Category: Uncategorized

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I Was Born with a Permanent Bald Spot (with Photo)

Hi,
I was born with a permanent bald spot that will not regrow hair. I’m sorry that the photo is not high quality, it is near the back of my head to the side.

Click the photo to enlarge:

 

Was there a question for me? I don’t know why you have this bald spot, whether it was indeed from birth or perhaps a trauma to the scalp in your childhood that you don’t remember. But if there’s no hair that you remember growing there, I would agree that it is more than likely permanent.

If you can live with it, let it be. If you want to address it, please give my office a call at 800-NEW-HAIR. We can fix it with a limited hair transplant or Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP). As it is a smaller spot, SMP would likely work well to eliminate the contrast between skin and hair color (plus the results would be immediate, as it is not a surgical procedure).

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I Was Told To Put Vaseline on My Transplanted Grafts

I am a 33 year old female and just had a hair transplant 3 days ago. I was told that I had to put vaseline on the grafts and on the donor site twice a day for about a week. This keeps my whole head really greasy and I can’t go out without a bandana or hat on. I washed my hair with shampoo (very lighly where the grafts are) but it seems that it doesn’t get clean. Is this really necessary? How can I get the vaseline off my hair? If I could have clean hair, I would be able to go out and it would “hide” my transplant but I feel like the vaseline just plasters my hair to my scalp and the “wet” look really makes the transplant stand out. What would you recommend?

I never use or recommend Vasoline, because it is difficult to manage and remove. The general purpose of the Vasoline is to keep the grafts moist to prevent crusting, but I generally believe that it is best to take off the crusts by a good washing technique before they form and get fixed in place. It is impossible for me to get to you in a timely manner and it would be inappropriate for me to give you advice on a piece-meal basis without a doctor/patient relationship established and the internet is not the place for this activity. As you have a doctor, best to follow his recommended course. You might ask him why he does what he does so that you can understand his/her thought process.


2006-04-08 15:41:10I Was Told To Put Vaseline on My Transplanted Grafts

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If Hair Cloning Ever Goes Mainstream, Would FUE Become the Gold Standard for Surgery?

Hi Dr. Rassman,

My understanding from reading your blog is that FUE is over-hyped because it does not produce a linear scar, but is still inferior to the strip method in producing the most number of grafts with the least amount of transection. If hair cloning technology was to ever become a mainstream option that hair transplant surgeons offered, would that then make FUE the gold standard/go-to choice since the number of grafts needed could be created from a smaller amount of donor follicles?

Thanks

The point of the post you’re referencing from a couple weeks ago (FUE Back into the Linear Scar vs Scar Revision) was that once a strip surgery has been done and a linear scar is already present, a FUE procedure should not be the harvesting method of choice.

To answer your question on cloning, if the clone somehow came from the scalp, then FUE would be used, but if the cloned hair came from a petri dish, then no harvesting mechanism will be needed and the cloned hair would be put directly into the recipient site.

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If I Lower My Hairline Now, I Won’t Have Enough Hair for the Top When It Balds

Hi Mr. Rassman,

A very worried man is writing to you. I am a Sikh and used to ties a turban for 8 years, but last year I decided to cut my hair. My hairline has receded considerably, and the hair on top is not thick, when light shines then alot of my scalp can be seen. However, there is too much hair on top for HT.

My worry is that if i lower my hairline, and dont have enough hair for the hair on top when its bald, then i will be left in a huge predicament.

You need a Master Plan for your hair loss. First I would need to know your age. Then I would want to know to what degree other men in your family have lost their hair. Next, I would want to determine your available donor hair supply so that I understand what you can depend upon for hair transplantation. I totally agree you need to balance the supply of donor hair with the worst case demand you might see from the balding. I would map out your head for miniaturization to determine where you are in the balding process and if you have your family pattern. Then, and only then, if you meet all of my requirements for a hair transplant candidate, I would plan out a ‘look’ with a hairline that will respect your long term ‘worst case’ scenario for hair loss. I generally like to put the hairline back where it belongs in a mature male hairline, but this does not include male Indians who have unusually youthful hairlines like what they had when they were 8 years old. Your concern of a hairline put too low for long term donor supply has not happened for me in all of the years I have been in this business and it should not happen to any competent doctor in the field either.


2006-12-12 14:06:03If I Lower My Hairline Now, I Won’t Have Enough Hair for the Top When It Balds

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If I Take Finasteride, Can It Effect My Child’s Growth?

Dear Doctor

First of I would like to congratulate you on this wicked resourse, I have a buring question wondering you can shed some light on. One of the common side effect of taking Finastride is that it directly effects the sperm making it watery etc. We planning for a baby and I am wondering taking Finasteride will directly effect the child, growth etc? I have not yet seen my GP but everytime I put my hand through my hair I get 2-3 hair that come out, front and crown. but still got a thick head of hair.

Thank doc hope to hear from you soon.

