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Extreme Shedding After Taking Avodart

Dr. Rassman

I’m male, early thirties and in the early stages of hair loss.

I am experiencing extreme shedding and I need your help. I took avodart for 6 weeks in January 2007. Because of the shedding I stopped it, but now it still continues as strong as ever, even thought it’s been almost 8 weeks since I took any. I’ve been losing about 200 hairs every day in the shower. 3 months ago I had so much more hair, what is going on? I heard that shedding can happen, but not like this. Could this have caused telogen effluvium, or something else? Please help doc, I don’t know what to do.

While Avodart (dutasteride) is currently being studied by the FDA for the treatment of hair loss, it is not yet approved for such treatment. I have heard others who have had some increased hair loss after starting Propecia, but as they continue taking it the benefits (more hair growth or stabilization of hair loss) become more evident. You should see a doctor to discuss these issues and get a good diagnosis of your condition before starting any medication regimen.

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Extreme dieting and hair loss

I was starving myself for a year+ barely eating and it ruined my hair it’s a lot better then it was a few years ago but it never recovered fully

I have seen that particularly in those men with genetic balding, starvation pushes the Apoptosis of hair follicles.

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Extenze and Hair Loss?

Does Extenze cause hair loss? If you’re on Propecia would that combat any hair loss potential by Extenze?

Extenze I know very little about herbals like ExtenZe that claim to increase the size of a man’s penis, which is what Extenze seems to promote. I have seen the commercials for this product advertising it on CNN and frankly it is unbelievable for me to imagine that it can do what it claims to do. If someone out there has actually used the product (hold the spam, please), feel free to post a comment to let our large group of male readers know. I tried to do some actual research online, but its difficult due to the amount of advertising spam hidden as articles about this product. They really have a large marketing campaign going on the web (and television, obviously).

I did manage to look up the ingredients for ExtenZe and it lists DHEA, which can cause hair loss in some men. I haven’t seen any reports of hair loss from the pill, though. Connecting it with Propecia is well beyond anything my imagination can muster.

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EXT From Hair Club

I currently use the EXT product line from hair club. Are there any other products comparable to EXT?

You should dissect each element of their EXT approach:

  • Cleansers on the scalp do not do much
  • Lasers, in my opinion do not work
  • Lotions that contain minoxidil work just like minoxidil without the packaging
  • Scalp massage feels good but doesn’t grow hair
  • Finasteride works well
  • Vitamins have limited value in a person who is not vitamin deficient
  • Miniaturization studies tell you where your hair is going and how fast
  • Hair transplants work very well with the right Master Plan

I do not offer many of these elements because they may not work, take too much time, and will raise the costs for most people.

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Experiencing Shock Loss Months After My Hair Transplant

Ok here’s my situation, about 7 months ago I got about 1400 grafts performed. The standard strip style surgery. I’ve healed up well and I would say less than 2 months after surgery the hairs immediately started to grow. I also started propecia right before the surgery. I experienced shock loss immediately after the surgery and it ceased about 2 months after. I shaved my head completely and my hair grew in like crazy very thick and flowing. About 4 months after the surgery my hair started to fall out again and has since been falling out and progressively getting worse. I apply rogaine and copper peptide solution daily and am not doing anything any different. What can you suggest as a course of action?

Because of the protective effect against shock hair loss, you should’ve been taking Propecia (finasteride 1mg) prior to the hair transplant surgery — so the question now is whether you started it early enough (best a few weeks before the procedure). Accelerated hair loss associated with a hair transplant is most probably caused by shock loss. One must use the history and the association to point to the cause. You might be going through a hair loss cycle unrelated to what you are doing and there may not be anything you can do except to wait for your hair cycle to take its course. If there was a considerable amount of miniaturized hairs, then you would be a ‘set-up’ for shock loss. Studying your hair miniaturization and distribution may point to more information in helping to make a diagnosis, but as I am not your doctor, I have no access to your patient records and can’t provide much more help than suggesting you post these questions to your doctor.


