This patient should not have a hair transplant as his disease, LPP, will kill any transplanted hairs. The previous hairs were replaced by scar tissue. This disease is evident by the shinny, scar ridden skin, the lack of vellus hairs around the hairy edge as it transitions into normal scalp. This disease is thought to be present more than most doctors realize and could be found in men in their late 20s or 30s. We have thought that women were more susceptible to having this disease in the past.
Lichen Planopilaris and Hair Transplantation
I am a 55 1/2 yr old female. I have been diagnosed with “lichen planopilaris”. I am tired of scalp injection. My doctor said the next step is probably 3 hair transplant. There seems to be no information on this disease. Is there anything else that can be done? In addition, I am on a generic rogaine formula. April will make 1 yr. on this product.
Any advice? Also, I know the cost for a transplant vary with different results.
See DermatologyChannel.net for more information on this disease. The problem with transplantation is that if the disease is active and is autoimmune in etiology, then a hair transplant may be doomed from the start. Inactivity of Lichen Planopilaris in the autoimmune arena must be determined before starting the costly hair transplantation process. If you and your doctor believe that it is under control and inactive now or sometime in the future, a test hair transplant with a limited number of grafts (about 10) taken with an FUE approach will tell you if a larger hair transplant procedure will work. Either these grafts will fail to grow (indicating that the disease is still active from an autoimmune perspective) or they will grow (indicating that the disease has become inactive). It should take 5-8 months to determine success or failure of the transplant. For those people who have an autoimmune cause, reactivation of the process is always an added risk.
2006-02-03 09:35:272006-02-03 09:05:32Lichen Planopilaris and Hair Transplantation
Lichen Pilinoplaris
Hey, Dr. Rassman. Thank you for checking in. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately, in that I have an answer) I was diagnosed today with lichen planopilaris. It seems worst case in a way, but again, I’m relieved to have an answer. Starting injections soon. I’ve finally found a good dermatologist that was willing to take a biopsy and didn’t just prescribe finasteride at the first mention of “hair loss.” Thank you for perusing this subreddit and helping people out. If we’re here, we’re miserable, and it’s good to have someone here who will listen and give actual advice. All the best, and happy holidays to you and yours
This is becoming more and more common in younger men and men of all ages. We used to think that this was a woman’s scalp disease and now we know better. You must get a good doctor when you treat hair loss, as this man struggled to get the proper diagnosis. If he was to be transplanted by some over-zealous hair transplant surgeon, it would have failed because the disease that took his hair away would have done the same thing to his hair transplants.
Libido went through the roof on finasteride (from Reddit)
I have known that this is a side effect of finasteride that few people talk about. Most men who get a decreased libido complain (rightfully) about the drug but when the libido goes up (something I hear about from some patients) few complain on the internet about it. I wish I could tell you who will get which one of these two side effects.
If My Libido and My Penis Are Still Working Well, Does It Mean That I Don’t Have Hormonal Problem?
I have a problem with finasteride. My face is a lot fatter since I started taking finasteride and I feel like it makes me more feminine.
So there is 2 reason for that:
- I’m getting fatter.
- Finasteride changed my hormone ratio, something like a lot of the testosterone that finasteride gave me is converted to estrogen.
If the problem is the estrogen, do you think it’s normal that my libido and erection are still working very well?
I don’t think that your analysis is correct. Maybe there are other causes for your weight gain. With a good libido and a strong erection, the drug is clearly not impacting your sexuality.
2018-11-02 05:50:232018-11-04 05:06:37If My Libido and My Penis Are Still Working Well, Does It Mean That I Don’t Have Hormonal Problem?