If you are worried about the quality of your semen, then get it check out by your doctor. Finasteride does change the quality of the semen in some men (about 20%), but it has not been reported that it will reduce your chance of getting your lady pregnant or effect the child’s growth. It is normal to lose 100 hairs/day.


2009-02-12 14:27:15If I Take Finasteride, Can It Effect My Child’s Growth?

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If My Hair Can Be Pulled Out Easily, Does That Mean Rogaine and Propecia Are Becoming Less Effective?

Hello Doctor,

I have been loosing my hair since the age of 16 and finally took notice months before my 18th birthday. Currently I am on both propecia and 5% Rogaine and have been for the past year (prior I relied on just 1.25mg finasteride).My current results with my regimen have been satisfactory, as I can not for sure say what I’d look without the medication.

My question is regarding the ease of hair falling from the scalp when rubbed and the amount of hair strands that can been pulled by gently using your index finger and thumb. Recently I have been able to pull about 3-5 strands at a time out of head and hair tends to fall out easily when I rub it (a common habit of mine while studying). This has been occurring on and off for the past couple of months- especially after I was off rogaine for a period of 2 weeks in January while I awaiting for new shipment to arrive (I order the foam online through ebay since it is not available in Canada).

Do these symptoms indicate that the drugs are becoming less effective now, leaving genetics to take its course? Is there any shampoo or conditioner that you recommend or heard from prior patients to help strengthen the hair follicle?

Maybe you should stop pulling on your hair. How easily your hair falls out has no real clinical significance with Rogaine or Propecia use.

There is no magic drug, shampoo, conditioner, or potions that will help strengthen hair. There are hundreds of products out there. Try them. I am not against them, but you WILL end up spending a significant amount of money and likely be left without any benefit.


2012-11-13 08:41:15If My Hair Can Be Pulled Out Easily, Does That Mean Rogaine and Propecia Are Becoming Less Effective?

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If Transplant Techniques Were Better Years Ago, Would Some People Even Need SMP Today?

Hi Doc. I was just reading your recent article “Hair Transplants with Scalp Micro-Pigmentation (with Photos)” and was wondering whether or not the patient would be in the same position now if you knew the hair transplant techniques back then, that you know now.

Is it possible that with ultra refined techniques the transplanted hairs would have been transplanted more evenly around the head meaning that Scalp Micro-Pigmentation would not have been necessary.

Best

The simple answer to your question is: Yes! Many people with advanced balding patterns just don’t have enough donor hair to cover the entire balding pattern, so SMP (scalpmicropigmentation) solves this problem.

I hear ultra refined technique used sometimes but it is more of a term described in forums such as Hair Transplant Network. That terminology is just semantics. The GOLD STANDARD in hair transplant surgery is transplanting one follicular unit at a time. It doesn’t matter what you call it. AT NHI we have being doing this since we opened in the early 1990’s and have pioneered and published on this technique (HERE).

To be clear, no matter how perfect the technique (you can use ultra refined technique if you would like), you have a LIMITED and FINITE supply of donor hair. So no matter how refined, you can never have the fullness of someone who is not bald. Hair transplant is great at providing a non balding look and creating a solid non-receding frame to your face. But hair transplant is in essence moving hairs around from one place to another.

Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) is not perfect since it is not hair. However, (like Toppik and DermMatch and other concealers) it reduces the contrast between hair and scalp providing the look of fullness that a hair transplant may not provide. It also provides an EVEN appearance when you shave your scalp. More importantly, SMP provides any hair transplant patient an option to SHAVE their scalp and disguise the donor scar. Even for people with FUE surgery, there is a scar in the form of DOTS. SMP can also blend in these FUE dots.

SMP is a great adjunct to hair transplant.

Hair Transplant Result

Shaved after Hair Transplant (no SMP)

SMP after Hair Transplant


2014-08-15 11:42:36If Transplant Techniques Were Better Years Ago, Would Some People Even Need SMP Today?

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I’m 16 Years Old and Feel That Masturbation is Causing My Hair Loss

I am 16 years old and i m experiencing heavy hair loss… I have been masturbating for 4 years, every 2-3 days and i feel that masturbating is the reason for my hair loss. I also have a few pimples on my head after i masturbate, but i use a ointment Ecodex-G and the pimples disappear in a few days.

Please tell me if this hair loss is due to heavy masturbating,, and is it possible to regrow these hairs if i stop masturbating for a long span of time (2-3 months), and if not then what is the problem and the solution for it.

I only seem to get these questions from young men in India, which leads me to believe that it is a widely accepted myth in that region.

Masturbation and hair loss are unrelated. I’ve answered this question countless times and the answer doesn’t change. If curing hair loss was as simple as not masturbating, there would be a lot less balding men in the world. Of course, you are free to not masturbate and test for yourself, but it will make no difference in whether your hair grows or not.


2013-09-11 12:20:15I’m 16 Years Old and Feel That Masturbation is Causing My Hair Loss