What is the Value of Hair Conditioners?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Do I have to use a conditioner after shampooing and if I don’t would this be healthy for the hair as well when brushing it?

The healthy look of hair is easier to obtain with conditioners, as they tend to lubricate the hair making it fuller appearing, shiny, and often easier to style, especially when used with blow drying. But with that said, the use of conditioners will not impact the growth of hair, its actual thickness, or even those who are losing it. Brushing it makes it look better, but be careful that you do not pull on the hair when brushing, because that will cause hair loss on those people with weak hair.

Tags: shampoo, conditioner, hairloss, hair loss

Spina Bifida and Hair Loss

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /, ,

My 24 year old son, with spina bifida (mylomeningocele) has suddenly, started aggressively going bald. I’m stunned, there is no hair loss like this on either side. My father had a full head of hair, his bio father and grandfather had crown loss after the age of 50.

Could this be related to his spina bifida? I’m very upset. It’s not enough to be a young man paralyzed, but he also has to be bald??

Balding impacts almost 50% of men in their lifetimes. Even when there is no obvious family history, the genetics can skip generations. He should be treated like any young balding man. Get his hair mapped out for miniaturization to find out if he has the genetic pattern balding process going on. A diagnosis is critical. The best treatment for genetic hair loss is Propecia (finasteride 1mg) daily. He needs a Master Plan for his hair loss. The Spina Bifida in conjunction with balding may make for more stress, and stress is clearly something that accelerates the rate of hair loss in young men.

Tags: spinabifida, spina bifida, hairloss, hair loss, stress, propecia, finasteride

Speeding Up Regrowth from Propecia?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

I have read that you say it takes 8-12 months to clearly see the new hair growing from propecia use. If the hair is kept shorter like half an inch, will you see new growth sooner.

thanks

There is no way to speed up the impact of finasteride (Propecia) or minoxidil (Rogaine), but the impact can be appreciated better if your start off with 1/2 inch hair and then observe the change over time.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, propecia, finasteride, minoxidil, rogaine

My 5 Year Old’s Temples are Balding

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

I constantly brush my 5 year old’s hair and now her temples are balding. How can I get that temple hair to grow back?

Balding in children is often caused by things that a dermatologist or pediatrician can diagnose. Get to a good doctor and get a diagnosis. There is no way around that requirement.

Tags: child, children, temple, hairloss, hair loss

Doctor Said I “Probably” Have Female Pattern Baldness

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

I am a 24 year old female. After a 7 minute consultation with a dermatologist I was diagnosed as “probably” having female pattern baldness, and I could try rogaine. Yeah, I’m looking for another doctor who might be interested in looking into exactly what’s happening and treatment options beyond minoxidil.

My question though is, some of the hairs that I shed have a weird kink in them about 1.5 inches down. I have my hair dyed and have done for about 6 years but the kink doesn’t seem to fit into any dying or styling pattern so I was curious as to whether this might be an indication of what is causing my balding?

Female pattern baldness is discussed in many posts in this blog (see Female Hair Loss). In this condition, hair is miniaturized in a pattern that may or may not be similar to the man’s pattern. The more common type of balding/thinning is female unpatterned hair loss where the hair loss is spread throughout the scalp without a clear pattern. The donor area (the fringe area around the back and sides of the hair) is often included in the balding process when the process is unpatterned and the quality of the donor hair is poor because of the high degree of miniaturization present, so women do not make good candidates for a hair transplant in the this unpatterned form. In some women, the donor area is not uniformly thin, but over time it may become thin. So if a hair transplant doctor uses this hair for a hair transplant, when the process of thinning spreads, the transplanted hair may become thin or fall out.

Diagnosis of this unpatterned condition is not always easy and the other causes of hair loss, such as iron deficiency, thyroid disorders, and autoimmune diseases should be ruled out before making the diagnosis of female pattern baldness. Above all, the patient’s hair needs to be mapped for miniaturization to confirm the diagnosis.

Kinks in your hair may be related to the miniaturization that may at times change the hair’s character and color. Again, if in doubt see a hair specialist to confirm your diagnosis and to get started on proper treatment.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, female, women, woman, balding, baldness

Groin Pain Started Months After Starting Propecia

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Hi Dr. Rassman,

I am a 21 year old male who has been on Propecia for 3 1/2 months now, and I’m a little worried that some dull pain (perhaps not even ‘pain’, just discomfort) in my groin and left thigh could be the result of the drug. It appeared a couple of weeks ago; do you think it could be the finasteride?

I’m very set on keeping my long hair and I really don’t want to go off Propecia, in fact I was even considering the possibilty of Dutasteride in the near future – depending of course on my results with the Propecia.

What seems odd is that I didn’t experience this pain/discomfort for three whole months, surely if it was the fin I would have experienced side effects sooner? I have not noticed any watery ejaculate (perhaps a little during the first week of taking the drug, but none since), loss of libido, inability to achieve erection etc, just the pain/discomfort? I don’t play sports so I don’t think I could have pulled a muscle, and it seems odd that the pain/discomfort is quite prevalent in the back my left thigh.

