Category: Uncategorized

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In the News – British PhD Working on Top Secret New Hair Loss Cure

Snippet from the article:

So keep an eye on Thomas Whitfield. The 27-year-old Oxford biochemistry PhD is working on a venture called TRX2 (derived from the Greek word for hair, Trichos. “The two for second – your second generation of hair,” he tells me). It promises to make “hair loss a thing of the past”.

Still in stealth mode as the intellectual property is in the process of being protected, Whitfield plans to have his “product and service” on the market within 12 months. His only guidance is that it is not based on “gene therapy” – an area being explored by several other British start-ups.

Full article at Telegraph UK

It is easy to make claims, but the proof will be in the product and the research that is released. The good news is that European patent filings are published 6 months after receipt of the application so we will all not have to wait 12 months find out what the secret is.

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20 Year Old Just Had a Hair Transplant to Cover a Scar

Hello Doctor,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I find your site highly informative and at times humorous. I’m a 20 year old student; recently I had a hair transplant (around
1000 grafts) at the back of my head to cover an old scar. Judging by my close relatives, I will not inherit hereditary baldness.

It has been four months since the transplant and the grafts are growing quite well. However I have fairly long hair and the growth is slower than I would like. Could I use minoxidl to boost the growth rate? Also can you please explain the initial loss of hair that occurs with minoxidil usage, what causes it?

Once again thank you for reading this.

I am pleased that you enjoy reading my blog and that your hair transplant went well. However there is not much you can do in accelerating hair growth. Rogaine / minoxidil will not boost the growth rate. As you are only 4 months from surgery, I would expect more growth over the next 3-4 months, so be patient.

With respect to the hair loss that sometimes occurs with the use of minoxidil, it is believed that the hair loss occurs from the “resetting” of the hair cycle.

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In the News – Doctor Convicted of Massaging Breasts to Cure Hair Loss

Oh boy. I’ve heard about crazy treatments to regrow hair, but this one is beyond compare.

Snippet from the article:

A mother has relived her five-hour ordeal with a sleazy hair doctor who was found guilty this week of massaging women’s breasts – 10 years after her attack.

Leading hair consultant Praminder Mankoo told his victims they needed stress relieving massages to help with their scalp problems but instead groped their breasts under the guise of ‘treatment’.

Full article here — Doctor convicted of giving patients breast massages – to cure their hair loss


2008-09-15 15:19:29In the News – Doctor Convicted of Massaging Breasts to Cure Hair Loss

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20 Years Old with Early Crown Loss, What Do I Do?

I am 20 years old and a few weeks ago I realized I have quite a big bald spot on my crown. So, 2 weeks ago I started minoxidil, finasteride, nizoral shampoo, .25 dermarolling (probably going to go ahead and buy a 1.5). I’m probably currently NW3 or NW4. Given that I am vertex balding at the age of 20 and started the big 3 plus dermarolling, how long before I reach NW6-7 area?

Many balding patterns that become develop advanced patterns often start first with the crown area at your age. As hair is so important, you should plan on managing it properly, first by finding a doctor who understands the concept of a Personalized Master Plan for your balding. Then get a basic HAIRCHECK test ( https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-and-what-its-value/ ), and if appropriate, go on medications to stop or at the least slow the hair loss down. At the age of 20, treatments work well when then are managed correctly. I can even do it through telephone consultations if you can’t find a local doctor at info@newhair.com.


2020-04-19 09:27:5020 Years Old with Early Crown Loss, What Do I Do?

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In the News – Gay Sex Addiction a Side Effect of Parkinson’s Med?

In non-hair-loss-news:

A French father-of-two is to take GlaxoSmithKline to court on Tuesday, alleging the British firm’s drug to treat Parkinson’s disease turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict.

The 51-year-old’s lawyers say their client’s behaviour changed radically after he was first administered the drug in 2003 for the illness, which causes tremors, slows movement and disrupts speech.

Read the full story — Man claims Glaxo drug made him ‘gay sex addict’

That’s a hell of a side effect. The drug in question is Requip (also known as ropinirole).


2011-02-04 09:30:17In the News – Gay Sex Addiction a Side Effect of Parkinson’s Med?

