Category: Uncategorized

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Repairing Plugs

I had a hair plug transplant back in 1989 when I was in my mid-20s and desperately worried about going bald. My own hair is now thinning around where these were placed and they are beginning to show. I also have a scarring at the back of the head from the donor site. Is there any way back from this big mistake I made (the original treatment was for three sessions but I only had one after I realized fully what i had let myself in for). I’m now not bothered about being bald as such, so long as i can have a natural look. However, I am worried about these plugs (I did have electrolysis on them a few years back; is that the answer?). There is also the problem of the donor site. I can’t cut my hair short because the ‘holes’ would be exposed. Is a strand-by-strand hair transplant on a hair plug donor site possible? Is there any way of solving this??

Most of the tens of thousands of men who had these procedures prior to the early 90s are in exactly the same place you are in. We have developed techniques to fix these which I would recommend that you read in our publications in medical journals, particularly Art of Repair, Part 1 and Art of Repair, Part 2 . These articles and other material that can be seen on the NHI site have great illustrations of folks like you with similar problems. There are some wonderful solutions, but totally undoing the mistake may not be one of your options. If you are in California or near New York, we can arrange for you to be evaluated. Otherwise, look at the hair society website ISHRS.org for the names of doctors in your area that may be worth investigating. If you would like to send me photographs, I would be willing to give you an opinion. If you want to take me up on this, send photos and write to me at the email address on the Contact page.

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Restoring Pubic Hair in a 70 Year Old Woman

what can you tell me about restoring pubic hair in a 70-year old female?

At NHI, we’ve transplant hair to the pubic area in many women for whatever reasons they have. In a society where most young women are trying to shave or wax or laser off their pubic hair, we see older women requesting pubic hair transplants, as hair in the public area may tend to disappear with age in some women. As such, we do about 3 to 5 cases a year.

The last patient we performed pubic hair transplants on was a 60+ year old lady. She just called me a few weeks ago saying that the hairs have grown in and she is very happy with the results.


2007-12-17 16:42:29Restoring Pubic Hair in a 70 Year Old Woman

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Does Propecia Lower the Libido Immediately?

Hi, Just wanted to say that your blog is amazing! It’s helped me to answer so many questions.

Now i was just wondering, i started propecia on monday (2 days ago) and have there been any reported cases of lowered libido immediately after taking propecia which die down in the coming months? Thanks

If you have a libido side effect from Propecia, it might take weeks or months to appear… not a couple of days. The power of suggestion is very significant in those who get libido effects, so worrying about it is going to do more harm than you may realize.

Then again, I suppose the power of suggestion from reading this post may be in competition from the power of suggestion from other information you are inundated with.

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Resuming Activities After Hair Transplantation

How long after surgery can you wash hair and resume activities without fear of grafts becoming dislodged?

Other than heavy lifting, you can resume all activities in a couple of days after the transplant and run a marathon in 5 days if you like. Dislodging the grafts is not a problem after the second day, unless you do something like pick or scratch the recipient area. I am assuming that the doctor uses very small needles for making the recipient site. If the doctor uses large sites, then grafts can be dislodged beyond 2 days.

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Does Stress Aggravate Hair Loss by Elevating DHT?

Doctor,
I am turning 23 years old in May. I have noticed that I have been thinning on the back of my head around the vertex. The thinning seemed to have started this summer. After slightly noticing it, I asked my barber if he had noticed anything. He said that it has been relatively the same for the past 5 years that he has been cutting my hair. I have been monitoring the situation and noticed that it has thinned out a little bit more. Today when I got my hair cut, my barber said it seems to be thinning now. It is visible to me that I am most definitely thinning at the vertex especially after cutting it a bit shorter around that area. I have just entered pharmacy school and I am afraid that with stress elevated levels of DHT can affect my hair.

My question to you is, first, does stress aggravate hair loss by elevating DHT? Second, I would like to take Finisteride 5mg and cut it up into 4 pieces. That extra bit of Finisteride, is that ok? Lastly, should I use Minoxidil? My beef with that medication is that it is a vasodilator and I am afraid that I would have to use it forever, I would rather take Finisteride forever (or until I decide I just do not care). My hair loss is not noticeable; it looks like it is simply the separation of my hair. However, I know my own hair density. I believe Finisteride should be enough to at best stop any further thinning. Also, I can provide you with pictures if that would help. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful weekend.

I would doubt that stress is elevating DHT levels. Men with hair loss and thinning at the top/crown are mostly likely to have genetic male pattern baldness. Yes, DHT is one of the factors, but your genes are ultimately to blame. Chances are, the loss you’re seeing is coincidental to your entering pharmacy school.

If you cut a 5mg finasteride tablet into 4 pieces, that’s 1.25mg per day (if you get the pill cut perfectly)… and that’s ok. Ideally, cutting the 5mg pill into 5 pieces would be best, but getting 5 equal pieces would be extremely difficult. Using minoxidil with the finasteride is up to you. Some patients like both medications, but it could feel like a daily chore that you need to keep up with.


2010-05-06 11:33:45Does Stress Aggravate Hair Loss by Elevating DHT?

