Oral Minoxidil and Wrinkles?

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

I posted an email from a reader a couple days ago regarding topical minoxidil and facial wrinkles, and received some feedback worth posting.

Dr. Damkerng Pathomvanich from Thailand reached out to me to speak of his experience in treating hair loss patients with oral minoxidil. He states:

“There were no complaints in my 22 years of practice regarding wrinkles after taking oral minoxidil low dose. Most common side effects are puffy eyelids and leg swelling. Minoxidil might inhibit collagen synthesis but there is no proof of facial wrinkles.”

The use of oral minoxidil for treating hair loss is more common in Asia, as it is less expensive than the topical. Oral minoxidil was originally used to treat high blood pressure and the growth of hair was a noted side effect of the drug. Topical minoxidil is FDA approved for treating hair loss, but the oral pill is not. I do not recommend oral minoxidil as a hair loss treatment, but just wanted to share another doctor’s experience.

Tags: minoxidil, oral minoxidil, rogaine, facial wrinkles, aging, hairloss, hair loss

What Will Happen to Surgeons If There’s a New Baldness Cure That Actually Works?

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

What will happen to the hair transplant industry if this new “jab” is a cure and how will HT surgeons survive?

Link: Bald? Now there’s a jab to make hair grow back

This is something that they’ve been trying for a decade or more (hair cloning, stem cells, etc), though perhaps with different methods. If it eventually is proven to be safe and effective in humans, I’m sure hair transplant surgeons will adapt. After all, someone will need to produce these hypothetical “jabs”.

I would love to see the results from the Taiwan study the article mentions, but it will likely be a while before we see published results (if any). Until then, it’s still just early research in mice.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, stem cells

How Often Should I Comb My Hair?

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

My hairline is very up from my childhood. my father/uncles have baldness but my grandpa doesnt. Now I am 25 and suffering from dandruff and hair loss..

My question is, does combing hair have any good effect on hair or not? because nowadays i dont comb hair a lot, fearing it will cause much hair loss. When should I comb hair and how many times a day?

You can comb your hair anytime and as much as you please. Combing your hair has nothing to do with hair loss, unless you’re really aggressive with it and causing your hair to be pulled out. If you have genetic hair loss, combing isn’t going to change your genetics.

Tags: hair loss, hairloss, combing

10 Months After My 5th Transplant, I’m Not Seeing Any New Growth

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

I had a transplant about 10 months ago. I can feel the stubbles since back then but it doesn’t seem to grow. It’s now 10 months later and it’s still the same. I had transplants before and almost very quickly, i would notice the thickening and darkening from the previous procedures.

This last procedure was my fifth and don’t seem to see a good result at 10 months. By this time my the transplanted hair should be maturing, correct? I now have about less than 3000 grafts done. Each procedure done in the past, the doctor could never extract enough donor. Perhaps it’s my donor area. Any thoughts?

At 10 months following your hair transplant, you should definitely see growth. Unless I am misreading your question, if you had five procedures that totaled under 3000 grafts, that is not today’s standard of care… however, I can not judge what your doctor was doing.

I’m not even sure what kind of surgery you had — strip or FUE. Plus, I don’t know if he was chasing your hair loss, if you were on finasteride, what your scalp laxity was, etc.

Have you talked to your surgeon about why there’s been no growth after 10 months? If you need a second opinion, you can either schedule a visit in my office or see another good doctor if I’m not local to you.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, hair transplant

I Worry That My Anxiety and Depression Will Cause My Transplanted Hairs to Fall Out

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

Dear Dr Rassman,

I am a male, 45 years of age. My question is – I have had two transplants and the results are not that great because I have fine hair, which was very thick in the past. I have been suffering from anxiety and depression for 20 years plus and I am currently taking prozac. Will my illness cause my transplanted hair to fall out? there is history of family hair loss.

There are many variables that can impact hair growth, including the drug Prozac (fluoxetine) that you’re taking. Depression can also cause hair loss, as you’re aware. Usually though, transplanted hairs are more resistant to hair loss than the genetically impacted hair which will more readily die off with stress in some people.

