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Suicide from bad hair transplants

I am devastated. Three days ago one of my patients, who had been badly operated on in Turkey, committed suicide. I had seen him in emergency following his bad operation and had proceeded to remove part of the grafts. I saw him again via skype a few days ago and he exclaimed “my savior” …. There was still work to be done and I was enthusiastic about the idea of completing the correction work….
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about suicide from patients who’ve been badly operated on, especially when it comes to beards. It’s a terrible ordeal for them to have this bad work in their face. I have a terrible grudge against all those who work badly and who shamelessly and remorselessly ruin the future of young men….

I had a long talk with his parents this morning. They explained to me that their son was consumed with remorse at having been taken in by dishonest people. The sad thing is that correction was possible. He was very concerned about the depletion of his donor area. And he asked me to bring as many grafts as possible to the scalp donor area. The first part of his correction went smoothly, with very good healing of the face, but the feeling that he had mortgaged his future was stronger. He left a long, beautiful and dignified letter which I was unable to read, but which comforted his parents. I think it would indeed be good for the ISHRS and for fight to fight to do an in memoriam to give an example of the psychological risk a patient can take by putting himself in non-expert hands.

Dr. Rassman’s comments: In the early to mid 90s, I had three patients that were suicidal as a result of the big plugs that they received for a hair transplant. In those days it wasn’t Illegal Clinics in Turkey, it was American and European doctors that did the deforming surgeries. One young man who committed suicide, Affected me greatly. I Remember talking to his parents before the suicide trying to work with them and comfort him. I offered my services free of charge to fix it. But he couldn’t deal with the stress and prior to the scheduled surgery with me, when he was about to fly out to see me from Ohio, he committed suicide. The family called me to thank me for my efforts. It didn’t make me feel better. The other two got help that I arranged for them. None of these three patients were in California where I practiced. A forth developed Alopecia Areata within a week after his Hair transplant. Dr. Ron Shapiro and I worked with a psychiatrist and prevented the suicide arranging 24/7 care for him after he was properly medicated. He did fine. Bad surgery is not confined to Turkey Black Market Clinics, it happens in our own back yard with poorly trained surgeons offering hair transplants without understanding the fundamentals. Shame on them.

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Suicide and hair loss

Suicide happens in association with balding young men. I have seen it a few times and it is tragic. This should never be taken lightly as anyone who threatens suicide are reaching out for help

17, I regressed from a NW 2 to NW 3 in just a few fucking months. My “peninsula” is just 1 inch wide at best, and I had to have a combover which is extremely uncomfortable for months now. My scalp itches so much, and it fucking radiates pain. It’s seriously taking a major toll on my mental health, I’m starting to hate everyone who has hair, which is like 99.999% of teens my age. I hate it so much, and the worst part it i can’t do anything about it. Minox and fin aren’t available yet, and even if they are they’re too expensive for me to afford consistently for months. feel like shit, i got finals on monday and this thing hindered me from studying for 6 months now. I can’t buzz it cause my head shape looks like shit and no one buzzes it at my age, especially since im in an asian country. I have been having suicidal thoughts the whole time, and my mind has been all over the place i can’t even write this structurally. It sounds stupid but this thing is seriously making me lose spirit in life. I really want to off myself

MY ANSWER: See a good doctor and establish a good relationship with that doctor. An expert physician in this field will work with you and follow balding if and when it occurs to help you keep your hair. I can tell you affirmatively, that I can give a solution to every young man who is balding, so if you are in Southern California, come see me, if not, tell me where you are and I can connect you to a good doctor.


2020-03-04 07:47:51Suicide and hair loss

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Suggestion for 19 Year Old with Thin Hair

Hi, I am 19 years old, I have experienced hair loss since about 16. My receding hairline is getting really bad, and i have a bald spot thats just getting bigger in the back. The entire top of my head is also thin now. It is extremely embarrasing and depressing. I feel like I always have to wear a hat. I have been using Rogaine extra strength for about a year now, and its not working, but im afraid to discontinue since I may lose even more hair. If I try to style it, it comes out in large amounts (at least 10-20 hairs), so i dont anymore. My parents are telling me this is normal, but my dad didn’t start losing his hair till his mid 30’s. Im also afraid a doctor visit will be too costly ( I pay for my own college and parents wont help with doctor bill if I go). Please give me some suggestions. Thanks

