Using a Ceramic Ionic Blow Dryer and Flat Iron Daily

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

I am a 46yr old african american fenale. I have thining hair and I am letting my hair go natural. The hair salon I attend uses a process where you sit under a steamer with the conditioner to build moisture and blows drys and flat irons your hair with a ceramic ionic blow dryer and flat iron. Since I am an active person I sweat and my hair converts back. The stylist says it is ok to use these items on a daily basis because it seals in moisture unlike the regular blow dryers and flat irons. Does this make sense? I don’t want to do any more damage. If this process is ok, do I need to wash my hair each time since it is sweaty? I’ve searched your site and can’t find anything addresee ceramic ionic tools. Thank you for considering my problem.

Heat treating your hair the way you do will cause damage to it. Is it permanent damage? Well, it could be. I would think that a good stylist learned how to balance the damaging elements for hair straightening. This is where the ‘art’ comes into play in what your stylist does. I can not comment on her explanation, but if what she is doing is working, then continue with her approach with caution.

Tags: stylist, hairloss, hair loss, ceramic, ionic, flat iron

Gadget Bloggers Trying the LaserComb

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

I’m still getting emails requesting more information and insights about the HairMax LaserComb, but unfortunately, I really have nothing more to add to what I’ve already said about it in the past (see various posts here). I scoured the depths of the interweb for more to give you, and came up with 2 new links:

Tags: hairmax, hair max, lasercomb, laser comb, hairloss, hair loss

Two Doctors Here Have Never Heard of Propecia!

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

Hi Doc,
I’ve been to two doctors in Dublin- Both have great reputations, but neither of them had heard of propecia and as a result, were not willing to provide me a presciption. Both charged me for their srevices however!

My hair loss is really affecting me on a personal level and I’d love to at least give Propecia a try. How do you convince a doctor to prescribe you something he has never heard of?

Propecia is a brand name for a generic drug named finasteride, which is available in most countries. Ask your doctor for this drug and if it only comes in 5mg size, then you should cut the pills into quarters when taking it. As for charging you, doctors are service providers and as such are entitled to get paid for their time.

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

LLLT To Treat Skin?

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

Could an LLLT laser brush be used to treat skin damaged by the sun, liver spots or moles, as well?

I would doubt that it would give any benefit.

Tags: lllt, low level laser light therapy, skin

Hairline Lowering Questions

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

hi, i’m a female with a high forehead. I want to do a lower forehead surgery. I have some questions about the surgery.

  1. will it be local anesthesia or will i be put into sleep.
  2. how long will it take to look normal after the surgery.
  3. will the scar be obviou during the recovery period?
  4. will people notice that i did a surgery if i go out one week after the surgery?
  5. do you have any recommendation for doctors in toronto area?

Thank you very much for your time.

I will answer your questions as if you mean the hairline lowering procedure through excisional surgery, and not hair transplantation.

  1. This procedure is usually done under local anesthesia with some sedation.
  2. The effects are immediate, although there is swelling for up to a week. There is a scar at the hairline, so if you have bangs you should use them to cover the hairline scar. These scars are usually detectable for a few weeks. A small number of people will develop a white scar at the surgical site which can easily be treated with a limited hair transplant.
  3. Yes, the scar may be obvious while healing, but most patients can cover it pretty well with their existing hair.
  4. It depends on your art of styling that you use to cover the incision area and the lower hairline. As I said above, the use of bangs is a good idea because the new lower hairline should be introduced slowly so that the change will be more transparent. In a hair transplant, the change is so slow that no one usually notices it, but with this more radical surgery the final results of the new hairline is instantaneous. If you want to pull the hair back, the incision could be seen.
  5. No, unfortunately I do not have a recommendation in Toronto. Check with a good plastic surgeon in your area. Look for recommendations online, I suppose.
Tags: hairline lowering, hairloss, hair loss, hairline, surgery, hairtransplant, hair transplant

Young Teen Girl With Hair Loss Questions

/by William Rassman, M.D./3 /, ,

Hello. Lately I have been experiencing excess hair loss. I am only 13 years old (female), and nobody in my family has had any hair loss problems. Everyone has a full head of hair. I still have tons of hair, but more hair is coming out than it used to. I lose probably about 150 hairs a day. Is this normal? Should I do something?

QUESTIONS:

  1. Can a dry scalp cause hair loss?
  2. Am I losing the right amount of hair?
  3. Is there anything I can do to stop it?
  4. Can going through puberty cause hair loss?
  5. I am stressed because of my hair loss, and hair loss is caused by stress. WHAT DO I DO?!

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE help.
Thank you

To answer your questions in the order in which they were asked —

  1. Dry scalp does not cause hair loss.
  2. It is normal to lose the 100 hairs a day. Sometimes more. There are other hairs growing at the same time.
  3. There is nothing you can do about it. (sorry)
  4. Puberty may be a factor in your hair loss situation.
  5. Stress can cause hair loss and stress of losing hair can be a vicious cycle (to a certain degree).

