Whey Protein and Hair Loss?

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

Dear Dr.Rassman,
Has consuming whey protein have anything to do with increasing DHT or accelerating the hair loss process/MPB?? I am a 26 year old guy from India and have hair lost only at the frontal temple areas while whenever I wet my hair i can see it thinning at the front. I am currently taking finax 1mg for the past 1 month. Do you suggest I take minoxidil along with it.

Thank you

I doubt whey protein is causing your hair loss. Finax is a generic version of Propecia (finasteride 1mg) sold in India by Dr. Reddy’s Labs. If you’re taking this, I’d hope that means it was prescribed to you. Nevertheless, you need to see a doctor to get the correct diagnosis. Don’t forget, the most common cause of frontal temple hair loss in young men is genetic balding. I wouldn’t look to whey protein as the problem, as it is more than likely your genes. You’re doing the right thing by taking the finasteride. I’d say that you should just be patient and the finasteride will at least stop the hair loss if not regrow some of the hair, especially in someone as young as you (about 30% chance of regrowth and 95% chance of slowing or stopping the hair loss). I would stick to the finasteride (per your doctor’s advice) and hold off on minoxidil for the first year to see what happens from the Finax.

Tags: finax, finasteride, propecia, whey, protein, hairloss, hair loss, dht

Rare Genetic Vulnerability to Minoxidil?

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

I’m a hairy 22yr old guy. I over-plucked my eyebrows and wanted them to grow back quickly so I applied Rogaine to them just once. In 1 hour, I felt extreme dizziness and heart palpitations, so I washed off the Rogaine. 2 days later, my eyebrows started falling out. 2 weeks after that, I started losing substantial amounts of hair from my scalp, arms, legs and even pubic area. This enormous amount of hair shedding has been going on for 3 months now. My eyebrows and scalp are starting to look like total crap because the hair isn’t really growing back anymore. All my blood tests have come back normal. I’m positive that the Rogaine set off some kind of systemic reaction in my body. You once answered a question entitled “Rogaine Destroyed My Hair!” I got in contact with the individual who posted that question. He also used Rogaine just once. After speaking with him, I learned that the progression/symptoms of our hair-loss have been almost identical.

Doctor, is it possible that we have some rare genetic vulnerability to Rogaine? And why has it continued to affect our bodies for so long? Shouldn’t any effect be temporary? The other guy is still losing hair and eyebrows, even though he applied the Rogaine 2 years ago. Both he and I notice that when new hair does grow in, it quickly falls out within a week or 2. Thanks doc. I hope you can offer a glimmer of hope.

I have noted your history, but I have no experience with this. As you may know, minoxidil is a drug that was originally made for use in high blood pressure and it produces a drop in blood pressure, which would explain your initial symptoms. With regard to the longer term side effect, I really don’t know, but would strongly suggest that you get your hair examined by an expert with (at the least) mapping and miniaturization studies done.

Tags: miniaturization, minoxidil, rogaine, blood pressure

Distilled Water and Hair Transplants

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

You state in this article that distilled water solutions are harmful to grafts during surgery. However, my surgeon’s office told me to rinse my grafted area with distilled water to avoid the impurities found in tap water.

Will this damage the grafts post-surgery?

WaterDistilled water and normal water are harmful to grafts DURING surgery if you are using it to soak and store the grafts that have been cut, but distilled water after the surgery is fine to wash the scalp as part of the cleaning process. Always check with the doctor/surgeon who performed your surgery if you have concerns, as you should have established a good trusting relationship with him/her.

Tags: hairtransplant, hair transplant, distilled water, water, surgery, doctor, surgical, hairloss, hair loss

What is Chronic Telogen Effluvium?

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

hi there! What does chronic telogen effluvium mean? I have ulcerative colitis, and it seems like every time I get sick, about two months later my hair falls out. then after about six months it stops. Then when i get sick again, it will start to fall out again. is this chronic effluvium and will it last forever, or does chronic mean that the hair will always be falling out?