Lexapro and Female Hair Loss
Dear Doctor,
I’m a 35 yr old female who was put on Lexapro to combat mild depression last Thanksgiving. After two weeks of taking the drug, my hair began to fall out in large clumps leaving me with bald spots. I contacted my doctor and she told me to stop taking the Lexapro as it this is a known side effect. I am not taking a replacement drug as my depression was only mild and the hair loss has scared me enough for now. The hair stopped falling out 7 to 10 days after I stopped taking the Lexapro. Luckily, I had long thick hair and even though I lost about 15% to 20% of my hair it was not extremely obvious. However, I have been waiting patiently for my hair to start growing back, but the bald spots are still bald. How long should it take before the hair starts growing back as it has been over ten weeks? I would think that by now I’d see at least some stubbles of new hair growing back. Also, I have a friend who told me that after she had chemotherapy treatment (breast cancer) her doctor told her to take Biotin vitamins and use Nioxin shampoo. Should I use these products to try and speed things up?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!
Telogen effluvium may take from 2-6 months to reverse. Assuming that this is a drug induced TE, you should wait out the process for at least 6 months and then if you still have bald spots, you need to see a specialist. The medications used by your friend may have value. Also, the use of minoxidil 5% may help.
2008-02-19 10:35:332008-06-23 08:29:08Lexapro and Female Hair Loss
Levothyroxine, Hypothyroidism, and Female Hair Loss
(female) I’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and have been taking Levothyroxin 75 mcg for about two years now. I just recently had lab work done, which indicated that my thyroid levels are low again, which means I will have to increase the amount of Levothyroxin I take daily. I have about 30 ongoing medical conditions, and I do take many medications along with this one. I asked my pharmacist about hair loss (as mine has been thinning and coming out for over a year now, but it’s really bad now though), which of my meds could be causing it, and what vitamin(s) I could take to combat it. He told me that my hypothyroidism was most likely the cause of my hair loss, and suggested I take 200 mg of selenium everyday to stop the problem. Is he correct? What kind of doctor would I need to see for this problem? What more can I do? Help me, PLEASE!! There is no pattern baldness in my family. I used to have a nice long full head of hair and now it’s so thin. I cry everytime I wash my hair because so much comes out at once. This problem is making my depression worse as well. Where can I go and what can I do? I’m on disability so I do not have a lot of funds to combat this problem so yet another issue with which to deal. HELP!!!!!
Thank you so much for your help!
Hypothyroidism is a cause of hair loss and thinning. First you must get your thyroid problem regulated. Best to see a good medical doctor who feels that this problem falls without his/her expertise, possibly working with a dermatologist to follow your hair loss. An endocrinologist may be a good choice for a specialty. You also asked about taking selenium — it should not be harmful and actually may help.
Letting Propecia Dissolve Under the Tongue
Can I take finasteride sublingualy? because i heard that by taking it sublingually can bypass first pass effect and it can goes directly to your bloodstream.
You are supposed to take Propecia by swallowing the pill. Taking it sublingually (administered under the tongue) does not mean you will see better results. Similarly, taking double the dose (or even 10x the dose) does not mean you will have better results.
What I’m getting at is: Please take the medication as directed. Plus, I’m sure it would taste really bad.
2010-12-06 12:49:302010-12-02 12:23:45Letting Propecia Dissolve Under the Tongue
What is the Hair Transplant doctor’s strategy on this patient’s FUE (photo)
This patient clearly had an FUE in the past. I know this because I see the FUE scars (the missing areas) which I placed some arrow so that you can identify the scars from the older FUE this patient had. What I am seeing is that the surgeon, having already almost maxed out the FUE extractions from the permanent zone in the donor area, decided to move up outside of the permanent zone for more extractions. That means that if this man should develop a Full Class 7 pattern of balding, that he would then lose all of these new hairs. Also showed some arrow above the line I drew to show that this area was previously harvested as well. The circled area shows an FUE sites where the hair still is in the scalp as it is all over the newly harvested areas (the surgical team has not yet removed the FUE grafts). Now add to this that as he loses more hair in the donor zone where his FUEs were wrongly done, he will have terrible scars on the back of his head that everyone will see (scar-less surgery?).
I strongly believe that the FUE harvest should be restricted to the REAL permanent zone (below the line I drew) and not above the line because these guys don’t expect to lose the transplanted hair in the years to come (a real possibility).
I have let my hair grow but the donor area is still see-through (photo)
2017-12-05 06:44:432017-11-19 15:45:05I have let my hair grow but the donor area is still see-through (photo)