I have been diagnosed with Folliculitis Decalvans, can I have a hair transplant? Hold until mid-september

Folliculitis Decalvans is a terribly aggressive disease. I have seen this appear in a couple of patients over the past 27 years in practice and it is difficult to manage. I would consider an alternative like Scalp MicroPigmentation which will not be aggravated by this disease.

See here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/bold-shaved-look/

You seem to keep your hair cut short and that means you would be an excellent candidate for this procedure as it will cover all of the scarring on your scalp.

folliculitis decalvans

 

Suicide from Hair Loss

We’d both be 19 if he was still here. We were pretty alike. Both were studying together. Life bummed him out but not that much. Then hair loss hit. He started losing hair all over his head. Every doctor just said it was aggressive hair loss. His worries become amplified ten fold. Everything bummed him out, he wouldn’t leave his house. I wake up one day to my mum telling me that he hanged himself in his room when everyone was away. Nobody talks about how hair loss made everything worse. I understand depression plays a huge factor but it would have never happened if hair loss treatments were not complete bull shit. Guess what though? Now i’m going through the same thing. Rapidly losing my hair and people are noticing it. My own parents won’t even look at me the same way. Can the industry get its act together? I want to live. Why can’t people understand how balding screws up your mind at a young age.

Hair loss can be treated and today, with modern technology, almost every person can get the hair that they are losing back when in the hands of an experienced, ethical and skilled doctor. There is no hopelessness with balding, not at all. Yes, our industry may not focus well on people like you and your friend. I, for one, have had too many young men in your situation and I spend a lot of time with each of them. Most of the time I am successful in bonding in a positive way to impact their depression; however, depression needs professional help. I had one young man commit suicide after being mutilated by a hair transplant doctor with the old plugs and many scalp reduction surgeries. I knew about him because his mother and I bonded over his management, but he lived far away and a phone connection was not enough. When his mother called me and told me the terrible news, I felt that maybe I should have flown out to see him or send him the money to come to visit me in LA, Hindsight does’t help. Hair loss just adds to the depression that already exists in such young men and I keep seeing young men voice their depression about hair loss and relate it to hopelessness.

Forehead Lift and Hair Loss in Female with Frontal Fibrosing Alpecia

I’m so fearful that I made a bad decision about having a forehead lift because I, too, am losing lots of hair from the top and sides of my head. I am 7 weeks out and panic struck because I am starting took bald around the incision. It looks like I have cradle a cap that is starting to come off and the surface is raw underneath. I’m using Silvadene on it. My surgeon keeps saying that it’s all fine, but I look horrible. The suture line has not healed yet. I do have a condition called Frontal Fibrotic Alopecia. Oddly enough, the hair transplants in the area are growing!

You are fortunate that the hair is growing since this disease can impact much of the frontal hair. Hair loss is not uncommon after any facial surgery in women.


2018-06-22 09:42:38Forehead Lift and Hair Loss in Female with Frontal Fibrosing Alpecia

Swelling after hair transplants

Does swelling always happen and then gravitate to the eyes like mine at day three? My doctor’s pitch to sell me this procedure was that in his hands, swelling never happens. So I selected him and now I am swollen just 3 days from the FUE I had done. Could this swelling have been stopped?

Yes, swelling always happens unless God is your surgeon. Since I think that only humans do this type of surgery, your surgeon could have done two things to stop the impact of the swelling:

(1) use a steroid at the time of the surgery, and

(2) use a tape on the forehead to prevent the swelling from moving from the upper forehead into the eyes.

Swelling after a hair transplant

Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia – FFA (Commonly Found in Women) – (Photos)

This woman had hair loss and went to a surgeon a few years earlier who recommended surgery. Her condition is a clear diagnosis to a doctor with experience, a disease called Fibrosing Frontal Alopecia, which will cause any hair transplant to fail. Although this occurs more in women then men, it does occur in men and an astute doctor who is knowledgeable is critical before you get a hair transplant that will fail if you have this condition.


2020-01-11 07:37:05Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia – FFA (Commonly Found in Women) – (Photos)

Switcvhing from oral finasteride to topical finasteride

If half-life of fin is 6-8 hours in the blood but 5-6 days in tissue (scalp) why don’t people apply topical every 3-4 days to minimize systemic?

Topical finasteride goes systemic. Perfect Hair Health has shown the relationship between systemic DHT level drops with higher and higher topical finasteride dosages as the effective topical dose increases. For men highly sensitive to finasteride, the standard topical finasteride will not change their problems by switching unless it is the liposomal preparation. Tissue levels remaining after stopping finasteride. Officially symptoms’ like sexual side effects should disappear within 6 days, but from my experience, it can last a month or more.

