Category: Uncategorized

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Hair Loss After Craniotomy

(female)
Previously someone mentioned she had had surgery and was losing hair. The reply was something about stress and medications, and a predispostion to balding. My question is how long does the stress and medications phase last? There does not appear to be a predispostion to balding to any of us in the family. I had a craniotomy 2 months ago and I now have a bald spot in the middle of my head about the size of four quarters. It seems to want to grow and then bends and breaks off. Now what? The reply also stated to see a Dr., but what kind? I have asked my neurologist and my PCP – neither has seen this before and the only response I get is “I think it will grow back.” Not an answer, if they haven’t seen this before. Would a dermatologist work? (I also have what looks like dandruff that attaches itself to the hair. But I can actually hear it when it hits the sink (I take a comb to it occassionally to help remove it.).)

Thank You

Hair loss in random patches about the size of a quarter sounds like alopecia areata that can be precipitated by surgery or stress. Also included in the differential diagnosis is telogen effluvium (see article). Your description and condition sounds a bit more complicated than just that, though. You had a craniotomy and there are other issues (things falling from your scalp that makes a sound when hitting the sink?!). I would definitely see a dermatologist.


2008-09-10 15:29:20Hair Loss After Craniotomy

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Transected grafts placed for counting (photo)

Almost all of the grafts collected by this surgical team was either transected or mutilated. It was surprising that the team was proud of them enough to publish this photo. Significantly less than half of these hair will survive the transplant. Is this a brargain?


2021-01-18 10:39:59Transected grafts placed for counting (photo)

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Hair loss and lost! I try to teach young men what to do (from Reddit)

You should get a HAIRCHECK test to find out if you are losing hair and how much is lost (see here: https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/ . I always tell patients to be smart about hair loss and get Metrics on the degree of hair loss you have and hook up with a good doctor to manage it so that you keep your hairy look as you go through the genetic balding process.

[16][M][Help] Have a family history of Hair loss. None of my 3 brothers got to kept their hair. I would appreciate some advice regarding what i can do to slow down or stop hair loss. from tressless


2019-09-18 12:33:48Hair loss and lost! I try to teach young men what to do (from Reddit)

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Transplant Scars in Donor and Recipient Area

A couple of quick questions.

  1. I had several sessions of grafting done years ago and I have some of the comman pitting where the transplants are on my hairline. I just had two scar revisions done (3/06 ane 6/06) and the HT’s have not really started growing yet. Will microdermabrasion (“Diamond Tome”) to the top inch or so of my hairline hurt my hairs I currently have and affect the growth of the the new HT’s that will soon be growing in? I know you might not know to much about this but I just have a hard time trusting DR’s anymore and would really like your opinion.
  2. I was reading in your blog about a guy who always had stretching to his scars (everywhere on his body). You recommended his scar be closed by “sub-fascial closure below occipitals muscle fascia”. Do you have an article about that and/or what is that in lay mens terms :o) Does this also include undermining the scar? Do you use undermining for scar revisions?

Thank you for doing all you do for all the men who got butchered by the bad Dr’s out there.

  1. I do not recommend dermabrasion, as it produces a different quality of skin that shines and is a different color (less pigment) then the original skin, often making things worse than the problem you are fixing.
  2. In reference to your questions on scar repairs, please see Techniques to Minimize Donor Area Scarring. These scar techniques will not work on everyone, particularly those who have a tendency to stretch their scar because of the way they heal the wound. I can not predict this group from the rest of the population.


2006-09-12 10:19:03Transplant Scars in Donor and Recipient Area

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Hair Loss Following Pregnancy

Hello,
I recently had a baby at 28 weeks, due to a serious kidney infection that was almost fatal. since then we’ve been doing wonderful. Though, for the last month I have been noticing excessive hair loss. I know its probably due to a serious infection or hormonal but, how long do you think it will last and could I go bald before it then? Please help me!!!!

Hair loss following pregnancy is not uncommon and can be expected to reverse in most women within a year or so. In addition, I am sure that your serious illnesses contributed to the hair loss as well. You must show patience while you are going through this waiting process. I am assuming that you did not have a hair loss problem prior to the pregnancy. If this is incorrect, then I would have to know more about your history.

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Transplanting a Non-Balding Person’s Hairline?