The exact mechanism of this is unclear, but what you are describing does seem to be chronic telogen effluvium. The hair is pushed into a resting phase (telogen) by the activation of your autoimmune system with the ulcerative colitis. You may try 2% Rogaine (minoxidil) for 8 months and see if you can push the hair out of the resting cycle. The good news is that the hair is sill there and probably alive (resting), but the bad news is that treatment results are generally unpredictable.

For more information on TE, see Telogen Effluvium by Elizabeth CW Hughes, MD.

Tags: telogen, effluvium, chronic, hairloss, hair loss, ulcerative, colitis, rogaine, minoxidil, telogen effluvium

DHT and Eyebrows

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

Doctor, how does DHT affect the eyebrows? Im 18, balding, and have noticed that i can pull out 4-5 eyebrow hairs in one small tug. Am I loosing my eyebrows too? Can propecia stop this as well?

Well, for starters you should stop pulling on your eyebrows!

I do not believe DHT affects eyebrows as it does scalp hair. Remember, the main reason for hair loss (male pattern baldness) in only partly about DHT. Yes, DHT is responsible… but the main reason for male pattern hair loss is your GENETICS interacting with DHT. Eyebrow hair is not part of the male balding process, and as such, Propecia will likely not do anything to help your eyebrows.

Tags: dht, eyebrows, eyebrow, hairloss, hair loss, genetics, mpb

I Take Propecia and My Girlfriend Is Now Pregnant

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

I have been taking Propecia for 2 years. Recently my girlfriend got pregnant.. Should I be worried? Will everything be O.K.? Thanks!

Congratulations! I don’t think you have anything to worry about with respect to Propecia use and conceiving. There is no evidence that I’m aware of to suggest that it would affect your fertility or have an impact in conceiving a child.

Tags: propecia, finasteride, pregnant, pregnancy

Hair Implanter Carousel (with Videos)

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

I have heard alot about the Implanter Carousel which i find very interesting and a great method of preserving the hairs and keeping them moist in the ‘carousel’ unlike the choi implanter were the hairs are left on a tray open to drying with warm air until they are put into the implanter. If you dont mind me asking, was the choi implanter an influence with its design and was the carousel, put simply, designed to better the disadvantages of the choi implanter. As they are an automated method of implanting the hair would that not take remove the artistry of a manual job. You once said on a answer to a blog on the subject of ‘The choi implanter’, ‘The Choi implanter is just a surgical tool. It makes some aspects of the transplant easier to perform, especially for those people who did not develop the difficult placing skills with the more traditional transplant tools used throughout the world. An instrument is only as good as the person using it, so I can not package the tool with the technique. The Choi generally requires ‘skinny’ grafts, which tend to dry out more easily, therefore, this instrument requires special skills, different than those that do not have to make the grafts skinny’. My question is how is the carousel different in the sense that an automated implanter such as the choi implanter makes some aspects of the transplant easier to perform, especially for those people who did not develop the difficult placing skills. Thank you, for all your advise.

It sounds like you know all the technical difficulties associated with follicular unit transplantation — are you a hair transplant surgeon?

As you mentioned, I wrote about the Choi Implanter before — What is the Choi Implanter?. There’s nothing else I can really add to that. The Hair Implanter Carousel was patented back in the 1990s and it works distinctly different from the Choi Implanter. It was designed to take advantage of a ‘machine gun’ approach to loading the grafts for implantation and percutaneous use and keeping them moist (as you wrote). I’ve used both and found the Carousel to be much easier than the Choi. The drying of the grafts was not a problem for the Carousel as it was for the Choi. Unfortunately, the instrument manufacturer was unable to produce a consistently high quality product and we ended up in court trying to get my money back for the build out of the Carousel, rather than getting the tool into the transplant surgeons’ hands.

A paper about the Carousel was published in 1998 and three videos of the instrument can be seen below:

Part 1:

 

Read more

Sylvester Stallone’s Hair Restoration

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

Dr Rassman,

As part of your occasional series discussing the hair jobs of celebrities, could you take a look at this (rather unflattering) article on Sylvester Stallone in London’s Daily Mail?

Link: Daily Mail

In short, he does look very good for his age — until you check out the closeup of his hairline. In your opinion, what technique is responsible for that restoration job?

