Category: Uncategorized

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Black Mold and Hair Loss

Everyone in My House Is Losing Head and Body Hair. We Just Found out That There Is Black Mold in the House, Could This Cause It?

Black mold can cause multiple health problems and it is common in many homes, more common than most people realize. I don’t have any real experience with Black Mold other than what I read. Best to start off with your family doctor as both your living quarters must be addressed as well as the health of everyone exposed to the black mold.

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Severe Pain at the Donor Area Months After My Hair Transplant

Hello doctor. My question is an honest one and one that hasn’t been asked before.

I had a hair transplant 2 and a half months ago but I still have a lot of pain above the linear scar (when I press it) and also the sensitivity on the top of my head in terrible and is constant. It’s like my hair is being pulled. My surgeon said in 17 years he has no idea what is causing it and never had this problem before. There is also a gap of about 10mm where the scar is and said he said to me he can do a scar reduction in a year. I am so sorry I had this procedure done as the pain is not letting up.

It sounds like you may have a scar entrapment (nerves squeezed by scar) or damage to the occipital nerves in the scarred area. I have had patients report symptoms like what you’re describing when they had a nerve entrapment. Sometimes, a scar will form around the occipital nerves just from the strip surgery, or the nerves could be mechanically damaged, or even partially or completely cut.

Doctors who will examine you will look for something we call a Tenels’s sign, which simply produces some of the symptoms as the doctor taps the area above the nerve. Surgery is a last resort to fix the problem if it is just induced by the scar. If the nerve is cut completely, a surgery most likely wouldn’t help.


2013-12-05 10:06:54Severe Pain at the Donor Area Months After My Hair Transplant

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Exercising After a Hair Transplant

First of all, a great blog – so thanks and I hope you get lots of patients from it!

I’m a 35 year old male. I had a hair transplant 10 days ago (1400 grafts) and am due to have my stiches out on day 12 (the doctor said that 10 days is ideal – but today’s a Saturday).

I’m a regular gym-goer and would like to know when I can hit the gym to my usual intensity. My doctor said that I should exercise only lightly initially. But I’d like to get back to my usual heavy weights. When would you generally say is safe to lift heavily?

Many thanks!

Exercise after hair transplant surgery is a concern for many people who are physically active and want to get back to their normal routine. You are facing two risks after a hair transplant:

  1. The risk of losing new hair grafts from scratching or rubbing the skin of the recipient area. If the hair and scalp are washed well after surgery, the risk of graft loss after 3-5 days is small, as the risk occurs as long as the scabs are present.
  2. The incision in the donor area, which is primarily closed by sutures or staples. The body takes 3 weeks on average for the wound to be reasonably secure. The healing of the incision of the donor area follows a general wound healing process that is standard no matter where the wound occurs. The process of healing starts from the moment the wound is closed. The body lays down the supportive infrastruture of fibrin from which the stroma for a secure would builds. Any vigorous activity should be avoided within the first week and then any aerobics can be done as long as the wound is not stressed (no heavy weights at all). After 2 weeks, the strength of this newly healed skin is not anywhere close to its final level, but between weeks 5 and 6 it reaches better than 80% internal strength. You can probably start your regular aerobic activities after the first week (the sutures should hold the wound together), but no weight lifting should be undertaken for 4-6 weeks. The process of wound maturation takes up to six months after the surgery.


2006-12-13 14:44:01Exercising After a Hair Transplant

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Shaving head with FUE

If you decide to shave your head after a FUE hair transplant, will it look stupid/horrible (owing to all the scars in donor and recipient regions) and, if so, can this be countered with SMP?

You might see the white scars from the FUE punch. That would call attention to your hair transplant.

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Eyebrow Transplants

Can you transplant an eyebrow?

Yes, eyebrow transplants work nicely. There are a series of problems that hair taken from the back of the head causes when it is moved to the eyebrow:

  1. It will grow long, so it must be cut on an angle a few times a week.
  2. It may take on the thickness of the hair behind the head. If the eyebrow has finer hair, than this might be a problem.
  3. There is always a risk of a change in character of the hair itself (unusual).

I love doing eyebrows on men, as most men want bushy or wider eyebrows. For women, we must be selective and sensitive to hair type. The photos below are of one of our male eyebrow patients who just came back a little over a year after his transplant. On the left is the “before” photo, on the right is the “after” photo.

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Shedding on starting finasteride

What’s the normal, to-be-expected shedding during the first month on finasteride? Mine is at least 30 hairs every day, and even though I knew some drawback should be expected, I’m getting a little worried. Is this really normal?

