Category: Other

Although this post isn’t hair loss related and it is about an article that is nearly 2 years old, this is an important read for those who buy into the antioxidant solution to anti-aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and the like. The question raised here is whether you can get these antioxidants from pills or do you have to get them from fresh fruits and vegetables?

Snippet from the article:

Cranberry capsules. Green tea extract. Effervescent vitamin C. Pomegranate concentrate. Beta carotene. Selenium. Grape seed extract. High-dose vitamin E. Pine bark extract. Bee spit.

You name it, if it’s an antioxidant, we’ll swallow it by the bucket-load. According to some estimates around half the adults in the US take antioxidant pills daily in the belief they promote good health and stave off disease. We have become antioxidant devotees. But are they doing us any good? Evidence gathered over the past few years shows that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health. At worst, they may even have the opposite effect, promoting the very problems they are supposed to stamp out.

Full text at NewScientist — The antioxidant myth: a medical fairy tale

i had to move out of my home due to fungi spores outside home was over 5000 and was consuming the inside of new home also. i am very allergic and had to be put in hospital, i have been on flagyl for 3 wks now and i still have bacteria,and fungi internally and on scalp. is it normal to constantly pass black and red dots from scalp and is this scalp fungus? going bald,and intense itching for 6 months now. please give any suggestion. thank you so much

It sounds like you have some serious issues. I would follow the recommendations from the doctor who is treating you. It is impossible for me to give you any medical advice over the Internet, as I am not your doctor. I can only give general opinions as a doctor. I do not know what “black and red dots” you are passing on your scalp, and I would have to see them to get an idea of what you’re talking about. It certainly does not sound normal.

Again, you need to ask these questions to your doctor who can actually examine and see what those “black and red” dots are. Sorry.

i am 18 years old i have dark brown beard and i layed out in the sun for about 10 minutes and noticed when i looked in the mirror my beard lightened to a lighter brown. I Dyed my beard black a couple times using just for men beard dye and i got a very bad reaction and a burning sensation on my mustache and now every time i try to grow a mustache it looks tinted with blonde and very weak i did this in october of 2007, Do you think i have permantly damaged my roots or is there anyway i can grow a healthy mustache again or anything i can take or rub on it that would help, please i dont look right without a mustache i need any help or advice anyone can give me thank you.

Any bleaching of the beard will be short lived if you shave, as the new hair growing out should be your normal color. I don’t know if you burned your hair with chemicals as they may be one of the few ways to get what you seem to be describing. Best to see a doctor.

From Reuters –

A new study of more than 5,000 men calls into question the idea that baldness can signal a greater risk of heart disease.

Dr. Eyal Shahar of the University of Arizona in Tucson and colleagues found little difference in the heart attack risk between men with full heads of hair and their balding peers. Hair loss also wasn’t related to thickening of the lining of the carotid arteries, the main vessels that supply blood to the brain. An increase in the lining of these arteries, known as carotid intimal-medial thickness, is a warning sign of atherosclerosis.

The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. To read the rest of the article, check out — Study debunks heart attack-male baldness link.

If Nitric Oxide the supplement is a vasodilator, and so is Minoxidil, does that mean that taking the NO supplement would have the same effects? You answered a question and said NO would not haev any effect on hair loss. How is this contradiction explained?

If there is a vasodilator effect of nitric oxide, it has nothing to do with the impact on the hair growth cycle that I know of. Minoxidil works such that it probably impacts the growth cycle of the hair follicle, prolonging the anagen phase. Nitric oxide has not been studied for hair loss and we do not know what it does to the hair cycle.

Whew! I was just reminded of a huge milestone that I wanted to point out — BaldingBlog launched 3 years ago yesterday, on April 6, 2005!

Judging by the amount of growth this site has seen in recent times, not to mention the HUGE amount of emails we receive each day, I’d say we’ve got a good thing going here. This site started as an experiment of sorts, and the response has truly been overwhelming in just three short years. Although we simply can’t post every single question received, I do hope we’ve been able to provide some help and possible comfort to many of you.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support!

