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About 3 months ago I found one little spot on my chin which was bald. I asked my dermatologist about it and he told me that hair will grow there by 2 to 3 months. But the spot is now increasing its area and it looks very odd. Also I don’t have any sign of fungal/bacterial growth in that area. Can you give me some idea of what it could be? Disease? Allergy?

Without seeing you, it would be a complete guess. Alopecia areata is a possibility if there is no fungal infection present, such as ring worm. If your dermatologist was dismissive, you can try seeing another dermatologist.

According to the article in Circulation, March 18 “Most US children start life with optimal cardiovascular health (CVH), but it declines substantially over time.

“Our findings indicate that, in general, children start with pretty good blood pressure. But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels,” senior author Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, said in a news release. Dr Lloyd-Jones is professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. “The better we can equip our children to make healthy choices, the more cardiovascular health will be preserved into adulthood. And those who preserve their heart health into middle age live much longer and are much healthier while they live,” he added.

I remember a study where autopsies were done on Korean war dead. The finding, to the best of my memory, was that there was advanced cardiac atherosclerosis in most of them (most under the age of 21). When correlated with more modern times, a new study “shows that the rate of American service members with signs of coronary artery disease has declined sharply in the last half century, falling to roughly 1 in 10 military personnel today from about 8 in 10 during the Korean War. The findings came as a surprise to some researchers, who expected that the nationwide rise in obesity and Type 2 diabetes, including among young people, might have led to a similar trend in heart disease in the military. But instead it appears that national reductions in other risk factors for heart disease, like hypertension, smoking and high cholesterol, have had a greater effect on cardiovascular health.”

What is the lesson here. Start your children with a conscious focus on a proper, healthy diets. It may not be reversible if they eat poorly for years, so the best gift you can give your children is the gift of a good diet and hopefully a long life.

The front line is very straight and seems to have two hair grafts in the frontal hairline, something that will make it look less natural. In addition, all of the grafts are lined up like soldiers, far too orderly as normal hair is randomly distributed. Did a doctor with experience do this surgery. If not, please let me know the details.

The frontalis muscle is responsible for the folds on your forehead and it gives me anatomic location for where the juvenile hairline belongs, as it usually hugs the highest crease and is concave. The mature hairline is one finger breadth above the highest crease in the midline and then establishes a gentle V- Shape so I can tell if the changes are maturing or recession and how much recession.

Hi Dr. Rassman,

I’m 22 and I’ve begun the early stages of balding, no doubt about it. Nobody in my known family has begun balding as young as I have.

In the past 5 years, I have been through severe emotional trauma; watching my dad wither away and die from a rare form of cancer, dealing with my mom’s substance abuse problems and a suicide attempt from her, and struggling to live on my own. I have had severe depression and suicidal thoughts recurring.

My question to you is: is there any way this stress could have brought about the expression of my balding pattern younger than I would have if I had a healthier mental health record, or would bad luck in genetics be more likely to blame? Thank you in advance.

Stress related balding is different than genetic balding. Stress related balding is likely reversible. For genetic balding, there is no cure… but there are adjuncts such as medicine and surgery.

There is one catch: stress can precipitate genetic balding earlier on. BUT you have to have the genetic trait to bring this about.

Finally, while genetic balding is considered hereditary, it does not have to mean your immediate or distant family must have balding. In simpler words, the gene may have been ‘silent’ until it came to you.

Dr. Rassman,

I understand that hair loss is understood to be a dominant trait. I also understand that men can be homogeneous dominant or heterogeneous. Would it be fair to say that main with homogenous genes are the ones to lose their hair early? say in their 20s and 30s, while men who are only heterogeneous dominant lose their hair later in age? say their 40s and 50s, I was just curious because I figured that maybe men who have a double gene are the ones more likely to have severe hair loss. Or does it not matter either way?

Regards

Hair loss is not a dominant trait. If so, a bald man’s sons will all be bald — which is not the case. What you are describing is a classic Mendelian type of genetic inheritance. The expression of the genetic factors also often skip generations. The hair loss gene(s) is not so simple to categorize and no one really knows how many genes are involved with hair loss.