Requesting Reader Experiences with Hair Loss Products

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

I have an idea, why don’t you have a weekly column dedicated to just a posting of peoples’ experiences, including what they’ve tried, the results, their thoughts etc. I always like hearing rom other people and sharing experiences. All you have to do is post one message asking for contributions and just compile say 5-10 of them each week.

I will offer to post comments about experiences. We get thousands of unique visitors each and every day, so there must be an audience out there. It is a good idea. Just send me your comments and I will post them as they come in. If it becomes very popular, I will manage it befitting the traffic. Let’s call it: MY EXPERIENCE WITH HAIR LOSS

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, product

Rap Comedy Video — Bogus Weave

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

I found this funny vid called “Bogus Weave” on YouTube. This guy is freakin nuts; you guys might like it.

YouTube – Bonus Weave

It might not be my cup of tea, but a reader sent me the link to this rap music video about girls and their hair weaves. Some may find it funny, some may find it offensive. Contains not-safe-for-work language.

Tags: youtube, video, comedy, rap

Facial Hair is Less Dense on One Side of My Face

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

Hello, Dr. Rassman. I am a 20 year old man, and developing facial hair still and am wondering why the right side of my face is so much more less dense than my left side. Could it be with the way I sleep, has it anything to do with sleeping on a pillow a different way? This is really aggravating me because my left cheek can almost grow a good beard, and is steadily progressing, but my right cheek is not.

When facial hair starts to grow, it is often patchy and not always uniform. Wait it out and the two sides will eventually balance out. It doesn’t have anything to do with the way you sleep on a pillow.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, facial hair, pillow

20 Years Old, Just Started Minoxidil and Proscar

/by William Rassman, M.D./2 /,

Hi. Dr. Rassman,

I am a 20-year old male and have been experiencing hair loss since around the end of high school (when I was about 18-years old). It wasn’t bad then, just a little noticeable on the sides. However, over the past 2 years, it has gotten progressively worse, and now the crown area is getting really bad. In September, I started doing laser therapy, but it haven’t seen any new hair growth and am still experiencing hair loss. About a month ago, I added minoxidil and proscar to my hair care regimen in hopes of not losing any more hair and if possible, growing some of it back. However, when I shower, I still lose hair when I shampoo (with Nizoral) and when I apply minoxidil, hairs still come off my head and I can see them in my hands. It seems like none of these products are working for me, and I am really deciding whether or not to get a hair transplant procedure done. I am going to attach some pictures to this e-mail so you can see what my hair looks like, and I hope you can tell me, by looking at the pics, if I should be patient and continue with the minoxidil, proscar, and laser, or if I should just forget about that and just do a hair transplant. As I said previously, I am only 20 and losing my hair is constantly on my mind, which sometimes interferes with my studying and my thoughts when I am around other people (I always think they are going to stare). Can you PLEASE let me know if a hair transplant is out of the question for me or not, or if I should wait a bit and see if proscar and minoxidil work? Thank you so much for your time and patience, and I hope that you have time to reply. Thanks again!

If you want to be proactive with your hair loss problem (as I see that you are with your finasteride and minoxidil regimen) you should be evaluated by a doctor and have your scalp hair mapped for miniaturization. Your photographs are a start, but you should really seek a private consultation with a physician. This site is not meant to give personal or private medical advice.

You must wait and give the medications time to work (about a year). Get yourself evaluated now and again in a year. Hair transplants may be out of the question at this time, but if your medication fails to work and you continue with frank balding patterns emerging, then a reassessment is worthwhile.

Tags: hairtransplant, hair transplant, minoxidil, proscar, propecia, finasteride

Water Pressure from Shower and Hair Loss

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

Hello,
Im so glad I ran into this website. There is no baldness in my family, however, my hair has been thinning out and i’m only 27. For the past 3 years my shower heads pressure has been really strong and I love just standing there under it for a long time with really hot/warm water. Can too much water pressure be causing my hair to thin out???? and will my hair grow back out once i chance the pressure???

People try to look for causes of hair loss like shower heads and water pressure and you are not the first one to ask, but considering your age, you are probably genetically balding or thinning. Get a diagnosis by getting your hair mapped out for miniaturization and then if you do have genetic balding, treat it properly. High pressure showers will not cause hair loss, that is, unless the hair is ‘hanging by a thread‘.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, shower, pressure, water

Continuing Propecia After a Hair Transplant

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

I’m a 34 year old male and have been using propecia for about a year. I’m considering hair transplant surgery and was wondering if I would need to continue using propecia after the surgery to prevent any shedding? Thanks for your help.

Absolutely continue taking Propecia through the entire process and on to at least 9 months, if not ‘forever’. If you don’t, you will lose the hair benefits you accumulated since you started taking the drug and run the risk of hair loss shock with the transplant.

Tags: propecia, finasteride, hairloss, hair loss

Retin A and Hair Loss?

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

Hi, I just read in a previous answer of yours that a side effect of isotretinoin is hair loss. Is this also true for topical retin A, which was prescribed to me for acne? I am 37 year old female and just began minoxidil 5% (prescribed by md) a few weeks ago. Thank you.

Retin A is an acid and burns the skin. That is the very reason it is often prescribed with minoxidil, as it it thought to increase the skin absorption as a result of the irritation and increased blood supply.