I’m a little reluctant to visit my doctor because I’m scared he will take me off the Propecia, and I really don’t want to lose any more hair. Can you help?

Thank you reading this

Although pain in testicles and groin area is occasionally reported by patients who were just started on finasteride, it is not among officially reported side effects of this medication and could be due to its placebo effect. It could also be a variety of things like a hernia or problems with your testicles, and these need to be checked out by a doctor during a good physical examination of you. It is a more likely cause than this drug.

There are several useful techniques that I recommend to my patients and may be helpful to you. You can stop taking the medication and see if it alleviates the pain. If pain goes away with stopping medication, you can restart it after a week and see whether you get the pain this time. Finally, if you continue to have pain for the second time, you can reduce the dose to half and see if it helps with your pain. Whatever you do, get a doctor to check you out, please.

Tags: finasteride, hairloss, hair loss, propecia, pain, testicle, groin

Saw Palmetto and Grapefruit Juice

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

Who am I to try to create new ideals Doc, but what do you think of 160mg twice a day of Saw Palmetto, with Grapefruit or Grapefruit juice(since it increases the potentcy of certain drugs) with Neutrogena T-Gel 5 days a week(i have normal to oily hair). I am 20 years of age(I am blessed to still be young), and all I absolutely know is preventing baldness is easier than trying to regrow it. All I want is a naturally, farely cost efficient method to prevent it.

I’ll let you know in several months if anything has improved. I would like to think that since I’m young I can help prevent future psychological problems, b/c of worried hairloss in men. I say this because of my personal experience. I was a banquet waiter for a large catering company, and b/c i wouldn’t gel my hair up, I wouldn’t get promoted from banquet waiter to a banquet captain, meaning going from $11.00 to $12.50 an hour. I got over it, it just sucks that i know other men like me experience this kind of stuff also. Thanks for listening again. Your brother in war

GrapefruitSaw palmetto extract has been studied for its use in prostate disease without any proof that it has value. It is also claimed to be beneficial for treatment of hair loss, but again, with no proof of value. Although its mechanism of action is not quite clear, the claims suggest that it works through a mechanism similar to finasteride by blocking 5-alpha reductase and lowering DHT levels, but those are claims without any proof.

Even though this product is available over the counter as an herbal supplement, more studies are needed to prove its efficiency for treatment of hair loss and also to prove its safety.

You announced your decision on testing your own formula. Good luck and keep us posted with the result of your research.

Tags: grapefruit, citrus, juice, sawpalmetto, saw palmetto, hairloss, hair loss

Cycling Finasteride

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Is it possible to go on a Finasteride “cycle” in the same way a body builder will go on a “cycle” with steroids to avoid the brunt of major side effects? Has anyone tried this with finasteride? (i.e., take it for 6 months then stay off it for 3 months or something to that effect). I understand that finasteride has a long half-life and will stay in your system for a long period even after stopping dosage. I wonder if you can avoid or limit some of the side effects.
Thanking you in advance for your response.

BucketFinasteride has a very short half life. If you have a leaking bucket, and it dripped slowly and you decided to stop the drip for every other day, it would just take longer for the bucket to empty, but it will eventually empty. Think of your hair as the bucket full of water, dripping out drop by drop every day, some days less than others. Cycling Propecia just slows down the loss that will happen sooner or later, but unlike the bucket of water which you can just refill, when the hair is gone, it is gone! I hope you get the message?

Tags: propecia, finasteride, hairloss, hair loss

Ritalin and Hair Loss

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

I turned 17 about 2 months ago. I’ve been taking ritalin SR for 5-6 months now. I’ve noticed recently that my hair has been receding slowly. Currently it looks like my hair line has gone back about a good 1/2 inch.

If I stop taking this medication will my hair ever grow back?

Ritalin is used to treat ADD — Attention Deficit Disorder. It is commonly used and there are some reports of hair loss associated with this drug, however, at the age of 17, you might be seeing the early maturation of your hairline and you should want to get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to be sure that you do not have genetic balding. As you are in California, come visit me at my Beverly Hills or Newport Beach office to find out and I will map your hair and scalp (no charge for the visit).

Tags: ritalin, hairloss, hair loss

I’m 72 Years Old and Losing a Few Hairs Each Day

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /,

I have perused your website and your answers to many questions relating to hair loss but have not found an answer that addresses my question. I am a 72 year old male. I still have a full head of hair with very little greying but I have begun to notice that there are long hairs (few each day) in my comb. Can I stop any further loss?

Hair loss does appear in the elderly. I’m not calling you elderly, as you are only 7 years older than I am — and I am certainly not near elderly. What I mean though, is that even the elderly lose 100 hairs per day. As long as you do not look like you’re balding, don’t worry, be happy (as the song goes)!

Tags: elderly, old, hairloss, hair loss

Pulling Hair Very Hard

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Is it possible to pull a hair shaft so hard and suddenly that it actually removes the follicle along with it?