If you are a regular, healthy teenage girl, it may only be just a phase, but if this bothers you that much, you should see your primary care doctor. Get your parents involved. Let them know what’s going on and have an appointment setup with your physician. This might not be anything to be concerned about, but if you are worried, best to get it checked out with an in-person exam.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, teen, girl, female, women, woman, puberty

Psoriasis, Picking, and Maybe Even Traction Alopecia?

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

First, I have to say what an amazingly informative site this is! I am a female in my mid-twenties. On and off for the past 10 years I have suffered psoriasis on my scalp. It gets scaly and itchy. Usually I am able to avoid picking it; however over the past 8 months I went through a very difficult period and was under tremendous stress. Unconsciously, I began to pick at my scalp and it has now turned into a persistent bad habit. I have noticed that as a result my hair is thinning. I have always had thinner hair at this point the hair loss is not blaringly obvious but it is getting to the point that I have to avoid certain hair styles all together and harder and harder to hide. I had assumed that this was a result simply from pulling at the scalp and playing with my hair. Now after reading more on your site I am concerned that I am suffering traction alopecia in addition to the psoriasis. I know that controlling the picking is the first step and I am assuming this is a psychological issure but I have not found anyone to help with this. I saw a Dr. who prescribed me Fluocinonide, which helps moderately with the irritation. Is there another course of action you recomend? A way to help the scalp heal and perhaps prevent traction alopecia?
Thanks!!!!

You are right. You must first treat your obsessive disorder and stop picking at your hair (trichotillomania). Without that, nothing is going to work, because even if you help your hair grow by other treatments, you will most likely continue to pull the hair out. If you could stop picking at your hair, your hair will grow in 4 to 6 months provided that you did not do so much picking that you have developed true traction alopecia.

Also see: I Am Pulling My Hair Out and Need Advice

Tags: trichotillomania, psoriasis, hairloss, hair loss, alopecia

Why Does Donald Trump’s Hairline Start So Low?

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

Re: Donald Trump’s hair
I always believed that his deep forehead hairline may have been due to the fact that he got a hair transplant in the early days of same; they seem to know better nowadays that transplanting hair should be done along more natural hair lines. Is this a possible explanation as to why his hair line starts so far down his forehead?

Donald TrumpI have never seen his hairline because he always combs it forward and over to cover it. I do believe that he had the old type of transplant and scalp reduction procedure, leaving him with enough of a deformity that he needs to cover his hair with his unique style of combover. I would love to see him and give him an opinion on how to fix it. I would, of course, respect his privacy and keep his medical care completely confidential, just as I would with the truck drivers who came to see me.

Image: Wikipedia

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

Going Bald While on Propecia

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

Do you know of anyone who has been on propecia and still proceeded to go bald?

There is an assumption in the question that Propecia will prevent balding. That is not the case. Propecia slows down the balding process over time, but it will still continue, albeit at a slower rate. If you are (for example) 22 years old and you already are fairly bald, Propecia will not do much for you other then postpone the final balding process. Likewise, if you are 30 and starting to go bald in the front and crown, Propecia will slow it down, but it is possible that you will reach your final balding pattern at 50 rather than 40 (maybe a Class 4 or Class 5 pattern), when you may have been destined to have arrived at your final balding pattern. Only about 7% of the population will develop the most extreme balding pattern (Class 7) and most of these men have most of their balding complete before their 30th birthday.

Norwood Classifications:
Norwood Chart
Tags: propecia, finasteride, hairloss, hair loss

Hair Loss from Depo-Provera in Just Weeks!

/by William Rassman, M.D./5 /,

i have been on the depo shot for only like 5weeks and my hair has already thinned alot. I had thick hair and some of my length is even gone.What is a way to get rid of the effects ? Can i try a cleanser or something because i dnt want to be bald head!!!!

Depo-Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate injectable suspension) is a birth control medication used as one injection every 3 months. Interruption of hair growth or hair loss is among its reported side effects. You need to see your doctor to consider stopping this medication and discuss other methods of birth control. If you lost hair only as a result of this medication, you should expect to regrow your lost hair within 6 to 9 months after your last injection of Depo-Provera.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, depo-provera, depo, provera, birth control, bcp, female, woman, women

Drinking Alcohol, Smoking Pot, and Using Minoxidil

/by William Rassman, M.D./3 /

hello!
Is there any side effects if you using minoxidil and drink alcohol. Does thc and minoxidil have side effects to? thank you

Alcohol

  1. Minoxidil promotes hair growth.
  2. Drinking alcohol will promote intoxication and cause you to forget about your hair loss.
  3. Smoking pot will promote memory loss and cause you to forget to use minoxidil.

Used in combination, there are no significant scientific basis for interaction.

Tags: minoxidil, alcohol, marijuana, hairloss, hair loss, pot

Burned on Both Sides of Head As an Infant

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

Hello, I’m 33 years old and I was born five months premature, I was placed into the incubator (not sure if it’s the right word) and they forgot me too long and I was burned on both sides of my head. Now, on the left side the hair grown but on the right side never and I have a hole that I have to hide with my hair. That of course means, I can’t have it too short… Is there a natural way in order to make that hair comeback ? Something that would make the dead roots to comeback to life and let the hair grow… Thank you very much.

