From what I’ve read and studied over the last few years,being overweight and sex seem to be the perfect breeding ground for DHT production. For many men,trying to ignore your body’s desire for daily sexual satisfaction is hard to deal with sometimes.Does daily doses of testosterone in the bloodstream induce DHT production if a man is overweight?
There is no relationship between testosterone (or DHT) production and weight.
Hello. I was prescribed Asacol for colitis. Within weeks I noticed I was losing hair. Various sources on the internet confirmed that mesalamine can cause hair loss. My ponytail now is almost half the size it used to be. My question is: is the hair loss permanent? I have been told by my GI that I can be weaned off the asacol now and can probably stop taking it soon. Will my hair grow back or has the asacol damaged it for good? Thank you
If you do enough searching on the internet, I suspect you will find that many drugs will report some hair loss as a side effect. But hair loss from a medication use is generally the LAST on the list of other possible causes for hair loss for most drugs. Stress (such as your recent bout of colitis) can also be a cause of hair loss in those genetically prone. It is impossible to tell if your hair will grow back, but I often find that once the process of hair loss starts in young men with genetic hair loss, it is difficult to reverse the hair lost. In women, this may not be the case, as genetic hair loss is different in women.
If you are a female and your hair loss was extensive with the colitis and the medication (and the hair was originally long) the new hair will start growing from the skin level and grow approximately 1/2 inch a month. To get an 18 inch length, you would have to grow your hair for 3 years at that rate of growth.
Hello. I was browsing through your site looking for answers to verify something I was told by a doctor at an online herbal store. What I found was quite the opposite. According to this doctor masturbation can be linked to hair loss among other things. My concern surrounding the matter is I started masturbation at an age before my endocrine system kicked in and I’ve continued the habbit up until now.
Putting all the irrelevant information aside I guess my question is simply; Are you correct or are they?
Normal body functions include masturbation for most healthy men. It does not cause hair loss, but if a man has the gene for hair loss, then they will lose hair even if they did not masturbate. In other words, masturbation does not cause hair loss. I’d say this is one of the most frequent questions I get, and the answer never changes. Site tip: The search box in the top right corner of every page on this site would give you the answer you’re seeking very quickly.
Here’s some examples that I found just by using the search —
Once more, masturbating does not cause you to lose your hair. Do you want to masturbate, but you are afraid of losing your hair because of it? They are not linked! Go nuts! No pun intended.
So to answer your question — I would stay away from people who give you bad advice.
I believe that Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is causing accelerated hair loss. I want to get a hair transplant procedure to correct it or at least cover it up. I am wondering, should I stop the TRT during the time period upto and following the procedure? If so, is there an ideal time period after the transplant during which to stay off? Should I give the hair 3 months of low testosterone to allow it to grow back ok? Would it matter?
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), if it is a medical issue related to low testosterone levels, is a decision that both you and your prescribing doctor need to address. Normal hair (hair that is not impacted by genetic hair loss) will not be impacted by testosterone, so hair transplants should not be a problem. With that said, you need a Master Plan to determine timing and dosing of medications (including Propecia) in conjunction with a hair transplant. This requires a good doctor. As you are in the Bay Area, we have an office in San Jose and you are welcome to visit us for a consultation. We will do a miniaturization study to establish baselines for following your hair loss. You will not see any salesman, just a competent and experience doctor.
Once a person has stopped pulling hair, and the hair is growing (albeit very slowly) what can be done to enhance this growth given the pathophysiology and consequences from trichotillomania?
Trichotillomania can sometimes be a life long problem. Once the trichotillomania is under control and hair starts to grow there are no ‘known’ medications or treatments to speed up hair growth, but you might try minoxidil and see if it helps. I am sure there are hundreds of products that claim otherwise, but the only “cure” is time.
What is roughly the maximum number of grafts one could expect to get with FUE and still be able to shave the head completely afterwards without noticing any scarring?
The answer depends upon the size of the punch and the way you heal. The smaller the punch, the smaller the scar. On some people, I could not find any scars from FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction), but did notice the missing follicular units. I always wonder why (assuming you are not an actor) you would want to have a hair transplant if your styling choice is to shave your head.
