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Hair Loss from Anesthesia?

I am 27 years old and female, and I have always had really thick hair. Around 6 months ago, I started noticing my hair was coming out a lot when I washed, or brushed it. My hairstylist also noticed, and asked me if I had surgey, and if I had anestisia? I did about 10 months ago. I was wondering if that could be linked to it? I have also noticed that my eye on one side feels like it is straining if I look side to side or up or down, and I have expierinced migraines frequently lately. So, maybe it is stress. Either way, your imput would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, the stress from anesthesia and surgery itself can cause hair loss, but it is temporary most of the time, particularly for women. In term of anesthesia, I am not certain if the anesthetic chemical itself causes direct hair loss or just the stress associated with the surgery, although I think that the stress may be a more significant factor in predisposed women. You may have female genetic hair loss and mapping out your scalp and hair for miniaturization might help establish or rule out this diagnosis with objective measurements. Repeating the analysis may have value after 6 months has passed if the first measurements are not definitively able to make the diagnosis.


2006-01-19 12:29:40Hair Loss from Anesthesia?

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Transplanting Chest, Leg, and Thigh Hair

I have read some doctors preaching the use of chest and leg hair for hair transplants. I have also read your comments and general lack of enthusiasm for this. What is behind your strong opinions against this?

Scalp hair is better understood and tested for over 50 years. Although the art form has only been reasonable for the past decade or so, the facts concerning hair growth from a scalp source as donor hair are well understood. It is always important for me to inform patients about their risks, expected growth rate, and reasonable results that they should target. We have no body of evidence that hair taken from body or leg parts will work to any reasonable degree, but there seems to be (as P.T. Barnum said) a sucker born every minute. I do not want to be part of such a process, at least until it is clarified as something real.

In the book by Elise A. Olsen, Disorders of Hair Growth, the rest cycles of hair are stated. Although I can not attest for the science of these figures, let’s take them at face value for a moment and see what it means if correct. All hair cycles go through various growth phases, so the length of these growth phases are critically important to understand. For head hair, growth cycles range from 2-7 years, with a sleep period of 3-6 months. Generally it is believed that head/scalp hair is in its resting phase for about 10% of the hair population, which means that of all hairs growing on the head, another 10% is lying dorment awaiting its growth phase.

  • Leg hair has a cycle between 7-12 months, but between 62-88% of these hairs are in their dormant phase.
  • Thigh hair has a cycle of 3-5 months, but between 64-83% of these hairs are in their dormant phase.
  • Arm hair have a cycle of 3-7 months, but between 72-86% of these hairs are in their dormant phase.

With chest, arm, and body hair, the above numbers suggest that there is a large number of sleeping follicles at any one time. If this is true, then there will be questionable value from a hair transplant using these body parts from fullness or coverage point of view. Add to that the pain of hundreds or thousands of small wounds created all over your body might produce. I wonder about the doctors who are routinely performing this type of surgery and ask about their motives. I have concluded that any doctor who offers this must let his patient know that this is not a tested procedure, falling in the experimental rather than the clinical hair transplant offerings. I’d also hope they reveal the figures related to sleep cycle of the hairs from the various body parts as discussed above so that their patients are well informed.

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Hair Loss from Propecia

Hey. I’m 20 years old and I have also had a further back hairline, but only on the side. it looked fine. A year ago i asked my doctor about it because it was a little thin on the right side and he prescribe propecia. Well i had been taking propecia for about 8 months every other day, when all of the sudden my hair was coming out like 15 hairs at a time. when i ran my fingers through my hair tons came out. I lost about an inch and a half on my hairline in 2 to 3 months. My hairline was fine before but it was just thin on the right side. It crazy its bother me alot. So i quit taking the propecia a little less then a month ago. I mean i cant even grow facial hair. so it feels weird that im losing my hair. PLease help. Could this be temporary?

Dealing with someone like you over the internet is very difficult or almost impossible. As I have said many times on this blog, you first need a working diagnosis. Getting your hair and scalp mapped out of miniaturization should at the least establish a proper diagnosis. Having someone with my experience, for example, is critical in making the judgments you need. Questions that stand out for me include:

  1. Are you going through accelerated hair loss?
  2. Do you have other causes of hair loss?

I would want to go through an extensive history on your overall health and the family tree in terms of balding, hair growth (when and where), etc. Get a good doctor and do not treat yourself. It has been said that “A person who treats himself, has a fool for a doctor”.

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Transplanting Just the Temples?

First of all i would say that i appreciate your website and the information you give.

Im am 33 years old and still have a fair amount of hair. Lately I am bother by my temples, its not bald but it’s not what it used to be.