You are playing with fire with regard to your hair loss. First, find out what is wrong with it by getting your hair mapped out for miniaturization and establishing a diagnosis. If you see me (in California), I will not charge you for the visit and I will map out your hair for miniaturization as well. If you are not able to see me, you can find a doctor in your area by using the physician search at ISHRS.org. Some doctors offer free consultations, but not all. With a diagnosis, you can have either peace of mind or a treatment plan with a Master Plan for your future hair loss. From that point, you’ll have a better understanding of what your future holds (in terms of your hair loss) and what your options are.

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Suggest Remedies for My Hair Loss

I have been losing my hair strands for the past two years. I have also tried hair lotions like ervamatin and indulekha, but the result is NIL. Please suggest me some remedies. As far as I know my family does not have any history of hair loss.

I can’t suggest remedies if I don’t know the cause of your loss. It could be genetics, it could be stress, it could be medication related, it could be allergy, etc. You need to see a doctor to determine the reason for your hair loss. Once you know why, you can look into treating it.

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Suddenly Thinning Hair in Mid-30s

Two years ago I was getting my hair thinned out by my stylist because it was to thick. Two years later at age 37 my hair is considerably thinner. The thinning is more prevalent on the left top side of my head. The initial thinning was drastic and took place within a couple of months. Should I expect for this to continue at such a fast pace or will it slow down. My mother’s side of the family has little issues with hair loss while my father’s side does. Beside genetics what possible causes would be responsible for this to happen in the timeline it has?

First, I would want to map out your hair to see if this is symmetrical balding. At times, genetic hair loss is asymmetrical and will show miniaturization in the areas most impacted. Get to see a good doctor for an assessment. I can not help you over the Internet and would need to see you myself.


2008-12-23 13:51:15Suddenly Thinning Hair in Mid-30s

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Sudden Hair Loss — Was it Stress, Fish Oil, Hair Product, or Genetics?

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I think it is great that you have this blog. I am sure I should come in to see you for a consultation, but first I’d like to see if you can shed any light on my particular circumstance. I am extremely healthy, eat mostly fresh fruits, salads and soy protein powders, but also eat meat, whole grains et cetera. I have worked-out for 25 years and handle stress better than anyone I know (all my friends and family say that too). At the end of June, 2006, I returned from vacation and my THICK, beautiful hair started falling out FAST. In one month I had lost so much it looked like I was going bald and one could easily see my scalp, which was an impossibility before that. The only 3 things I could think of as a cause for the rapid fallout were the following: 1. a very STIFF, THICK, HARD hair product which I had begun using 2 months prior. 2. I had begun taking 12,000 mg’s of fish oil daily upon returning from vacation. 3. A stressful life incident, but I have had so many of those, it doesn’t seem likely that another would affect me. Anyway, I stopped the product, stopped the fish oil, and my stress has increased if anything. By about 6 months out, my hair started to return, but no where near what it had been. People who look at me think I have a good head of hair, but I know it is not what it was. I want it back. Super thick like before. In what I wrote to you, can you identify anything that may have caused this rapid fallout? Or do you think it is best I just come in so you can see my scalp?

Thank you for your time, and have a great day.

I really do not have a good answer for you. Your hair loss could be due to many factors and sometimes a stressful event (emotional, physical, chemical, etc) can trigger a hair loss process. Nobody really understands why, but it is thought that a genetic ‘switch’ is turned on and once it is turned on it is difficult to go back to your original state. If your hair loss is due to genetic causes, there are medications such a Propecia (for men only) than can slow the process or even partially reverse the process in the best case (though it will rarely bring your hair back completely).

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Successful treatment found for Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia (photo)

This disease, more common in women than men, is responsible for considerable hair loss in women. Too often, hair transplant surgeons who don’t understand the diagnosis will transplant such patients and when the do, the transplant always fails. An experienced hair transplant surgeon is critical because he/she detects this disease which can be devastating. It is easy to see why surgeons get excited about transplanting this type of patient (see photo of female below) but careful examination would show that this patient is missing vellus hairs and has skin abnormalities that are not reflective of genetic balding. This article shows a treatment which has proven successful in 78% of patients:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29036252

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