2007-10-08 14:33:38Experiencing Shock Loss Months After My Hair Transplant

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Exosomes

Hello dr. Rassman, I was wondering if its a good idea to treat thinning crown hair with exosomes and 1mg fin ED? I have no hairloss anywhere else and the crown thinning started like 1 year ago.

The problem with exosomes is that there needs to be clinical scientific evidence that expsomes work in treating hair loss. Currently, there is none. You end up paying a lot of money for it. Indeed, the doctor makes money, but you may get nothing from the treatment. Recognize that it may not work.

What are exosomes: Google defines it as: “extracellular vesicles generated by all cells and they carry nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and metabolites. They are mediators of near and long-distance intercellular communication in health and disease and affect various aspects of cell biology.” Every cell in the human body secretes about 20,000 exosomes each day. These exosomes ‘chemically’ communicate information from one area of the body to another. Even cancer cells secrete exosomes and, as such, contain the genetic codes for the cancers.

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Existing Hair Falling Out In Transplanted Areas

Hi, I’ve had 2 hair transplants to the front of my forehead where i still had a substantial amount of hair. The reason i did it was to thicken the area up. I noticed that after the surgery, my current hairs fell out next to where the implants were put, and a lot never grew back. The surgeon said that was because they were going to fall out anyway, but that was 8 years ago and it is still obvious where my hairs fell out, the other ones near them havent fallen out. My question is, Is it true that the trauma DOES make existing hairs die?

For people who do not take Propecia (finasteride 1mg), they run a higher risk of shock hair loss or an accelerated hair loss pattern after a hair transplant. Your doctor is correct, but the acceleration is usually about a few years worth, unless you are taking Propecia (by prescription and for men only).


2008-03-14 14:32:42Existing Hair Falling Out In Transplanted Areas

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Exercising After a Hair Transplant

First of all, a great blog – so thanks and I hope you get lots of patients from it!

I’m a 35 year old male. I had a hair transplant 10 days ago (1400 grafts) and am due to have my stiches out on day 12 (the doctor said that 10 days is ideal – but today’s a Saturday).

I’m a regular gym-goer and would like to know when I can hit the gym to my usual intensity. My doctor said that I should exercise only lightly initially. But I’d like to get back to my usual heavy weights. When would you generally say is safe to lift heavily?

Many thanks!

Exercise after hair transplant surgery is a concern for many people who are physically active and want to get back to their normal routine. You are facing two risks after a hair transplant:

  1. The risk of losing new hair grafts from scratching or rubbing the skin of the recipient area. If the hair and scalp are washed well after surgery, the risk of graft loss after 3-5 days is small, as the risk occurs as long as the scabs are present.
  2. The incision in the donor area, which is primarily closed by sutures or staples. The body takes 3 weeks on average for the wound to be reasonably secure. The healing of the incision of the donor area follows a general wound healing process that is standard no matter where the wound occurs. The process of healing starts from the moment the wound is closed. The body lays down the supportive infrastruture of fibrin from which the stroma for a secure would builds. Any vigorous activity should be avoided within the first week and then any aerobics can be done as long as the wound is not stressed (no heavy weights at all). After 2 weeks, the strength of this newly healed skin is not anywhere close to its final level, but between weeks 5 and 6 it reaches better than 80% internal strength. You can probably start your regular aerobic activities after the first week (the sutures should hold the wound together), but no weight lifting should be undertaken for 4-6 weeks. The process of wound maturation takes up to six months after the surgery.


2006-12-13 14:44:01Exercising After a Hair Transplant

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Exercise Gives You Better Erections

“Men who engage in a high level of physical activity report better erectile and sexual function regardless of their race”. The study seems to cross all racial groups (March 20 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine). The threshold seemed to point to at least 2 hours of strenuous exercise such as running or swimming, 3.5 hours of moderate exercise, or 6 hours of light exercise.

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Exercise and hair loss

I want to start going to the gym but I heard that doing exercice can accelerate my hair loss and therefore making the finasteride useless.. Is that true or can I start going to the gym?

Exercise all you want while on finasteride. No problem