Last year (september) I started to take propecia to keep the hairs I have. I am now thinking of taking a hairtransplant to insert some hairs in the temples to make it full again. I don’t think I will need a lot of hairs or grafts. What is your opinion about a hairtransplant for the temples? I am afraid that if I do it now maybe later on the hairs ‘behind’ the temples will fall out. Of course I dont want a hairtransplant to make me look like 20 again but just some hairs added to the temples. Do you think its wise to do that considering im now 33 years old?

First, I want to make sure you’re talking about the temple peaks on the sides of the head, and not the corners of the hairline (many people refer to the corners of the hairline as the “temples,” but that isn’t right). So assuming you’re talking about the temple peaks (the prominences above your ears), then I’d have no problem transplanting those if you didn’t show miniaturization on the top of the scalp. If you meant the corners of the hairline, I’d need to see what your loss pattern is looking like.

Your question is a good one, because sooner or later you will bald behind the hair transplants if your hair loss pattern is still progressing, which is why the Master Plan is created by you and your doctor with the primary focus of keeping you always looking good. Really, the best way to answer this question is to be seen by a good hair transplant doctor who doesn’t just want to take your money.

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Hair Loss History – Dr. Scott’s Electric Hair Brush

I’m always receiving emails about weird hair loss products that claim to do things they can’t possibly do. I’m sure most of you know this isn’t a new phenomenon, and so I decided to search for some historical hair loss “cures”. Turns out, the scams that exist today aren’t that much different from the quackery of 100 years ago.

In the late 19th century, Dr. George A. Scott was an advertiser of brushes for teeth, skin, and hair that claimed to cure everything from hair loss to headaches. I found a couple of ads for his Electric Hair Brush with some outrageous and ridiculous assertions that I thought the readers of this site would get a kick out of. But first, I wanted to learn more about the man behind the “inventions” and about the actual brush itself. For that, I turned to a fantastically informative site called American Artifacts.

From the American Artifacts site —

Dr. Scott’s Electric Hair Brush. One of the more famous quack devices of the 1880’s, advertised in Harpers Weekly and other popular magazines. Dr. Scott’s 1881 patent claimed merely several magnets embedded in a plastic material and a mold for holding the bristles, which are also embedded in the hard rubber. There is the usual crack across the handle – the metal rods embedded in the thermoplastic material and running the entire length of the brush prevent the handles from breaking. Marked “No 5” and “Dr. Scott’s Electric” on the underside of the handle, and “The Germ of all Life is Electricity”.

The image above is one advertisement I came across from 1882. There’s a larger and more detailed version available here.


2011-01-20 16:35:05Hair Loss History – Dr. Scott’s Electric Hair Brush

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Travel for Hair Transplant Surgery?

Hello Dr. Rassman,

As you seem to be the leader in your industry (in my opinion, at least), I assume many patients travel from afar to see you. Do you treat Canadian residents? I am in the eastern part of Canada, and while there seem to be some good surgeons in my area, I feel a visit to you is my best option. Any thoughts about this? Thank you.

Yes, I can treat any patient that sees me from any part of the world. We also offer a travel discount for surgical patients. Before we arrange that we should have a telephone consultation and that works best if you send me photos so I can see what your problem areas are. If you’d like to setup a phone consult, you can fill out this form so that someone on my staff can get back to you to schedule it and get those photos.

Here’s the info about the travel discount from our website:

    “If you live more than 150 miles from the office where your surgery is performed, you are eligible to participate in our travel program. NHI will reimburse you for up to 5% of your net procedure cost for reasonable transportation expenses incurred while traveling to one of our facilities for a seminar, consultation or procedure. If you drive to one of our facilities, you can choose to be reimbursed for either mileage or gasoline expenses. If you fly to one of our offices, please note that frequent flyer miles are not reimbursable. NHI can only reimburse you for your flight-related out-of-pocket expenses. In all cases, please remember to provide receipts. In addition, you will receive one night’s stay at a pre-selected area hotel at our expense. This program is based on a minimum procedure fee of $3,000.00.“
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Hair Loss Misdiagnosis

