Category: Uncategorized

CDC recommends young women avoid alcohol unless they are using contraception

USA Today (2/2, Szabo) reports, “Women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol unless they’re using contraception, federal health officials said” yesterday. “‘Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant,’ said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Schuchat pointed out, “About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won’t know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking.”

The Washington Post (2/2, Izadi) reports in “Health & Science” that “an estimated 3.3 million women who drink are sexually active but not on birth control,” according to a CDC report released yesterday. In addition, “three out of four women who want to get pregnant don’t stop drinking alcohol when they stop using” contraception. The agency “warns that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders,” and “there is no known amount of alcohol that’s safe to consume while pregnant.”

Hair transplant surgery, or in fact any surgical procedure has the potential to harm a fetus in the first trimester of pregnancy. For women who have such surgery and are not on birth control pills, they should get a pregnancy test BEFORE undergoing any such type of surgery to avoid miscarriages or other fetal problems.

What does that mean in terms of my donor area as I had 2000 grafts?

The grafts used from the donor area are lost forever. There is no regeneration of the donor area Most people do not deplete the donor area in a single hair transplant. I would certainly go back to speak with your doctor and ask your doctor why it failed. I can’t give you any explanation other than to say that most failed hair transplants, in the absence of dermatological autoimmune diseases, are technical in nature. A 2,000 graft FUE procedure can be 30 percent of the average Caucasian’s donor supply and 40% percent for Asians as they tend to have less overall hair. From the picture below, it looks like your donor area has been maxed-out and FUE would not be possible going forward based upon what is seen in this picture showing very significant donor site depletion. To me, this reflects that you had a significantly lower than normal donor hair density before this process was started. Your surgeon should have told you this before he recommended FUE. Now with your donor area so depleted and a failed hair transplant and a see-through donor area which will not go away, you don’t have many options. Any more FUEs will only make it worse and this donor area can’t possibly yield enough hair to give you any reasonable transplant result. The only solution to this problem is the use of Scalp Micropigmentation which will make your donor area ‘look’ normal and it also might help the recipient area but you would have to see an expert in this area to fond out more about your options. See here for the limits for FUE surgery defined in one of my previous post in the Hair Transplant Forum: https://baldingblog.com/2017/07/21/many-fue-grafts-many-fues-grafts-one-know-safe-limits/ and here for information on Scalp Micropigmentation: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/

I currently have been taking proscar for 9 months and have still been thinning out. Im confused as to wait a year, when it hasn’t been working? Some people even say 2 years?. I guess what I am asking is how likely is it that I’m just a late responder ?

The drug finasteride (Proscar., Propecia) takes time to work. A year minimum, For young men, it is patience that you need. Sometimes it looks like it is not working but it may be slowing down the hair loss and without it, it might fall out faster

I have developed bleeding and many pimples in my recipient area 3 months after my hair transplant.

You might have an infection or cysts from the surgery. Go back and have your surgeon examine you, culture the drain these cysts. Lance pimples that are large and then commence treatment if needed.

Heya doc, I was told to shoot you a message and get some advise. Thanks in advance 🙂 I’ve had recession for the past few years, but honestly, it’s been very slow and hasn’t bothered me that much – I kind of like it how it is, even. The last 6-12 months have been very stressful, with the end of a relationship and losing my job. Recently, I’ve noticed the top/front of my head is looking quite thin, but still only noticeable in harsher light, or if I’m looking closely. I felt it’s getting worse and more noticeable though. I was told this might be diffuse thinning? I’m not really sure what this means. Is it the same as MPB? It’s not like this at the back/side. I can’t see any short/new hairs coming through. I suspect its just MPB but im not sure if stress could have exacerbated it. I also had a habit of scratching/scraping my scalp while stressed.

age 18: https://i.imgur.com/Xxqxwxw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RBnNTkS.jpg

age 24 hairline: https://imgur.com/a/3KToSwb https://i.imgur.com/nVX1gUg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/yOCcGgWl.jpg

age 24, detailed close-ups: https://imgur.com/a/iEnRotm

I’ve ordered Finasteride and Minox. I should be starting them next week and going from there. My family history of baldness is alright. Most men have some balding at 40+, but no one has started balding at my age. I’m open to a transplant in a few years if I think it would benefit me. I was curious if I could have additional hairs transplanted in places where I would likely continue to lose hair down the line in order to preemptively fill them in?

Young men often slowly develop thinning that will eventually lead to some balding pattern. What I do in my practice is perform a HAIRCHECK instrument test to determine the amount of bulk hair loss that your photos do not show. This gives me an objective measurement before I start treatment as shown in this man: https://baldingblog.com/2017/09/15/follow-haircheck-test-5-years/

How long did it take for others to see return to baseline hair?

If you progressed over a year with your balding, then you can assume that the drug finasteride, didn’t reverse it. The real question is did it slow down the loss process. Without stopping it, you won’t know but if you stop it and the lose hair from stopping it, the hair you will lose in the first 3 months may not return if you go back on it. Damn difficult problem. If you are old enough, hair transplants are the solution. Combining it with minoxidil often makes for a better outcome.