Thanks for your time

StalloneYikes! What I see in the link you sent appears to be a harsh hairline. Even with the limitations of the photos, I think I am able to see some of the older type of work, some large grafts mixed with smaller grafts — so in my opinion he looks transplanted. I have no firsthand knowledge and am basing this on Mr. Stallone’s appearance in this photo. The older (and larger) grafts are relatively easy to detect and reflects more than one surgery, one of which may have been done years ago, prior to the advent of the modern Follicular Unit Transplant technique that we defined in 1997 in the published literature (see links below).

Tags: stallone, sylvester, rambo, rocky, hairloss, hair loss, hairtransplant, hair transplant, celebrity, actor

Concerned About Starting a Family Without Long Term Propecia Studies

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

Hello doctors.

I’m 34 and started using Propecia at the first sign of hair loss six years ago. The results have been fantastic and I have experienced no side effects. My wife and I are planning on starting a family soon and even though I’ve read on your site and others that it’s safe to keep taking propecia, I do have my concerns. I am also concerned on the lack of long term propecia studies. If I just want to maintain my current hair, or at least slow down the loss of it, do you think switching from Propecia to Rogaine foam would do the trick? Or would all the hair I’ve kept because of being on Propecia still fall out in less than a year?

Thank you very much.

Propecia has a very short half life of 4 to 6 hours, which is the time it takes half of the drug to be cleared from your blood stream. Therefore, it should be out of your system in one day. There is no evidence to suggest that it would affect your fertility or have an impact in conceiving a child. The results of studies on the drug crossing from your semen to your wife are (according to what I read in the research papers done by the drug company) almost nill. For those patients who are still wary of whatever side effects it may possibly have on their unborn child, I generally recommend that you do not take Propecia for one week prior to the act of conceiving, during your wife/girlfriend’s very fertile period, which is about a week long. This should not have any deleterious effects with your hair loss.

Tags: propecia, finasteride, hairloss, hair loss, fertility, baby, pregnant

I Was Diagnosed with Mild Alopecia Areata After I Was Prescribed Propecia, Follow-Up

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

This is a follow up to “I Was Diagnosed with Mild Alopecia Areata After I Was Prescribed Propecia” The dr never did the biopsy because he said there was strong evidence that I had alopecia areata due to small patches on my face and amount of grey hair present. He wanted to try the simple stuff and since my hair has yet to start falling out again didn\’t feel the need to do one. However I have yet to see regrowth in two months of being told to stop using the topical. It was Fluocinonide .05%

The hair loss from alopecia areata may take months or years to reverse — or it may not reverse at all. You need to have good communication with your doctor on this issue. The diagnosis does not require a biopsy, as a good doctor knows what to look for in most situations. Patience is a virtue in waiting out the course of this disease. Topical steroids have value when used by a knowledgeable doctor and some may use fluocinonide (a prescription item) as one of these steroids. See Wikipedia for more on fluocinonide.

Tags: alopecia, areata, hairloss, hair loss, fluocinonide, fluonex, lidex, lidex-e, lonide, lyderm, biopsy

Using Minoxidil on Bald Spot from Trichotillomania

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

Dear Dr. Rassman,

My question is: might minoxidil work for a bald spot caused be trichotillomania? Is this worth a go? If so, have you heard of the product ‘Kirkland Signature’ who are a cheaper alternative
to Regaine?

Many thanks.

Trichotillomania produces hair loss from traction, which can kill the hair follicles that are under constant attack. Once they die, I would think that the follicles can not be brought back to life, and as such, I would not expect that minoxidil will have a benefit in the areas where balding is produced from trichotillomania. I have heard of the Kirkland brand, which I believe is just a generic minoxidil.

Tags: trichotillomania, trich, hairloss, hair loss, minoxidil, kirkland

I’m Male to Female Transgender and Was Told a Hair Transplant Is Not an Option

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

I am transgender male to female, and have male pattern thinning. I have been on hrt and antiandrogens for 2 years and Proscar and Minoxodil for 8 months. I consulted a hair transplant surgeon about transplants on the crown and top of my head, and after a video microscope evaluation he said that he cannot do transplants as there is no room for grafts. He stated that I have not really lost any hair and have great density, just that the calibre of the hair had diminished. Do you think given more time on hrt, antiandrogens, proscar, and minoxodil, that the miniaturized follicles may recover to terminal thickness and if not what other options do I have?