I am a 25 year old male with dark and curly hair. Some family background: My father has no hair loss, but has a high hairline. Possibly NW2/NW2A. My paternal and maternal grandfathers both experienced Male Pattern Hairloss around the age of 60. My maternal uncle is an NW2 but has no other hairloss. My younger brother (age 23) however while having a higher hairline than mine has definitely experienced noticeable frontal hairline recession in the last year. Around October of this year I became concerned with my hairline after getting a shorter than normal haircut. I usually wear my hair medium length and longer in the front which completely covers any visibility of my hairline. I expressed concern to my parents and a few close friends at the time and all of them said I had no noticeable hair loss, and if anything maybe had receded a tiny bit at the hairline. I did make an appointment with my PCP to check it out but ended up being scheduled to see another doctor at the last minute. I had never seen this physician before and she said that she could not give me an answer about hair loss because she had never met me before nor had she seen my hair. She ordered blood tests which all came bak normal. I went on with my life. During the months of December and January I experienced extreme emotional stress and more sleep deprivation than normal as a result of the new job I started around Christmas time. Around February I got another haircut, and shortly afterward felt extreme itching and burning at the back of my head right where the occipital bone meets the top of the neck. My rommate had a look and said that it looked very red and inflammed. I made an appointment with my PCP and met with him a few days later. I described my symptoms and my thoughts about possible hair loss. He had a look all over my head and asked if I had a history of thin hair or anything while also noting redness on below my occipital bone where I had experienced the itching. I said no because people have always told me I have had thick looking hair. His diagnosis was that I had “Age related hair loss” on my hairline and “possible” thinning on my vertex crown. He said he could not be sure. I asked if this meant I had a mature hairline or was undergoing male pattern baldness. According to him there was no way to tell either way until it gets worse/if it gets worse. He spoke to me about minoxidil and finasteride which I was already familiar with after extensive research online. However he said in my case it was much to early to start on either of these treatments. I left the office not feeling entirely convinced of his diagnosis. Later after going online and seeing examples on forums of men who were thinning at the crown and hairline I became very stressed and thought that if I possibly had thinning this may be a sign of mpb and should begin treatment immediately. I emailed my physician and asked him if it were possible to get a referral to a dermatologist for a second opinion. He said of course but that either way the treatment for hairloss would be finasteride/minoxidil and didn’t see the benefit of seeing a dermatologist. In fact he prescribed me Proscar and said I could begin using Minoxidil if I wanted to. This was a bit over a month ago and since that time I have been using both medications. However, since that time I have continued to have itching, bumps, and pain all over my scalp (even down my neck) and ears along with what seems to be a rash on my ears. Also, in speaking with my mother and others it came to my attention that I had apparently always had a cowlick near my crown and that it looked exactly the same as always which may have been what the doctor was talking about when he discussed my “possibly” thinning crown. That said I apparently do have a more noticeable line of thinning hair behind my head in between the vertex crown and my neck which the physician apparently didn’t notice. However after looking up pictures online I don’t really see any examples that look similar to the thinning pattern I have behind my head. I am going to continue using the medications advised my my pcp until my dermatologist appointment which is scheduled a little bit less than a month from now however I can’t help but feel a little wary in regards to the medical treatment/advice I’ve received up to this point.

My questions are:
Would Finasteride/Minoxidil have an effect on my hair if I didn’t in fact have MPB? I now find 1 or 2 hair strands when running my hands through my hair for a time. Sometimes more. However, I know that Minoxidil is said to cause an increase of shedding 1-3 months after initial usage.

2. How often do you find cases where patients where misdiagnosed in regards to their hairloss?

3. Is a line of thinning below the rim of the crown along with itching/pain in the scalp, ears, and eyebrows something you see in patients with genetic hairloss?

4. Do dermatologists often do miniaturization studies or hair bulk measurements? I know from reading many of your answers to questions that this is the most crucial part of measuring possible hairloss, and am worried my dermatologist will either not have the equipment to do those measurements or not know how to do them period. I live in Seattle and there are not a great deal of hair loss specialists nearby, and none of the HT surgeons I’ve looked up seem to be highly recommended.

The simple fact is I cannot diagnose your condition. If you think you were wrongly diagnosed, see another doctor. Genetic Male Pattern Balding is not a difficult diagnosis to make. Having a small microscope to look at your scalp helps for a miniaturization study but this is not always necessary. Propecia does not work for non balding patients and Norwood 2 is generally not considered balding as it more reflects the impact of a maturing hairline than genetic balding in most men.

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Triangle of Hair Missing in Middle of the Hairline

hi,what is it called when the hairline is kind of an inverse widow’s peak – when there’s a little spot (maybe triangle-ish) of hair missing right at the top?

i’ve been googling to no avail and it is rather worrying me as i am only 16 years of age ,male. i have very thin hair aswell but only because i have straightened it for the past 2 years so i am not sure as if that has somthing to do with it

Assuming that you have not damaged the hair from straightening it, some people have irregularities in the frontal hairline that is normal and genetic. These irregularities can be fixed with a transplant into them to reshape the hairline. At 16 years old, I am not sure that you are a candidate, but you should be examined by an expert if this is something that you want to do.