There is hope for people like you, but it is not in bringing back the hair. There is reconstructive surgery that works well. The use of scalp expanders in the hands of experts have created miracles in people with burns, avulsing injuries, electrical burns that cause loss of large sections of scalp, tumors and birth defects of all types, etc..

Tags: burn, infant, child, hairloss, hair loss, incubator

Sterile Folliculitis

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

For the past six or seven years, I’ve been getting folliculitis on the back of my scalp only during the winter. My new dermatologist claims that I have ‘sterile folliculitis.” Apparently, when I get haircuts, the hairs regrow skew and my immune system attacks them as if they were foreign. I have two questions 1) why does this only happen in the winter and 2) why is there a time lag between the emergence of the hair from my skin and the onset of inflammation (my hair is already 1-2 inches long when pus starts to form around the follicle…I would expect the pus to form just as it was emerging, not a couple of inches later). Thanks for your help.

P.S. I’m a medical student and would love technical details about the inflammatory response against my hair because I find the whole thing sort of mystifying, assuming the diagnosis is correct.

A good friend of mine has the same problem that you mentioned whenever he gets a haircut, and I have a similar problem around the winter months (when I am in colder weather).

As a medical student you should know that this is the “practice” of medicine… and not the “science” of medicine. There is no solid scientific explanation, but doctors are keen to ‘describe’ what they see and give it fancy names (sterile folliculitis sounds good, and I am supposed to be an expert in the field).

My personal theory is that in the winter months, your skin is more dry; dry skin promotes irritation to the skin. I suspect your neck/back of scalp is more sensitive to dry skin.

With respect to haircuts and folliculitis, I suspect that the short haircuts irritate your skin (the same way dry air/weather does).

You must remember it is not all about the diagnosis, but what you do with it and how you treat it. We can all try to be intellectual and talk about the immune system and the mediators such as IL2, IL4, TGF, B cells, T cells, etc, etc (immunology), but in the end it seems cold weather and short haircuts just don’t agree with you. Avoid short haircuts and try moisturizing cream.

Tags: folliculitis, haircut, irritation, inflammation, immunology, immune

Body Hair Transplant Results

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

Hello doctor, long time no talk. I recently found this on the internet regarding a hair transplant where the patient took hair from his leg and arm. The results look good.

Caution: Some pictures might be a bit bloody for some readers

https://hairsite.com/serendipity/authors/27-sofarsogood

Also, I notice that a lot of patients who have HT’s seem to grow their hair longer after the transplant and keep it that way. Is it because they want to cover up the other balding areas with the long hair? Can you get a HT and keep your hair short and still have that “full look?”

I am having difficulty with the first picture on the referenced site. This is not a hair transplant, but someone with a thick, natural head of hair. From a legal point of view, the inference that this representation of a transplant is fraudulent and violates consumer laws in most states. It may have just been an example of what the patient wanted, but to have it presented in the same reference with before and after photos is poor form.

Many hair transplant patients elect to comb their hair back or to the sides and keep it long. Longer hair covers better, but with good densities transplanted, short hair is not unreasonable. I tell patients that when they get a hair transplant, they create the illusion of hair, not the reality of it. Long hair with good grooming goes a long way to do this. The illusion I am talking about is basic to the math in hair demand/supply hair economics (see Patient’s Guide — How Many Grafts Will I Need?). If a person loses 60,000 hairs and gets a transplant that makes him look good with 10,000 hairs, then this is clearly an illusion, not reality. I have found that in people with good hair characteristics, low contrast hair to skin color, wavy, and coarse hair can get great results with as little as 20% of their hair returned through transplants. That, of course, requires an artistic surgeon and the budget to afford the process.

With regard to your situation with 15 hair transplant procedures, you may be running out of hair. Body hair may be a solution, but there really is not good data on it so you would have to be a guinea pig for human experimentation. This is not standard care. I would give you a one on one consultation if you are in the California area.

Tags: hairtransplant, hair transplant, body hair, bht

Minoxidil and Propecia Have Worked for Me!

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

I wanted to say that alot of people seem to get discouraged with propecia and minoxidil but I am a 35 yr old male who stated Minoxidil 2 years ago and Proscar (quatered) 4 month’s ago and before I started I had very thin hair a small bald patch up top and receeding hairline. Since then my hair has gotten back thick the bald patch is no longer visible and even got some of the hairline back. These products work but just take time. Hang in there guys and Dr. thank you for being out there for us.

Good for you!

Many doctors recommend BOTH finasteride (Propecia) and minoxidil (Rogaine) for the treatment of male pattern hair loss. Many believe that BOTH of these medications when used together will provide a synergistic benefit. I tend to believe in the “try-one-at-a-time” method so that if you do see results, you will have a good idea which of the two are giving you the benefits. Otherwise, you’ll be using both for life when you could possibly just use the one.

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