William R. Rassman, MD

Medical Director and Founder, New Hair Institute
Senior Editor, BaldingBlog

From the press release —

Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ:LUNA) announced today the discovery that a nanomedicine prototype aids in the growth of new hair follicles. Scientists at Luna’s nanoWorks Division in Danville, VA, have been developing a portfolio of new candidates based on antioxidant nanomaterials which could lead to a platform technology for treating a wide range of diseases. “One of our new nanomedicine prototypes, after only two weeks of treatment, was found to increase the number of hair follicles fourfold in mice which are born genetically hairless,” said Robert Lenk, President of Luna’s nanoWorks Division.

Hair growth is a process that normally depends on the regeneration of tiny hair follicles. Hairless mice have a mutation that results in atrophy of hair follicles a few weeks after birth. The hair does not regenerate. The gene responsible for the mutation in the hairless mice has been identified, however the biological processes that cause the follicle to atrophy are not well understood.

Luna is working with scientists at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences to further pursue their discovery in the hope of identifying a therapeutic aide to potentially treat male pattern baldness. In addition to hair loss due to heredity, Luna’s discovery may also aid in hair regeneration for loss due to other medical conditions.

Full text here — Luna Discovers Nanomedicine Prototype Affects Hair Growth

All the news here is good news, at least for hairless mice. This is where much of the research starts, so let’s hope that more good news will follow in the years to come.

This isn’t about hair loss, but I’m the curious sort and I figured you might be familiar with this. I’m a blond guy in my 30s, good health, no hair loss that I can tell, but I have a mole on my shoulder that grows a single black hair. The mole has been there for as long as I can remember without growing larger and I don’t think I have anything to worry about as far as cancer. The mole hair seems to grow faster than the rest of my body hair and is an obvious different color and texture. Why is the hair different like that?

There is clearly some different genetics in play here and that is the best answer I can give to your question. If you don’t like your single dark hair, you can have it removed or burned with electrolysis. The mole can also be surgically excised for cosmetic purposes.

When I read the question I thought you were going to ask about moles — the mammal. I knew that moles have a high hair (fur) count. Here is what I found on the web:

Mole Hair – Sometimes considered pests, moles are often trapped or hunted for their fur, which is quite unique. Soft, velvety, and very fine, mole fur is especially adapted to facilitate the animal’s underground movement in any direction, smoothly lying down no matter which way it points. Thus, when mole pelts are made into coats and other fur products, the fur can be brushed in any way the designer or owner chooses. Quite valuable, demand for mole fur has caused significant population declines in some areas.

Also I found out that the Alaskan Fur Seal has a huge hair count of 350,000 hairs per square inch when compared with the human as 1250 hairs per square inch. That hair count keeps them dry (water can’t get through it) and warm (a great coat).

Oh come on, I can have fun — it’s April Fools Day!

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

Dr. Rassman,
Sorry that I write you all the time. Have you read the news about the man who regrew his whole finger tip using a drug called ACell which vets use on pets. Why couldn’t this be used on humans to regrow our original DHT resistant donor supply after it is transplanted. My request might be a little far fetched but I believe someone is willing to be your guinea pig for an experiment like this. Thanks for everything you do.

I did a Google search on the subject and found this article from the Associated Press and posted to FOX News last year —Scientists Regrow Human Fingers. However, I don’t know any more than you do by reading such an article. There is no breakthrough that I can surround from the medical releases. Everything is experimental. The photos in that article showed the pulp of the finger on the palm side is what regrew. This is not a regrown finger like the examples that they gave on salamanders that grew limbs.

Like you, I read this material with great anticipation that someday we will see such breakthroughs available to us all, but I couldn’t say when that might happen. Note that the focus is not on hair, but rather on body parts and spinal injuries. That will become the first and second application that will be approved… not hair.