Tags: retin a, minoxidil, hairloss, hair loss

Hair Loss After Corneal Transplant

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

i have MPB and last year had a corneal transplant procedure done last summer. Since then i’ve had to use a steriod eye drop (predforte) in my eye once a day to prevent rejection. I’ve been taking propecia for 3.5 months now and still see hairloss, could the eye drop be accelerating the the hair loss? P.S. i am 21 years old

I would doubt the connection from steroids in your eye to hair loss induced by steroids systemically. The stress from surgery can accelerate MPB. Stay on the Propecia.

Tags: propecia, cornea, corneal, predforte, steroids, steroid, hairloss, hair loss

6 Months After Repair Procedure (with Photos)

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

This patient had some of the old hair plugs in his hairline, which we removed with a FUE procedure (2,200 grafts) and then created camouflage to rebuild a new frontal hairline. In just 6 months (see after photos), the early results are very impressive indeed and I would expect that the fullness will double in the next 2-3 months. Click photos to enlarge.

Before:

 

After (6 months later):

 

Tags: hairtransplant, hair transplant, trichophytic, closure, donor, scar, repair, hairloss, hair loss

Hypotrichosis is the Cause of Hair Loss?

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

“Scientists from the Institute of General Genetics have discovered the reason of growing bald, a hereditary disease called hypotrichosis, partial or full hair loss.”

Russia Info-Centre — No More Bald People

Interesting connection. Now if they can only find a cure! I am familiar with hypertrichosis, but not hypotrichosis as a syndrome. From the definition in Wikipedia, hypotrichosis is a hereditary problem, but can be associated with a variety of other conditions. Other than the clarity in the definitions, I can not add any value here.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, hypotrichosis

Started Taking 2.5mg Finasteride, Now I Lowered the Dosage to 1mg

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

Hello Dr. Rassman. My question is concerning the dosage of finasteride i’ve been taking for the past 7 months. I only split my proscar in half for the first several months (2.5 mg a day), and I believe results have been fairly positive so far (a lot less hair in the shower). What’s concerning me is that I have lowered my dosage back to 1 mg recently. I know that this is the recommended dosage, but could I possibly have hurt the finasteride’s long-term effectiveness by starting at a higher dosage and then lowering it? Thanks.

You did the right thing by bringing the dose to the recommended level. The research on dose suggests that 1mg is as good as 2 or 5mgs. A higher dose of finasteride should not impact future adjustments to the correct dose.

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

Treatments for DUPA?

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

You’ve wrote that minoxidil and finasteride may not be effective treatment for DUPA. What might be some of the more common treatments available to men suffering from this condition?

-Thanks

Unfortunately there is no medical treatment for DUPA (diffuse unpatterned alopecia). I have recently seen a patient with substantial reversal of DUPA on finasteride alone, but this is not what we normally see. For this young man, the reversal brought his hair back to almost normal fullness.

Tags: dupa, alopecia, hairloss, hair loss, finasteride, propecia

Long-Term Stubble After Hair Transplant

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

Hello and thanks again for this most helpful website.

I am a female who is just over one year post-op. For months now (no exaggeration), there has been a 1″ to 2″ band of stubble on the top\front of my scalp that DOES NOT GROW. It remains stubble.

I went to my HT surgeon for a follow-up and he said it’s just “slow growth” and we should wait another 8-9 months for another follow-up. The rest of my HT seems to have grown in fine, albeit I wish I had more grafts. How is it possible that this stubble has just stopped growing?

With many thanks and blessings.

Transplanted hair should usually start growing in 3-5 months. They should be all growing in six months and by month 12 they should be a few inches long, as thick as the original hair and long enough to comb. Some variation is seen in the growth rate among people, but no growth in one year is unusual and its causes should be explored further by your hair transplant doctor.

I have on rare occasions seen the presence of persistent stubble in the transplanted area (rarely longer than 1cm). What the stubble (after 6 months at least) should reflect is the old left-over hairs from the transplant. You can confirm this by pulling out a few of these and you should see no bulb at the ends of the hairs (from deep in the skin). If that is what you are seeing, pay no attention and these should eventually come out in a hair wash. You might get a second opinion.

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

Tuberculosis and Hair Loss

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

sir,
I have swelling in neck region lymph node from last three months. Positive for TB after FNAC test. Not yet taken medication. Doctors suspects extra pulmonary TB. Lungs are clear in xray. I have hair loss. Is it just cuz of TB and will it be continue if i take medication regularly? Is it temporary or permanent hair loss? Or i regain hairs after treatment, cuz i have no hereditary for hair loss in my family. i have very low density of hairs now. no bald spots but hairs density getting lower.

please help respond me soon

Before worrying about hair loss, you need to see a doctor (or continue seeing a doctor) to have your medical problems treated. Tuberculosis can manifest in many ways, which can include hair loss due to weight loss and chronic illness issues. If your hair loss is not genetic, it may be due to the stress on your body from the disease process, but if you add genetic hair loss on the disease problem, it will probably not come back. Generally you hair should return, but there is no guarantees and you do not have genetic hair loss compounding your problem.

From a historical perspective, hair loss was very common in the cities when TB ran wild. That was why a woman looked for a hairy man to qualify a man as a prospective husband. If a man lost his hair, the presumption was that they had TB and would probably die from it, not living long enough to provide family support for the long term.

Tags: tb, tuberculosis, hairloss, hair loss