Dear Dr. Rassman,
I have been on Propecia for almost a month now, I have been experiencing some discomfort in my male organ. It started by burning at the tip of my organ while urinating, it stayed for a couple of weeks and then it was gone, but now I have a constant feeling of itching my organ from the inside and at the tip.
Any suggestions about that would be great from you…
Thanks
Try stopping the Propecia and see if it goes away. Maybe you have urethritis. If simply stopping the medication does not work, see a doctor.
Hi,
I was wondering that if you take Propecia does it also cause hair to grow on your body say chest an face an legs as well as your head?
Thanks for helps
No, but on a rare number of patients, I have seen it cause loss of body hair.
Our host was having major issues (unrelated to our site, we hope!) and as such, BaldingBlog wasn’t accessible for the past 4 hours. Sorry for all the downtime today, it was out of our hands!
Dear Dr Rassman
I am inquiring why some transplant surgeons can achieve significantly greater density than other surgeons on patients with similar hair loss and hair characteristics using the same number of grafts. is this due to the way the hairs are implanted to create the illusion of higher density?
There are many factors that distinguish one hair transplant from another with the same number of grafts. They include:
Firstly I would like to thank you for making an excllent website which has enabled me to educate myself while challenging you to answer questions which you have done.
If Dutasteride was approved by the FDA in 0.5mg daily, would you prescribe it to your patients instead of Propecia or do you consider propecia a good fight against hairloss?
If I prescribe an ‘off label’ drug, I am open to liability from state licensing boards and possibly medical-legal liability if something goes wrong (like the Vioxx problem). If dutasteride was approved to treat hair loss and thus would not need to be prescribed ‘off label’, then yes, I would consider prescribing it, provided that the risk factors were fully understood by me and the patient. For example, is there a substantial risk for sexual dysfunction with dutasteride that is higher than finasteride? The patient must know that risk (as I must know it), but right now the studies are not available. Without FDA approval, we really do not know what the effective dose of the medication is. The reality today is that the doctors are all guessing at the dose (not a good scenario) and the guess work is not based upon science.
I did a Hair Transplant about three weeks ago. Received 1727 grafts, have been taking care post op as suggested, but still experiencing numbness in the graft site and pain in the vertex area despite the fact I had not received hair in that area. I am also experiencing significant hair loss of my original hair. What is the remedy to slow the hair loss, as it defeats the purpose of getting the transplant in the first place. I am loosing the transplanted hairs as well.
This is why you need a good doctor. Doing the right surgery the correct way is important, but so is the post-operative care. Things can go wrong, and although they are minimized by surgery, they still can happen and that is why you need to have a doctor you can go back to, talking through the problems. Supporting patients is part of good medical care. I would push your doctors first to help you understand what is happening to you. If that does not meet your expectations, then see another doctor.
Hi I am 27 year old male. I accidentally cut myself with a razor when I was shaving my head. This happened at the front of my scalp on my hairline. The cut was deep, a patch of my skin was removed. I could see white. I am terrified that my hair may not grow back. Do you think I will be able to regrow my hair there?
Thanks
To determine if the hair will grow will take an understanding of the degree of skin loss you suffered (if any). If you lost a full thickness of skin (down to the fat) in a reasonable sized area, then the hair will not grow in the area where the full thickness of the skin was lost. If you had it sutured back together or allowed it to heal edge to edge, then hair regrowth probably will occur provided that there was no gap left open. In that case, you should ask the doctor who sutured you back together. Without seeing the wound and subsequent scarring, there is little other help I can provide.
What is the relationship between insulin resistance and hair loss?
Stress and/or diseases which are out of balance may increase hair loss. An interesting relationship between high insulin levels is discussed at PubMed — Hormones and hair patterning in men: a role for insulin-like growth factor 1?. This raises an interesting issue that may or may not make sense: Would dropping sugar levels, which will reduce insulin in the blood stream, reduce or stop hair loss?
I’ve just had a hair transplant (7 days ago). Without going into debate about the use of ecstasy, would its use cause my grafts to fail?
“Without going into debate” about the use of illegal drugs, you should ask your doctor who did your surgery.