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Revita Shampoo

Hello,

I am 25 years old and have a gradually receding hairline around the temples and thinning hair for about the past two years, but I’ve been wary of getting propecia because of the health risks, and I thought about Rogaine Foam, but I heard that it it smelled and led to shedding, among other things. Since I’m trying to hang on to everything I have left, I didn’t want to take the risk of incurring significant shedding with Rogaine, as well as no promise I’d grow any hair back around my temples or forehead, so I did nothing but occasionally browse message boards until I came across information on Revita. It seemed like just what I was looking for; a shampoo that would at least reduce hair loss/thining. Well, I started using Revita about 5 weeks ago, and the first time I used it, leaving it on my hair for 2.5 minutes, then approx. 4 minutes, and my hair seemed a little thinner, but shinier. The next day I got a haircut so my hair was a little shorter and I continued using Revita 5-6 days a week, for the prescribed times, and I’ve noticed I’ve shed a couple 1-4 hairs just about every time I use it. This has been exceedingly disturbing, but I’m not sure if it’s just something that has to happen before it starts working better . . . I don’t know.

My theory – the reason I’m still using it – is that the hairs that are shedding are the ones closet to my forehead and temples and these are the real light hairs that already seemed on the verge of falling off. So I’m thinking that maybe just keeping the shampoo in the hair for so long and then rinsing it out is causing the weaker hairs to come off b/c of the contact. I’m hoping it’s just the weak hairs that will shed and the healthier hairs will become even healthier. But so far, I’ve seen none of the benefits promised by the company.

Thank you very much

RevitaI need to make this very, very clear to everyone — there is no shampoo currently available on the market that can regrow your hair. None!

This Revita product contains ketoconazole, which is a volumizer and can increase the hair shaft diameter by about 7%. This increase in shaft diameter may look like you have more hair and in fact, considering that fullness is a result of numbers and thickness of hair, you will have more hair that produces more fullness. Any shampoo that uses ketoconazole will have the same effect. By keeping it on for a few minutes before washing it off, the ketoconazole probably does a better job with thickening the hair shaft.

For those keeping score, ketoconazole is the active ingredient in Nizoral, and is a commonly used antifungal medication and dandruff treatment.

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Does Transplanted Hair Grow Like “Real” Hair?

Hi, I was wondering if the hair you add on is real hair, does it grow normally just like normal hair does? How long will the surgery take? How expensive is it? Accroding to your pictures, I’m at stage two of baldness, I’m currently using procerin, but the hair still falls, not as much though, I know the problem will continue and eventually I’ll go bald. I want to add on about an inch of hair down to my forehead all the way to the corners. I want to know what’s the cost of the surgery, your response will be greatly appreciated.

A hair transplant takes hair from the back of your head and moves it to where you need it (hairline, top, or crown). So yes, it grows just like normal hair, because it is normal hair. Pricing varies per doctor, and procedure length is measured in hours (depends on how many grafts you need transplanted). Our pricing can be found here — NHI – Fees and Financing.

Your brief description of hair loss is alarming because you state you have a Norwood class 2 hair pattern. What you may perceive as a hair loss problem may be that you are transitioning to a mature hairline, which is not a sign of balding.

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Rockstar Hairlines

I am slightly curious as to why many rockstar’s have such great hair and i can never tell if their hairlins is juvenile. I dont suppose you can tell me what class is Ian Watkins from lostprophets (Rock band) hairline appears to be?

To me it looks low at the middle but thinning on the sides? This man has always had a great head of hair and i dont think he is balding..just on this picture particularly it made me wonder though.
Photo: Ian Watkins

Thank you very much for your time Doc.

Chris Daughtry and MobyI looked at the photo of Ian Watkins, but it’s difficult to tell from one angle like that. I then used Google to try to find more photos, but all of the ones I see have his hair longer and covering the hairline. So truth be told, from the photo you sent it looks like a typical mature hairline, but I really don’t know for sure. I doubt he’s got any balding beyond that. He’s got good hair.

As for why rockstars have great hair, well, it is part of the image. There are always going to be musicians that have hair loss, but many of them will shave their heads bald, wear hats, take unique approaches to styling, or go the surgical route to restore their hair. I’ve performed transplants on musicians that want to keep the look their fans are accustomed to. Many record labels are more willing to sign a band if they have the image that goes with the marketable sound.

A guy like Art Garfunkel (of Simon and Garfunkel) probably would have a tough time getting signed on his own in today’s music business, but a rocker like American Idol runner-up Chris Daughtry can shave his head and be just fine. I’d imagine if Daughtry grew his hair out and showed off his thinning hair, it could make him appear older than he is and thus would not be easy to market in the way the record label wants to. Some other musicians have long hair that falls forward, covering the corners of their hairline and giving the illusion of a young, juvenile hairline. Then there are artists like Moby, who shaves his head but leaves just enough growth to see that there isn’t much hair there at all. Different looks work for different types of artists. It’s all about the marketing.

Update: Actually, TMZ says that Daughtry is growing his hair out now, but we’ll see what his scalp looks like when its time for an official photo shoot or when he’s making a music video.

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Was My Donor Area Over-Harvested? (Photo)

Over-harvesting is a reflect of the total number of FUE grafts harvested, compared to your donor density, as defined here.

To find out if your donor area was over-harvested, ask your surgeon what your donor density was prior to the surgery. In addition, I believe that the surgeon went too low into your neck hair which is not permanent hair.


2019-03-19 07:26:59Was My Donor Area Over-Harvested? (Photo)