I Take Propecia, So I Can’t Donate Blood?

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

Hi Doctor,
I am a 25 yr old man, and when I noticed I was rapidly losing my hair, I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Bernstein, who put me on Propecia. I have been happy with the Propecia, as it has at least halted my hair loss with no side effects.

However, when I went to give blood today, I noticed that I was not allowed to, as Propecia was on the list of medications that would disallow me from giving blood. I was wondering if this will always be the case, i.e. as long as you are on Propecia you simply cannot give blood. This would actually be pretty devestating to me, since I have given blood at least once per year since college and I consider it one of the most meaningful and important things someone can do for society. And if I remain on Propecia for the rest of my life, would that for certain mean I wouldn’t be able to give blood for the rest of my life?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Yes, it is true that patients taking Propecia cannot donate blood for the very small risk that it may be given to a female patient who is pregnant. It is the same reason why Propecia is not approved for women (and especially so for pregnant women). It is unfortunate, but it is a choice of priority in the end. I commend you on your altruism.

Tags: propecia, finasteride, blood, donation, donate, hair loss, hairloss

Did My Conditioner Cause My Hair to Thin?

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

hi, im 17 and i have always had thick hair, though recently i have noticed that it has thinned out. This has happened around my ears and towards the back. Though my fringe is still very thick. I conditioned my hair very roughly a few weeks ago and continued so up until i noticed it a few days ago. Do you think the conditioner or the way i administered the conditioner has something to do with the thinning? and will it grow back?

I highly doubt that the use of hair conditioner has thinned your hair. Otherwise it would be called a hair thinner, rather than a hair conditioner. If for any remote possibility that hair conditioner was the cause of your hair thinning, you would have experienced hair thinning all over — not only “around ears and toward the back” as you describe.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, conditioner, shampoo

How Long for Hair Fungus to Go Away?

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

how long does it takes for an hair fungus to go away because the fungus took up my whole front of my head also my whole forhead. im fourteen years old and its painfull

You need to see a doctor for hair fungus and be on a medical regime. It often takes weeks.

Tags: hair fungus, fungus

Why Does Society Put Such Emphasis on Hair?

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

I am 24 years old and I have somewhat serious hairloss. I have a receding hairline and thinning on top. My hair is so weak, that if I were to pull at it and brush my hand through my hair, there would be a large number of follicles in my hand. I took Propecia from the age of 21-23, but stopped when I turned 24. Going bald seemed inevitable, and at 24, I couldn’t stand the thought of taking Propecia the rest of my life. Every hair transplant I have ever seen always looks “unsightly” and often worse when compared to them bald. Why does society put such an emphasis on hair and is there any data that shows financial success with copious amounts of hair?

LionYou could come to one of our free Open House events and see if your comment, “Every hair transplant I have ever seen always looks ‘unsightly’ and often worse when compared to them bald”, still holds true. I would challenge you to spot a hair transplant in many of my patients from what a normal non-balding man has.

You sound angry with your situation. Upon finding out what I did for a living, a woman at a dinner engagement last week said, “What is the problem with being bald anyway? I think that bald men are sexy.” I responded simply by saying, “If you take the lion’s mane away from the lion, you have a lioness.” You see, it is really a matter of perception. If a man feels less manly because of his balding, then hair is important to him. In particular, young men hang their image on anything that differentiates them from others. Balding at 23 years old certainly makes them different and that is not what they want. Generally speaking, women (particularly young women) don’t want a man to look older, and balding men tend to look older so that the discrimination is significant. I have found many wives bring their husbands for a hair transplant, because they do not want to have an older-looking man for a husband, particularly when they appear young or have had some plastic surgery to make them appear young.

I personally think that many men look great bald, particularly when the balding is in its final stages, but as they get there, some look scruffy and that becomes the motivator for hair transplant surgery. Clearly, a good hair transplant should not be visible and very few of my patients comment that their transplants were recognized as such. Examples of our fine work can be found at NHI Patient Photos.

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

Strip Procedure Out-Yields FUE Procedure Every Time?

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

Hello doc,

over at the hairlossadvances.com I read the following lines from one of the most serious posters over there:

“The actual surival and yield percentages of the strip compared to the FUE will vary from patient to patient based on pysiological characteristics but, strip will out-yield fue every time”.

If this is true, how much weaker is the FUE?

It depends on what this poster means by “yield“.