If your hair is miniaturizing, then the hormones and complex medications you are taking may be the cause of your problem. Hair transplants, where there are normal densities of hair, may not help solve your problem. I couldn’t tell you if more time will for sure help your hair.

Tags: transgender, male, female, hairloss, hair loss, hair transplant, hairtransplant, hormones, lgbt

Periodic Shedding from Finasteride?

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

i have been taking proscar for probably 7 or 8 years. a few years ago i had a pretty bad shed. freaked me out. however the hair did come back. again, i am having another shed and i\’m pretty stressed about it. is it normal to have sheds periodically even while on proscar?

It is important to realize the the genetic hair loss has its own course, independent of the effects of the drug. What you think is shedding from finasteride, is probably more genetic hair loss. Hair loss goes in waves and cycles of loss (shedding) most likely be due to your genetics, not the finasteride. You should discuss this with your prescribing doctor.

Tags: finasteride, propecia, hairloss, hair loss

Vitamin B5 and Hair Loss

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

Hello,

I have been reading about the supposed benefits of taking large doses of vitamin b5 as an acne treatment. One of the side effects a few people online have mentioned is that they believe is has accelerated/caused hair loss. The only “evidence” that b5 causes baldness are posts on message boards, but some of these posts are by people who swear b5 caused irreversible hair loss. It seems possible that the onset of baldness and the b5 supplementation are unrelated. But assuming this is true and b5 causes hair loss due some kind of imbalance in your system, is it likely that hair loss caused by b5 would reverse once a person stops taking the supplement and their body re-balances itself? Can anything actually cause permanent male-pattern baldness besides a person’s genes? I realize there are no hard facts or actual studies involved here so I hope it’s not too silly of a question.

BulletThere seems to be a general agreement that vitamin B5 prevents hair loss, but I looked for objective scientific studies and could not find them. Based upon the general sense in the hair industry, I would doubt that it causes or accelerates hair loss though.

Patterned hair loss (as it is defined) is always caused by genetics. Many times, people take medications or have some stress which may precipitate patterned hair loss (like pulling the trigger of a gun — when once fired, can not get the bullet back). Without any objective, scientific evidence of what you are talking about, I can not comment on the validity of the claims or on any of the date in those observations. The Internet has its good and bad points — one of the bad points being that information may be deceiving and yet sound credible.

Tags: vitamin b5, b5, hairloss, hair loss, acne, pantothenic acid

I Had a Microscopic Exam of My Scalp, Followed By Sales Tactics

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

Hi i notice my hair is ” kind of ” thin in the crown area. I went to a hair therapist “hair club” and the guy showed me a micrograph of me scalp and on the crown it shows a grey picture with little dark circle surrounding my hair. then he showed me a pinkish picture of the hair in the back without the dark circle. He is saying the dark circle is causing my hair to thin. He keep claiming it is genetic but no one on either side of my family or whoever has thining hair. All i heard from him the whole time the moment i step in the store before any analysis, is that im thining. And toss me those hair loss solution for 3000 a year. I have a feeling he just trying to make me buy his product see that im only 20. I dont wanna judge him but he dont look like a honest guy from how he talks.

PLz give me some advice thx.

I am going to assume he did a miniaturization study and if he did, he should know how to read it. You are young and may have male pattern baldness (MPB), but this question should have been answered by the miniaturization study. I would recommend that you see another physician for a second opinion.

If you are having early thinning in the crown due to MPB, then you would likely be an excellent candidate for Propecia. This is the only FDA approved oral medication for treating hair loss. There are thousands of products out there touting hair restoring capabilities, but outside of the ones that contain minoxidil (marketed as Rogaine), none of them really work. Minoxidil is a non-prescription item and many fancy sounding hair loss treatments you see on store shelves or television infomercials will contain this. Save your money and see your doctor about a prescription of Propecia if you are truly experiencing MPB. Good luck.

Tags: microscopic, miniaturization, exam, product, minoxidil, rogaine, propecia, finasteride, fda