if more than 10% of the hairs come out then that would indicate there are hairs in telogen, and the condition we call telogen effluvium is present. Genetic balding does not give you a positive pull test.

I generally do not subscribe to the hair pull test for genetic balding. If you pull to the point of pain, you are pulling too hard. Aside from it being variable and not very scientific, the patients would likely be mad at me for pulling out their hair. The “good” test is a microscopic assessment of how each of your hair shafts look under a microscope, and seeing what the variability is around different parts of your scalp. That is in essence a miniaturization study.

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Let’s say broccoli does help as an anti-androgen, for it to be the most effective, would we have to eat it once a day, once every few days, once a week, other?

Any anti-androgen will maximize the effects with more frequent use. Try breakfast, lunch and supper if you can handle it.

Hi doctor and a big thanks to you and your team. Im very interested to know at least to tell me how many hair cycles there are. i read somewhere there are 14 in another place there are 25-30 and i like to know not the exact number but for something close. where is the truth because i have been doing a little experiment. i had a single hair divided from the others, i mean theres not another hairs around this one and it keeps falling and falling and it has surpassed the number 20 of cycle and it keeps showing after some months before being full mature it will fall off again and im so confused. pls help. i will be glad for ur response and thank before very very much

The answer is not so simple. If you average 4 years for a cycle and there are 30 cycles per human (as an example) that would mean that your hair will last 120 years. Unfortunately, our cycles get shorter as we get older. How much shorter depends upon your genetics, so you see, nothing I just said is solid enough to hang your hat on. We tend to preach that hair has a 3 year cycle, but how do we really know that? The answers are illusive. Sorry!

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I have naturally brown head hair. This summer, however, my hair has turned light brown and even blond in some spots (the bangs). I am a 15 year old male. This has never happened before and I am wondering if it is permanent.

The human pigment created from the melanin in our hair follicle for brown haired people is a pigment called eumelanin. If you produce a lot of the brown eumelanin, your hair will be brown, but if you produce only a slight amount of it, your hair will be blond. Maybe your brown eumelanin production is less as you get older. This is almost certainly a genetic predisposition of having a lighter colored hair and a change in the pigments that your hair is producing. Being in the sun can bleach your hair to a lighter color and turn a light brown color into a blond color.

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