Shedding indicates that you will respond to the drug. Keep going

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Fantastic Results from Finasteride and Minoxidil over 2.5 years (from Reddit)

There is no substitute for dedication and persistence as this young man shows. His results are better than a hair transplant at almost no cost. Although this man did not state his age, I suspect that he was significantly under the age of 25 as the younger you are, the better changes are that finasteride will reverse his hair loss. Congrats!

*Finasteride journey updated (added minox.) from tressless

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Shock loss from another hair transplant

After experiencing shock loss so dramatically from my first hair transplant, would another hair transplant in the next two years cause more shock loss to happen of my current native hairs too?

Usually not. The shock loss knocked out the miniaturized hairs that were the cause of the shock loss.

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Fear of Finasteride and Fear of Losing Hair

Hi doctor, I’ve sent you a message on Reddit and you told me to send you an mail.
I’ll try to be as brief, as hard as it is, about my situation is this:
I’ve basically had really good hair all my life, at least till I turned 18. I want to say I have a good hairline, and a fairly good crown. My hairline hasn’t receeded much, if at all, for the past few years. My main problem is that my hair is thinning in in a very unusual pattern. Since I had long hair, in most of my teenage-hood, it was hard for me to even notice it was thinning – the long hair usually masked it. I found out when I got drafted ~9-10 months ago and had to get a buzzcut – that’s when I noticed some spots on my head are significantly thinner than the rest of the head. Especially at the middle-front of my head, there’s practically a hole of seriously thin hair. However, growing my hair to 4-5cm in length is enough to mask it. The thing about my thin hair is that I don’t notice any shedding, and a year a go it seemed perfectly normal. If I run my hand through my hair it will usually take out 0-3 hairs. Same in the shower. I even remembered worrying about my thin hair before I got drafted because it used to look really bad when it was wet, but when I googled it people said it’s perfectly normal.
Basically, I want to get on Propecia, but I am terrified of the side effects, especially since it will be harder to monitor while I’m in the army, which is for at least a couple more years, but I don’t want to wait until then.
The reason I’m so confused is because:
1. The hair is thinning out in a very strange fashion.
2. The thinning doesn’t seem very aggressive – my hair is maybe slightly thinner than it was a year ago.
3. I remember noticing the back of my head was fairly thin, but this was 3+ years a go. It’s as if my hair is thinning in episodes, I don’t even know anymore.
4. I have or had lots of bad skin conditions, like acne, inflamed pores on my face, and the most dominant is seborrheic dermatitis, characterized by red, flaky patches on my entire face and scalp. I used to treat it with Ketozol.
Would love to hear what you have to say, really, any honest opinion would help me so much as this thinning has been wrecking my mental health as of late. I don’t know what to do anymore. I would really appreciate your help.
Thanks ahead,
The chance of sexual side effects are only 4% at most; however, you can talk yourself into these sexual side effects all too easily, then it would be 100%. It is tied to your attitude. Most of my patients take the drug when I recommend it and very few get sexual side effects (about 2-4%). Statistics are what they are, and they are reliable. Most men take their daily pill and don’t notice anything. Nonetheless, reading the many negative posts certainly doesn’t help, but the statistics should help you put the sexual concerns into perspective.


2018-06-22 13:30:12Fear of Finasteride and Fear of Losing Hair

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Should I Be Proactive?

Dr. Rassman,
I have been figting the good fight (against Hair Loss) for years. I first noticed thinning temples, and a “thin-spot” on the front middle section of my head, around the age of 19. I saw this as a warning sign(since my father is very bald)and began using propecia when I turned 20. I know that this led to a thickening of the ‘thin-spot” and a slow down of thinning. I managed to maintain my hair between a norwood II and III throughout my twenties. After many years of peace I am noticing a renewal of the “thin-spot” and new thinning in scattered areas like the temples and sides of my head. Some of these areas were not a an issue before. I find myself stressed out by styling and seeking new hair products. I worry that I could quickly become a Norwood III – IV if I don’t take action as I did when I turned 20. I would like to explore all options and I am very interested in Dutasteride. I like having hair… although I don’t look like I did when I was twenty anymore, I would like to keep/possibly thicken what I still have. Should I visit you at NHI? I would rather visit proactively than for a transplant later.

Thanks

I have an office in San Jose (where noted as your location) and would be happy to map your scalp for miniaturization and make a diagnosis. I would not rush off to non-approved drugs for genetic hair loss if that is what you have. Let’s get a diagnosis first and go from there. Proactive is good. If you would like to setup an appointment, you can call 800-NEW-HAIR or visit my Request Info page.


2006-05-24 08:52:54Should I Be Proactive?