Category: Uncategorized

Girlfriend just said to me “what if you started balding by shaving your head first” immediately followed by a “hair transplant”

This is not your girlfriends head, its yours. You should decide what you want as if she didn’t exist because whatever you do or don’t do, you will have to live with it.

I have showed you two views of the same hair transplanted patient. Please note that the frontal hair grafts have 2 or more hairs each and the temple peaks are straight as if drawn on by a ruler. This is relatively fresh surgery but when it grows out, anyone will tell this is an abnormal hair transplant, poorly done. It was done in Turkey by someone who just didn’t understand what a hairline is supposed to look like. He got a bargain price, but when he looks in the mirror when it grows out, it may not be worth the bargain.

Can I Swim After I Have SMP?

You have to wait about 3 days before you go swimming (ocean, lake); however, if there is chlorine in the water (typical swimming pool) you should wait at least 30 days to be sure there is no connection between the pigment and the water. When SMP is properly done, the pigment settles below the epidermis within 30 days, so the chlorine from the swimming pool can not reach the pigment. Chlorine can bleach the pigment and change its color. Ocean or lake water should be fine.

Hi, for the last ten months I’ve been having diffuse hair loss all over my scalp. Both top and sides of my head. My hair line has not receded. Within these ten months, I would say that I’ve lost about 60% or more of my total hair. All of the hairs have the small white bulb at the end. I’ve gone to a dermatologist and he suggested that it might be TE or MPB. I then went to an endocrinologist and had some blood work done. I came out having slight hyperthyroidism and I show many of the symptoms.

It seems that my hair loss has continued the same. I have slight hair regrowth but it tends to fall and my hairs still have the white bulb at the end. this problem began in june ’09 and I had been under a great stress two months prior. I am now 19. I have been on methimazole for about a month now and I am really anxious to try propecia. Do you believe this to be TE or MPB? Thank You.

I really don’t know what you’re seeing, so I can not recommend anything without checking out the hair loss for myself. My examination would include Miniaturiaton studies and bulk measurement with a HAIRCHECK instrument. I need to make a diagnosis and to see the distribution of your hair loss and knowing what you mean by hair loss over my entire scalp, does not mean anything to me from a diagnostic point of view.

The patient who wrote this some years ago was not too far from my Los Angeles office, so i suggested that he should come to our office for a free consultation. My office at 310-553-9113 (or 800-NEW-HAIR). If he had been from out-or town, I would have suggested that he see a local dermatologist to start, get his/her diagnosis and then if the diagnosis is not nailed down, try a telephone consultation with us by sending good pictures (which will be held confidential) and then get an opinion from us. This patient made a diagnosis on himself as diffuse alopecia, If this is the case, we could refine that diagnosis and determine if it was diffuse patterned alopecia or diffuse unpatterned alopecia. The former diagnosis is treatable while the latter diagnosis may not be treatable.

When I was RAPIDLY balding, I was losing up to 100 hairs a day, mostly in the shower. After finasteride I lose ZERO hair in the shower, and none that is noticable during the day.

Do not use that statistic to think shedding 50-100 hairs in the shower is somehow normal. It is not, and I do not care what this random statistic that is quoted everyday says. If you have this much loss then you need to start treatment ASAP if you want to keep your hair.

Try an experiment, dye one of your long hairs and see if it lasts 3 years. I’l bet you won’t see it in 3 years, or less. All body hairs cycle from a growth stage to a sleep stage and fall out during the sleep phase. We lose about 50-100 hairs a day and replace that number with new hairs each and every day.

I have FUT surgery scheduled in late late December. I am planning on taking propecia in Mid-November..so is this long enough to prevent shock loss. I do not want to go through this shock loss that others have reported.

The longer the better, but 4-6 weeks should cover you. Even a shorter period will work, but taking it is critical particularly if this is your first hair transplant and you are under 30 years old. Shock loss is most common in young men and after the first hair transplant. Stay on the medications until all of the results are achieved and then consider staying on the drug for life. Talk with your doctor about this.

Dr. Rassman:

Prior to reading this, thank you for your time. Your insight and knowledge is of great appreciation.

My situation is as follows:

I started propecia, was on it for a month, then underwent a HT of 1,900 grafts mainly in the front hairline. I continued to use propecia for 2 more months and began to experience some serious sexual side effects. I stuck it out for another 3 weeks however the side effects continued so I stopped the propecia. The sad part is that the propecia began to halt my hairloss however I could not deal with the sexual side effects.

Sadly my hair is shedding. After another apt with my hair restoration doctor, he suggested I take Avodart 0.5mg twice/week. He had mentioned that some of his patients who were having side effects from Propecia took the Avodart bi-weekly, (due to the drugs long half life) and were able to halt hairloss but did not experience the side effects which I was experiencing from my daily 1mg Propecia regiment. I have read all of your posts in regards to Avodart and I understand that it is not FDA approved nor do you prescribe it to your patients.

My main question to you and issue at hand:

I know that when people start taking Avodart they experience a shedding phase which generally kicks in after the first month or two of starting the drug and can last a few months there after. My first question – If I am only taking the drug twice a week and have only been off of propecia for 4 weeks will I also experience a shedding phase? I am confident that the shedding phase is the transition to a greater good…as the weaker hairs fall out months later they are replaced by stronger, new hairs. My problem is that I am in the entertainment industry and will be starting a one month taping of a TV series from June 30th-July 30th of next year. I would like to have as much hair as possible by that time so would I be better off waiting to take the Avodart after the taping is complete, or should I start now and hope that the avodart will not cause a drastic shedding phase and help me stabilize the hair that I currently have? I guess this really comes down to a game of timing.

It will be 14 months since my HT when the taping starts in June so I am hoping that the transplanted hair will already be full by then. Also, most of the hair that I am losing is from the front hairline and temples. The crown seems to be doing ok.

Thanks again for your time and I would also be interested in undergoing a transplant with your team following the taping.

I really do not have a clear answer to your situation. In general, Propecia or Avodart will not be as effective on your front and temple areas. They each work best on the top/crown areas of your scalp. I do not know if you will have more or less shedding as everyone has different results, different side effects, etc. Shedding isn’t seen by all men that start the medication. Really, only time will tell and there is no clear way to predict this.

It would be interesting to know if Avodart did indeed change your sexual side effect issues, as I would expect that it would not make it better. There’s not enough reported about Avodart dosing in the treatment of hair loss for me to suggest that bi-weekly pills are the way to go.