If the question is strictly about the number of grafts (yield), then you’re correct — the strip procedure is far more efficient in the yield when compared to FUE. If you mean long term survival, then I would say that the answer is tied to the organization of the team of technicians and surgeon. If you mean the ability to come close to 100% hair by hair yield, I believe that strip harvesting yields 95%+ hair for hair yield, while FUE is often less than that. In other words, transection rates with strip harvesting are usually very low (under 5%), whereas FUE transection rates can run as high as 90% and as low as 5% (depending on the skill of the doctor and the collagen make-up of the patient).

Tags: yield, hairtransplant, hair transplant, fue, strip, hairloss, hair loss

Pre-Treatment Before Hair Transplant

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

I am a Plastic Surgeon in Mumbai with a special interest in Hair restoration. As a protocol I do not transplant a patient of Pattern Hair Loss without a mandatory 8 week treatment with Minoxidil 2% and Finasteride 1mg. The idea is to reduce post op shock loss. I am very keen to know your opinion on pre treatment and whether you use it in your practice.

Thank you

I recommend finasteride 1mg to almost all my male patients before a hair transplant procedure. While I agree it may prevent some degree of shock loss, I do not consider it an absolutely mandatory issue, particularly in the men over 45. Shock loss is more of an issue to a younger patient population with significant miniaturization. Moreover, I try to include my patients in the decision making process, as some patients firmly object to taking any medication. As long as all my patients are well informed of all the risks and benefits associated with a hair transplant procedure (including shock loss) I do not make finasteride a mandatory issue. I do not recommend topical minoxidil routinely in my practice, as I have not seen any clinical benefit with respect to shock loss and surgery. Paradoxically, I often see patients who complain of increased hair loss after starting topical minoxidil.

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

My 3 Year Old Has a Bald Spot from an Accident…

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

My 3 year-old son had a freak accident involving our treadmill about 7 weeks ago, and sustained several severe abrasions — one on his scalp. His head is mostly healed, except for a small spot in the middle; the surrounding area is pink, with no sign of hair regrowth as of yet.

My question is: how deep would the abrasion have to be to affect the hair follicles? How long should we expect to wait to know whether regrowth may occur?

The wounds that are deep enough to cut the hair follicle below the level of the skin may cause permanent hair loss, but in a classic abrasion, the hair should grow back. I would wait it out for a good 6-8 months before worrying about it. Hair loss could also be seen with any surgical scar that cuts or injures hair shafts below the skin level or if the skin edges separate and are not closed with sutures. Superficial abrasions may cause hair loss temporarily. This latter type of hair loss usually re-grows in a matter of a few months. If your son does not grow his hair back in those areas in 6-8 months, he may have lost it permanently. This type of balding spots could be excised or transplanted with hair successfully.

Tags: hairtransplant, hair transplant, abrasion, wound, child, hairloss, hair loss, bald spot

Desperation Affects Reasoning

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

Doctor,

You’ve said it before, and I agree with you that people suffering from hair loss, in their hopes of being delivered from their pain, are willing to believe too resolutely in products that
promise them a cure.

This article says it all: Threats To Hope: Desperation Affects Reasoning About Product Information

I hope everyone reads it and thereby removes the poor decision-making skills that sometimes accompanies their desperation.

Excellent. Thank you for sending this!

Tags: sciencedaily, desperation, article, news, science daily

Glutathione and Propecia

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

hi doctor just want to know your opinion on glutathione and propecia is it ok to take both? would cause drug interaction?

I have no particular opinion on the use of glutathione. It is categorized as a natural supplement and that is all I know about it. I do not believe it will have any impact on hair loss or on Propecia, but that is just my opinion.

Tags: glutathione, tripeptide, hairloss, hair loss, finasteride, propecia

Dr Rassman, You Are So Negative!

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

I just want to say Dr.Rassman that I’ve noticed that you’re a big negative energy to this ongoing development for hairloss. For the past couple of months that I’ve done some research I’ve noticed that every comment made by you was a negative one. It is really annoying to see a Dr whom others look up to has nothing worthwhile to say other than shitting all over all these other doctors that are trying to make breakthroughs. Why don’t you go make yourself useful and try to make a difference instead of being that negative voice saying, “I told you so”. I know that if any of these breakthroughs surface you’ll no longer have a job. There are two kinds of people: people that are trying to construct and better everything, and others that just trying to destroy what others build. You’re the latter!