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2011 ISHRS Meeting Review, Part 7 – FUE Robot

ISHRS 2011

Note: The annual meeting of hair surgeons was in held in Alaska this past week. The following review is very selective and is biased by the things that were interesting to me and what I (Dr. Rassman) thought could be interesting to the readers.

This is part 7. More to come…

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Robot assisted hair transplantation was introduced for sale at the meeting.

    It had been approved by the FDA earlier this year. There was considerable excitement generated by doctors, however, the high price tag ($200,000 plus $1/graft) certainly dampened the enthusiasm. This meeting was a come out party for Restoration Robotics’ hair restoration robot, a very impressive modern technology. The company believes that hair transplants will follow other minimally invasive and more precise surgeries such at the robot assisted surgery for the prostate, the heart, the uterus, the lung, and on and on. The hair transplant robot is called Artas® system, and will clearly standardize the quality of FUE grafts and minimize the damage when used by surgeons who are not as skilled in the manual techniques as some of the more experienced surgeons; however, all three of the first surgeons to buy the robot are experienced in the field of FUE. Restoration Robotics wants only the best surgeons to purchase and use the system.

    One experienced hair surgeon, Dr. James Harris, has been testing the robot for some time for the company. Dr. Harris invented and marketed the most popular FUE harvesting tool (The SAFE System), which has been installed in over 200 hair transplant practices around the world. Although the two technique are comparable, Dr. Harris felt that the robot will minimize the tedium of doing the procedure for the doctor. I totally agree with him and I firmly believe that the new technologies like the robot will become the way of the future as FUE gains market share. The only question yet to be answered is “Who will pay for the higher costs of this procedure?“. As many of today’s hair transplant surgeons do not offer FUE, this opens the appeal for doctors to buy into the FUE technology to expand their service offerings. The unit is expensive, but should pay for itself easily in 4-7 years.

    The Artas® system will generate more interest in FUE and many newcomers in the field will start to offer manual FUE at discounted prices to kick-start their business. All FUE techniques and surgeons are not equal and new doctors without extensive experience are bound to create significant transection of FUE harvested grafts causing more than their fair share of hair transplant failures. Unfortunately, the average prospective patient who does not do their research may fall trap into the pricing competition. The results will be (1) high transection rates with graft kill, (2) failure or the hair transplant to grow in significant quantities, and (3) large scale destruction of the donor area hair (something that is never reversible). This, as I have said before, is a buyer beware business for the potential FUE candidates looking for a bargain.

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In the News – Health Canada Says Finasteride and Dutasteride Increase Prostate Cancer Risk

Snippet from the article:

Health Canada is informing health professionals and the public that certain prescription drugs may be associated with an increased risk of developing a serious form of prostate cancer known as high-grade prostate cancer.

High-grade prostate cancer is an aggressive type of prostate cancer that grows and spreads more quickly than low-grade prostate cancer. This type of cancer is rare, and the increased risk seen with prescription drugs finasteride and dutasteride is still considered very small.

New warnings on this risk have been added to the Canadian drug labels for finasteride and dutasteride products.

Read the rest — Prostate cancer risk could increase with use of hair loss drug: Health Canada

There it goes again. Like the pendulum of a clock, the claims on cancer swing in bother directions (positive and negative). The focus here was on 5mg dose of finasteride (for treating enlarged prostate), not 1mg that is used to treat hair loss. And the focus of the study was on the rarer high grade malignancies classified by microscopic assessment of a pathologist. These conclusions may not apply to the lower dose, nor may they not apply to the young men under 50 years old.

We’ve written about the possible finasteride/cancer connection before, most recently here:

  1. Propecia, the FDA, and High Grade Prostate Cancer
  2. In the News – Finasteride and Dutasteride Raise Prostate Cancer Risk
  3. More Opinions About Finasteride and Prostate Cancer Risk
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21 years old and just starting my hair loss treatment

So I went to a GP as I wanted to get a prescription for Finasteride. Of course the doctor had never heard of the drug and apparently he had never had anyone come to him about hair loss. He started reading about the drug online and asked if I had tried minoxidil. I told him that I have been on minoxidil for two weeks but I wanted to use both treatments together. He responded to this by telling me that I should only use one treatment at a time and that I would have to choose which one I wanted to use. I told him I’d choose Finasteride and he wrote me script for it. I’m still considering using the two treatments together as I can’t find anywhere that says there’s something wrong with using these two treatments together. Has anyone else heard of this before and do you think that I should still use Minoxidil and Finasteride together anyways?