Have you ever transplanted grafts along a non balding person’s hairline not to lower, but to thicken the hairline so that they could grow a fuller fringe if they had fairly fine hair?

In dealing with hairlines, transplanting a normal hairline just to thicken it is not advisable, as the transplant could damage the existing hair. I have fixed defective looking hairlines on male actors and models who need perfect frontal hairlines for their careers, so I have worked to keep their juvenile hairline intact.

For women who have normally high, non-balding hairlines, these can also be addressed with either frontal hair transplants to bring the hairline down or hairline lowering surgery. Many women have these procedures done.

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Hair Loss from Lithium

I lost 3/4 of my hair due to lithium. How do I get it back?

Many drugs are known causes of hair loss. If you stop taking it, your hair might come back — but at what price? Speak with the doctor who is prescribing lithium about alternative drugs.

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Transplanting Hair Into Burned Tissue

Dear Dr.
I am a recovered burn patient from childhood with forehead scars that extend to my left temple area. I was able to grow my hair to cover it as a young man until my late 30’s. My hair started to thin and I now wear a hair system to cover and blend the non hair scarred area. Are hair transplants now being able to be transplanted into scarred areas that are cosemetically acceptable. I have been told that bloodflow below my scarred areas is still good. Thank you for your response.

If your skin is what we call a full thickness, hair may be able to grow from it. If it is covered with a split thickness of skin and scar, it may not support hair growth. There are things that can be done today to bring your hair-baring skin here and may include a variety of surgeries like flaps, and balloon-stretching the normal scalp and rearranging it to cover the bare area. Some of the results are remarkable. I would be happy to give you an opinion and as you’ve indicated that you are in Southern California, I would suggest that you make an appointment with me and maybe together, we can address your problem. Please call my office at 800-NEW-HAIR to set up a free consultation.

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Hair Loss from Weight Lifting?

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I am a 24 year old male medical student. I have had a very gradually receding hairline for the past 2-3, but just recently (past 6-8 months) I noticed the shedding of hair has increased and my hair is thinning in the front. This realization really is depressing because I didn’ think I would start REALLY balding until I was well in my 30s. At least thats been the pattern in my immediate family. I have an appointment with the dermatologist in a month to pinpoint it to male pattern baldness and not something else just to make sure. Anyways, my question to you is whether or not there is a correlation between weight lifting and hairloss?

Working out, especially with heavy weights, will increase your testosterone levels. So the natural assumption would be that increased testosterone levels = increased DHT production = more hair loss. I personally have been a big fan of whey protein supplements, glutamine, and creatine to boost my gains in the gym. My parents always warned me against taking these saying it was “unnatural” and would have consequences in the long run, and now I’m wondering if they might have been right after all. I’ve had a protein shake(30 grams whey protein) and maybe 5 grams of glutamine maybe 3-5 times a week for the past 4-5 years. This is very coincident with the time that my hairline started to gradually recede.

I’m starting to wonder now whether my dedication to weight training and diet actually hastened the hair loss process. For now, I am discontinuing all forms of supplements including protein drinks and glutamine. Doing this will obviously cut my gains in the gym, but as long as I can save my hair for now I don’t care what it takes. What is your opinion on this???

What you are suggesting is logical, but there is no proof to it. Since you are 24 years old and at the peak of the early balding process when genetics generally tend to kick in, it may be coincidental with your training process. Realistically, if you have genetic hair loss you should have a diagnosis made, then probably treat it with Propecia, which should stop the hair loss impact of DHT reasonably well. As a medical student you should approach this process the correct way.

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Transplanting Wavy Hair

I am scheduled to go in for a consultation in two weeks for getting a procedure done. What I wanted to know, I have wavy hair but when it is short its not wavy. However, the wavy hair starts to come out on the top and front of my head first then the donor area follows a few week after. Wouldn’t that be a problem if I get a transplant b/c I will have straight hair in certain areas and then wavy hair?

Are most clinics required to develop a long term plan for future hair loss for a patient, and are they required to use devices to measure miniturization on the scalp for a patient?

You should always start off with a Master Plan, created by you and your doctor based upon his findings during your examination. If you have wavy hair in the donor area it will grow out as wavy hair in the transplanted area.

There are no requirements to measure miniaturization. It is something I stress in my practice and on this site, but many doctors do not do this, nor do they measure bulk of the hair in the various parts of the scalp in the initial examination.