My, what a negative person you are! I relish the opportunity to respond to your blog-bashing. It is unfortunate that there is so much fraud in the field of potions and lotions for hair growth, so I call a spade a spade when that is the case. I really wish I could be positive when someone identifies a new treatment, but these types of products have been going on throughout modern history. Just look at the supposed “Hair Growing Hat” from 1924. That ‘hat’ idea has been cyclical over the years, coming out in many forms, the newest is the promise of a hair laser comb that magically grows hair in 90 days. I could be positive about it, but my audience of worried hair loss sufferers do not have to be ‘fooled’ by me. I would love to believe that things like that hat or any of the modern iterations of it, or magical potions and lotions, are really a cure for hair loss, but alas, that is just not the case. So many people just don’t know where to turn and the result of that lack of direction for hair loss sufferers reflect a multi-billion annual business worldwide. The good news is that magical potions and lotions and hair hats or laser combs that claim to grow hair, probably do little harm other than deplete the pocketbook and build false expectations. By taking my stab at such products, maybe I am helping the ‘not well educated’ person sort through the minefield of solutions for hair loss. If it’s true that there’s a sucker born every minute — well, I am just doing my part to educate the public.

If you think about what is in it for me… well, I don’t make money by giving out reviews, opinions, etc — and I have no secondary agenda other than a community service focus. I can assure you that I am not worried about my job security and I show my colors many times a day. What have you done to bring something positive?

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, rassman, review, opinion, negative, hat

But, You Said Testosterone Can Cause Hair Loss…

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

In one of your responses, you state that testosterone can precipitate the hairloss gene’s expression and that testosterone itself can cause hair loss. Where does this information come from? Is this an opinion or documented information? Everything I can find indicates DHT as the problem source. If it is testosterone, why would balding not occur in teenage years as this is primetime for testosterone production?

I will attempt to correct any confusion that I may have caused:

DHT is a by-product of testosterone which occurs as the liver breaks down testosterone into DHT.

Thus, having more testosterone will produce more DHT. DHT is responsible for genetic male pattern balding (MPB) or androgenic alopecia. In other words, if you do NOT have the gene (or genes) for MPB you can have all the DHT in the world and it will not cause balding. Moreover, teenagers with “primetime” testosterone production may have “primetime” DHT, but if their genes are not programmed for hair loss to start at that age, they would not have hair loss. It is definitely in the genes, but it also has to do with timing!

Tags: gene, genetic, hairloss, hair loss, testosterone, dht

Eating Pure Lemons — Does That Help My Hair?

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

I’m losing my hair (already hair restoration surgery in 2001) in the front and I was wondering what types of foods should one avoid in order to slow down the process. I eat a lot of pure lemons. Is that bad? Please let me know ASAP. Every follicle that falls out is a 5 minute funeral over here.

LemonsI don’t think eating lemons are bad — but I don’t think that lemons are even related to hair loss. What gave you that idea?!

An average person loses about 100 hairs a day (as new hairs are growing). That totals to about 500 minutes of funeral over there, eh? My condolences.

Tags: lemon, citrus, hairloss, hair loss

Intercytex’s Cloned Hair Photos?

/by William Rassman, M.D./4 /

Dr. Rassman,

I believe you and your reader base will find this most exciting. Intercytex has released what appear to be the first photos ever documenting the growth of cloned hair on a human scalp. The pictures may be found at this link: Vavelta.com – PDF file.

I believe these pictures are from a Phase I trial which was designed to assess safety and not efficacy. Even so, have a look at them and tell us what you think about the quality and angling of the new hair.

I appreciate your reference here. Our readership should find it interesting. I believe that we will see the answer sooner or later and this company may have the solution, but I think it is probable that if this is shown to be effective, approval may take years.

Tags: intercytex, hair cloning, cloning, clone, multiplication, hairloss, hair loss

How Is It Possible For the Forelock to Remain but Bald All Around It?

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

Dear Dr. Rassman,

How is this possible? I’ve noticed this celebrity whose entire forhead is bald except for a little stubborn patch in the middle. It doesn’t make any sense. How can the entire forhead go bald while a little patch remains? Does not DHT miniturize all the hairs? Here is the picture of the celebrity below and another picture I found with a gentlemen who has the same pattern.

Celebrity – John C. McGinley

PG.com patient

I’ve been asked about this before, and I always point to David Letterman, who has a persistent forelock and hair loss around it. This is a genetic trait (shown well in your photo references) which is common in some families. I see it quite often.

Tags: genetic, hairloss, hair loss, forelock, persistant, letterman, mcginley, actor, celebrity