Brief History: I’m a 21 year old male, started noticing my hairline receding 2 years ago, it has been receding very slowly ever since but my hair loss has progressed to the point where I need to stop it before it becomes too noticeable. No hair loss on the crown and all my hair is still very thick.

If you have a balding or thinning area already, using minoxidil on it in addition to finastetide is something I often recommend. I like to get a HAIRCHECK test on all of my patients to be able to measure the progression or the reversal of hair loss while you are under treatment.


2020-02-04 12:45:3921 years old and just starting my hair loss treatment

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In the News – Men Who Bald by 40 Years Old Are More Likely To Get Prostate Cancer

Snippet from the article:

Men who go bald by the time they reach 40 may be at increased of getting prostate cancer at an early age, according to new research.

Scientists who studied hair loss patterns in nearly 10,000 men found those who experienced receding hair lines early in life were more likely to suffer a tumour later on. The findings, by a team of researchers in Australia, support earlier studies suggesting baldness could be linked with prostate cancer.

The reasons why are not clear but previous studies indicate it may be due to higher levels of testosterone, the hormone which can trigger the development of cancerous cells but also inhibit hair growth. In baldness, it’s thought high testosterone levels have an adverse affect on the hair follicles, acting on a hormone receptor to slow down hair production.

Read the rest — Men who go bald by the age of 40 are more likely to get prostate cancer

There are relationships between crown balding and coronary artery disease that have been reported as well.

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Guest Article addressing addiction

Seniors in Addiction Recovery: Making Amends and Reclaiming Your Life this Holiday Season

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Photo Credit: Jessica Monte, Stock Snap

With the holidays approaching, we enter a time of the year when emotions can run high. The holiday season is meant to be festive and fun, but it is not always joyous. Sometimes parents do something that ruins the relationship with their children, and the holiday season is a painful reminder of the relationship that they lost. If you are one of these individuals, follow some tips to turn this year into the year that you make amends and reclaim your life and your relationship.

“Children, by their nature, want to love their parents. That longing never leaves,” says Huffington Post. There are many reasons why parent-child relationships become estranged, but reunion is always at least a possibility. However, it is typically not going to just happen. If you have made a mistake, you will need to make a solid effort to try to rebuild those bonds. For example, if you’re a senior who has struggled with addiction in the past, it’s not too late to make amends, even if your past substance abuse created a rift.

Making amends is a process, and you start by apologizing. Own up to your mistakes and shortcomings. Say that you are sorry and ask what you can do, if anything, to set right the wrong you did. Once you have apologized, you have to hold out hope that your child will forgive you and accept your apology. The timetable for that acceptance and forgiveness is not up to you, but is solely up to your child.

Let go of your expectations. Even if you apologize, there is no guarantee that you will be forgiven, and even if you are forgiven, your child may still not want you in his or her life. Remember that you are not apologizing so that the relationship will improve; you are apologizing because you are genuinely sorry and wish to portray that remorse. However, you should also remember that your sobriety and happiness do not depend on anyone else but yourself, so do not let your disappointment result in a relapse.

Try to understand how your child wants to receive love. People express and receive love in different ways, and if you want to work on mending the relationship, you have to “speak your child’s love language.” If your child equates quality time to love, then showering him or her with gifts will not show your love and may make your child feel as though you are not listening to or thinking of his or her wants and needs.

If your child is struggling to forgive you or welcome you back into his or her life, acknowledge that your child’s perspective is valid. You may wonder whether or not your child can see that you are really trying. While your child may recognize your efforts, that does not make his or her pain disappear. Accept this as a fact, and let your child speak openly about the ways in which he or she was hurt or is hurting.

If you want the relationship to prosper, then you must put in the effort to mend the fences. Even if your child is open to your apology and building a relationship with you, the work is still yours to do. If the relationship is truly important to you, keep working on yourself and reaching out in healthy ways. If you are doing the work, there is always a chance, and eventually, your child may respond positively if you’re consistent. While making amends isn’t easy, reclaiming your life, sobriety, and relationship will be well worth the effort.


2017-12-23 08:26:50