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Back when I had hair girls used to flirt with me and tell me how good looking I was. Now women see the bald head and don’t give me a second glance. It’s as if their minds are seeing my head and picturing their children with me coming out bald with a Norwood 6. Before I didn’t have to say more than 3 words to get a woman interested in me, but it takes so much effort now.

Society has always discriminated against men with balding. It goes back over 2000 years when tuberculosis was running rampant producing balding men because they were sickly. That set up a connection between balding on one side with a sickly man, and a healthy vibrant hairy man on the other side. So the norm has been propelled for centuries and it is somehow ingrained in our culture. Men wore wigs or hats to hide their balding so women wouldn’t be able to tell. Met wore top hats in the late 1800 and early 1900s. Today we wear baseball caps. We are still victims of this culturally, unfortunately.

We received a lot of emails about last week’s post — I’m Suicidal Over Losing My Hair at 18 Years Old! — and I wanted to share this one with the rest of the community.

Dr. Rassman,

I read this blog regularly and when I read your post yesterday about a young man dealing with suicidal thoughts, I had to write in.

Young people out there need to understand that they have options but doing something drastic (like a transplant at 18) years old or worse (harming yourself) only eliminates options. I came to your office last year young, scared and anxious about hair loss myself. I was convinced that things were only going to get worse, but a year ago there wasn’t a hair bulk analyzer or A Cell. Imagine, just a year later and suddenly I am hearing about all these innovations. Maybe I overreacted?

It is amazing what happens when you take a deep breathe, research your options and gain a little perspective. I was given great advice by the doctors at NHI and they were words I needed to hear. Hair loss still bugs me but I now have every option open to me because I did not jump into a rash decision and young guys (I am 25 and empathize with you) need to understand that, just because you are not happy with what the mirror is showing, it doesn’t mean you can’t be happy ever again.

This is not the end of the world. Balding doesn’t rob you of your vision, your hearing or your overall health. This young man still has eyes to see the world, ears to listen to wonderful music and a capable body that can laugh, love and live. Getting a quality doctor to help you deal with your problem will keep you from being a slave to your hair and will help you get on with living.

While most of the emails (and comments) had positive messages of support, I felt the above email perfectly expresses what many compassionate people relate to. Thank you for writing.

The evidence I’ve compiled indicates that Donald Trump exhibits a Norwood Class 5-7 balding pattern (the Class 7 pattern is depicted below). It appears that he underwent multiple surgeries, leading to the relocation of much of his remaining hair to conceal the frontal and top areas, albeit with limited success. Since Propecia was not available when he underwent scalp reduction surgery in the early 1990s, most men undergoing such procedures or hair transplants before 1997, when Propecia first came to the US market, experienced accelerated hair loss progression. Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, this would likely result in the development of an advanced pattern, such as the Class 7 pattern illustrated in the following graphic.
“New York City-based cosmetic surgeon Gary Linkov believes that the politician may have undergone five separate hair-transplant surgeries” (https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-five-hair-transplants-gary-linkov-1832991). I know that Donald Trump received Scalp Reduction Surgery sometime in the early 1990s when this barbaric surgery was a standard treatment for hair loss found in the top and crown of the head. I know its barbaric nature because I had three of these procedures over 90 days. By its very nature, Scalp Reduction Surgery attempts to surgically remove the bald area, stretching and thinning the donor area (the rim of hair around the head). Add to that the claim by Dr. Linkov that he believes that Trump had 5 hair transplant surgeries, likely in 1990 (before FUE was invented), suggests that most of his residual native hair (that should reflect a rim of thick hair going around the back and sides of the head) was moved into the balding area, thereby depleting his natural rim of hair from his balding pattern.

Photos of Trump boarding Air Force One reveal that the back of his head doesn’t seem to have much hair, suggesting minimal hair in that area where he should have had a strong rim of hair 3 inches high. Additionally, recent footage this week shows exposure of his frontal hairline, a characteristic often associated with wigs (hair systems). It’s common for such hair systems to be secured using glues, weaves, and hair clips. Considering the cumulative evidence of (1) the lack of hair at the back, (2) the exposed scalp in the front as what appears to be the lifting of his hair system from environmental factors like wind, and (3) the use of clips behind the ears used to secure a hair system in place, (4) the effect of multiple hair transplants on a Class 5-7 patterned balding man’s rim of hair, and the difference in color of the side hair (gray) from the top hair (blonde), it’s reasonable to conclude that Mr. Trump likely uses an expensive hair system. This system may involve gluing it to his scalp, weaving it with residual native hair, and using hair clips to secure it on the sides, where most of his remaining hair is likely located. Such hair systems often require regular adjustments every 2-3 weeks to accommodate the growth of native hair and then reattaching them. The hair is synthetic or human hair used to make hair systems and is often fixed on a lace platform, which is then glued to the scalp. The effects of these ‘lace’ systems are very effective if you maintain them properly. I have seen him pull back his hair in front of a camera on a late-night TV program that looked completely normal, consistent with a lace hair system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above photo reference showing his frontal scalp, see here: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/concerns-raised-for-trump-s-hair-after-it-is-seen-flapping-in-the-wind/ar-AA1nHveb?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=2dc0422ef6d34569b9baf6f70de0fac9&ei=32

 

Below are some other interesting posts on this subject:

 

 

Redness in the recipient area occurs in some people with fair skin, red hair, blonde hair, and other people with sensitive skin. It will eventually get better. Just be patient.

If you are concerned, go see your doctor and he/she may prescribe a special type of topical steroid that might accelerate the disappearance of the pink color.

In 27 years of doing hair transplants, it does not look as bad as what I have seen in many patients with the skin and hair types that I described above.

Finasteride is not known to cause acne. A report in a study of females showed that finasteride reduced the incidence of acne in the females studied

Finasteride is known to decrease sperm count. Although, even with a low sperm count, you can get a woman pregnant. If there is a problem, get a sperm count if you are on finasteride.

Since they kept on growing for a month after the hair transplant, before the shedding period started, that should mean the grafts survived well, doesn’t it? If it is this way, then I know I have nothing to worry about, but I can’t seem to find any information to confirm this.

The normal state for grafts is that they appear to grow immediately after a hair transplant but are not actually growing because what looks like growth is really the body pushing out the hair from the grafts to their full length, usually between 5-8 mm plus the length of the hair above the skin at the time it was taken. So the apparent length depends on how long the surgeon kept your hair length when he did the FUE. After they shed, they restart growth in sometime between 2-4 months after the shed.