FUE Failures – Follow Up

This was a question posted in the comments of this post about FUE failures:

Dr…You mention the many small dot scars with FUE – does this just come with the territory or can a good DR minimise this? I have very fine hair which I like to clip quite short and as such would never want a strip procedure. I assumed that an FUE would be ok.

It comes with the territory. All FUEs produce punctate scars. Just as in strip scars, there are some people who heal better than others. Some of these people will stretch the punctate scars. In those that stretch the scars (particularly in people with fine hair) the larger the punctate scar, the more detectable it is with a close buzz cut. Fine hair just does not hide the scars as well as a coarser hair would. With these statements, I can not state with 100% certainty that the larger scars are strictly the results of the differences in healing.

There is another variable here that should be mentioned — the size of the punch. I believe that the smaller the punch used to extract the graft, the less likely the scar will stretch. The range of punches used today are from 0.5mm – 1.5mm. I believe that the punches which are under 1mm will usually scar less than those over 1mm; however, with that said I don’t have personal experience with punches over 1mm.

Dr. James Harris, who uses 1.25mm punches with the ARTAS FUE robot, tells me that the scars are not worse than those produced by using punches under 1mm, so as I respect his opinion, I report it here for you to judge. We use 0.9mm punches with our FUE procedures.


2012-10-10 10:52:43FUE Failures – Follow Up

Taking 2.5mg of Finasteride and Exercising

Hey Doc – I emailed you a while back and wanted to thank you for your response on the blog. I recently upped my dosage of finastride to 2.5 mg proscar after a 10 yrs of propecia (1mg), based on my HT surgeons advice. My hairloss had really progressed so this was a clear course of action. I intially had great results on proetica in my early 20s.

  1. My first question was related to dosing – I lift weights/workout intensely 6 days per week (often twice per day) and wondered if it would behoove me to split this dosage – 1.25 prior to weight lifting in the early evenings and 1.25 first thing in the morning, as recommended in your book.
  2. My second question was, does taking Finastride with a multivitamin, a vitamin C, a vitamin E, vitamin D, Potassium, Magnesium, and Calcium – all in seperate pills, and a protein shake (organic from non hormone cows) in the morning before I do some intense cardio (I eat no real food till I come back from the gym) have any impact on Finastride absorbtion/effectiveness?

I have read your book and realize it is ok to take Finastride with food but this may be a tad different.

Thanks in advance

  1. If you can keep up the regimen of taking a pill twice a day without forgetting, then go for it! Theoretically, it should give you a consistent level. Be sure to talk to your prescribing doctor to clarify this.
  2. I do not believe taking finasteride with your supplements or food or exercise has any real impact on its absorption.

FUE Questions

Hi,
I am seriously thinking of having a FUE procedure during the next 2-4 months. I’ll appreciate if you can please help me with the following info.
1. How do i know if i am a suitable candidate for FUE?
2. How long do i have to wait after the test to have the procedure?
3. how long do i have to wait after the surgery, before i can go about my business?
4. I see that you have a special offer going on now, what is the final per graft price after taking into account the travel reinbursement and your offfer?

There are many things to consider before deciding on any hair restoration procedure. I’ll answer your questions on FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) first…

  1. At NHI we use the FOX™ test to determine if you are a candidate for FUE. The FOX test lets us know how easily viable grafts can be extracted. If there is a high percentage of viable grafts, you would be ‘FOX positive’.
  2. The FOX test can be performed any time before surgery. There is no waiting period once you have had the test.
  3. Patients have different tolerances for surgery. Many patients go back to work the next day, others wait a day or two. As long as you follow the post operative instructions, you can resume your daily routine as soon as you are ready.
  4. The 2005 summer special fee applies only to traditional strip surgery. Travel expense reimbursement is up to 5% of the cost of the surgery.

Some of the other considerations to keep in mind are FUE is a good choice for patients who:

  • Need a small amount of grafts
  • Do not have an advanced balding pattern
  • Those who want to wear their hair very short
  • Those who have a very low donor supply, a scarred donor area, or very tight scalps
  • Patients who tend to heal with wide scars
  • Athletes who must resume full activity soon after the procedure

BUT, most importantly, continue to research, make sure all of your questions get answered, insist on seeing patient results in person, and make sure that you choose a doctor who has your best interests in mind.