You can remove hair, but the generative part of the follicle will stay and is able to make another hair. Persistent pulling of hair may damage its follicle and cause permanent hair loss. This condition, which is called traction alopecia, could be seen in people who braid their hair tightly or use extensions for a long period of time.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, pull, pulling, shaft, follicle

When Will Blurred Vision from Minoxidil Stop?

/by William Rassman, M.D./1 /,

I’ve been using 5% minoxidil for a little over a year now and began to experience an itchy & flaky scalp, as well as some blurred vision. I decided to stop using the ointment and was wondering how long would it take for my vision will return to normal or will it even return to normal?
Thanks

This side effect should disappear after a few days. If it does not, you may need to have your vision checked, as it may not be from the minoxidil.

Tags: minoxidil, hairloss, hair loss, vision, blur

I Think My Hair Transplant Was Placed Too Low

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /, ,

Hi Dr. Rassman, I recently had a HT with a “top doc” but I’m concerned that my hairline may have been placed too low. I’m 32 years old. My hairline sits 3 inches above my eyebrows and recedes about a 1/2 inch higher than that as it goes back. Where is the right stop for an adult hairline? any comments will be greatly appreciated.

If you look at the post Maturation of a Hairline, you will see where the adult hairline belongs. It should be one finger breadth above the highest crease of the wrinkled brow. There is not a fixed size for distance between the hairline and eyebrows; instead there are guidelines that could be used to determine where your natural hairline used to be and where it should be after a hair transplant.

One method is to measure the distance between the tip of the nose and the chin (let’s say in ‘Fred’ the distance is 7cm) and compare it to the distance between the upper bridge of the nose — Fred’s mature hairline should be found 7cm above the upper bridge of the nose. The other method is to use the highest crease of your forehead when you are looking upward and go about one finger breadth above it to determine where your natural mature hairline should start. I personally think that the second method is the best way to know where the mature hairline belongs.

Some patients do not follow these rules and may have a wide forehead or a bigger chin to start with. In these cases, old pictures from patients could be used as a guide. Nevertheless, the judgment of the surgeon and his/her artistic view is always crucial for the design of the most natural looking hairline. If you ended up with a too-low hairline, it can be a real problem, since as I’m sure you’re aware, hair transplants are permanent. Send me a photo with your eyebrows lifted high up and I will venture an opinion and keep your identity confidential, of course. Please reference this blog post when sending your photos.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, hairline, hairtransplant, hair transplant

Why Are You Suspicious of the FDA and the LaserComb Now?

/by William Rassman, M.D./0 /

Personally, I though the laser comb was just a joke!

I was very suprised to see the FDA’s results. Why are you so suspicous? The FDA is govt’ buracracy that is very conservative. Why would you not honor its results? Aren’t they “independent”?

I too was surprised to see the level of endorsement for the use of the term ‘hair growth’. I have read a massive number of articles on Low Laser Light Therapy and it is clear that the articles seem to show some benefit in the 10-20% range. Each article, however, was sponsored by people or organizations that may have something to gain. What is needed is a completely independent analysis. I have had a laser in my office for some time, and some of my patients find that it helps. I do not charge for its use and the use is confined to my patients who have had surgery with me in the past. So now, I must confess that the use as a stimulant for hair growth seems to have some merit. I still go by my gut feeling, an application three times a day by a comb going through the hair just does not sit right with me and my intellectual judgment (which dictates a great deal about why I think that way). I wonder if sitting in the sun may have more value? I will try to keep an open mind.

Tags: laser comb, lasercomb, fda, hair growth, regrowth, hairloss, hair loss

Can I Take Avodart, Then Switch to Propecia to Maintain the Benefits?

/by William Rassman, M.D./1 /

Hi doc.. Im a male aged 22years.. Im having thinning and falling of hair in the crown area since last two years. i Still have a significant amount of hair left. I’ve started taking generic 1mg finasteride called Finax mfgd by reddy’s laboratories. i’ve been taking it since last 5 months. Im still losing around 50 hairs a day. while taking shower, combing etc… I have a doubt regarding Avodart! Its a known fact that avodart increases hair count significantly while using it for six months but it’s long term use and side effects are not known. so i have a plan. wat If i start taking avodart for six months and after i get a good result from using it, i switch back to propecia and maintain the benefits i got from avodart(duasteride). is that a good plan? will be waiting to hear from u.. thanks in advance doc… by the way ur site is simply Amazing!!!

Loss of 50 hairs per day is normal. Propecia may very well sustain the benefits you got from dutasteride or Propecia (finasteride) may give you benefits without evening needing dutasteride. You sound like a person who wants to experiment on your head. It is your head, but I ask you why you’d want to be a guinea pig? What you said makes no sense to me, but if it makes sense to you, then so be it. It has been said that a person who treats himself has a fool for a doctor.

Tags: dutasteride, finasteride, propecia, proscar, avodart, hairloss, hair loss