In other words, as long as your transplanted hair was taken from the permanent donor area, I would not expect it to fall out.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, prozac, depression

Not Hair Loss News – Cancer Cases Expected to Skyrocket Over the Next 20 Years

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

Snippet from the article:

The incidence of cancer worldwide is growing at an alarming pace, and there is an urgent need to implement strategies to prevent and curb the disease, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

New cancer cases will skyrocket globally from an estimated 14 million in 2012 to 22 million new cases a year within the next two decades, the report says. During that same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2 million annually to 13 million a year.

The most common cancers diagnosed globally in 2012 were those of the lung (1.8 million cases, 13% of the total), breast (1.7 million, 11.9%), and large bowel (1.4 million, 9.7%), the group says. The most common causes of cancer death were cancers of the lung (1.6 million, 19.4% of the total), liver (0.8 million, 9.1%), and stomach (0.7 million, 8.8%).

Read the rest at USA Today — New cancer cases worldwide expected to skyrocket

Tags: cancer, health, lung cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer

Will Finasteride Interfere with Beard Hair Production?

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

Hello Doctor,

I have 2 questions:
I’m actually taking finasteride 1mg, i don’t have a full beard yet and i would like to know if finasteride will interfere with the development of my beard ?

My second question is about Latisse. Is it true that it can cause hair growth and turn vellus hair into terminal hair ? or does it just thicken vellus hair and make them look darker?

Some young men take years to grow a beard, while some never develop a full beard. That doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with finasteride use, though there have been some rare reports that finasteride can impact the beard (less fullness in the very few that reported it). I don’t know about beard growth development suppression, though. The case here is uncertain, and you would have to stop the drug to see if your beard grew out as you lost hair on your scalp.

As for your 2nd question — The story on Latisse (bimatoprost) seems to indicate that it does change miniaturized hair in the frontal corners into mature terminal hairs in some people, though I’m not clear how consistent it is. It is not FDA approved for use on the scalp and studies are still ongoing, according to what I found on the clinicaltrials.gov site.

Tags: finasteride, propecia, beard hair, facial hair, latisse

Why Don’t You Warn People About Minoxidil Causing Wrinkles?

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

By now you know that minoxidil causes forehead lines wrinkles and dry skin. You failed to warn your subscribers and even lied abot never hearing that it cause wrinkles when several people informed you possibly thousands. You should be ashamed. Initially you may not have heard because most of the people using minoxidil already had wrinkles but now younger people are using it and getting wrinkles. please inform your subscribers that wrinkles are indeed a s/e and give them the option of choosing to use minoxidil with those facts. If you are true to yourself you can even post my comment.

ps god is watching.

My wife used minoxidil and developed dry skin, a known side effect. There are many side effects in the minoxidil insert in it when you buy it. Did you read it? I’m still not clear about wrinkles forming due to minoxidil, and I’m not going to call it a “fact” until I have clinical evidence that I can review.

I read your email to me as a personal attack. God always watches all of us.

Tags: minoxidil, rogaine, wrinkles

I’m Not Losing Grey Hairs, But My Natural Colored Hairs Are Falling Out

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

some of my hair have turned grey or white. i have noticed that all the hairs I lose are black, and not a single grey hair falls out. Would you say that if hair turns grey they wont fall out?

That’s an interesting observation, but I really don’t know. Melanin (eumelanin is the type of melanin) is what produces the black hair color, and when it is lost in aging, the hair turns gray. It only impacts hair color, not the hair follicle itself.

Tags: melanin, eumelanin, hairloss, hair loss, gray hair

Pilofocus?

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

Dr Rassman,have you heard of Dr Carlos Wesley’s Pilofocus no scar procedure? I watched the video it looks pretty amazing. I am curious what you think.
Thanks

This was presented at this past October’s ISHRS meeting. Essentially, the procedure gets the hair from under the scalp with an endoscope. Although he was short on details, I would imagine that the scalp is lifted up with a gas (carbon dioxide) and then the hair follicles are plucked from below. If it looks/sounds too good to be true, then it is. We have no pictures or scientific material to base the claims that this is a valid procedure and I would imagine it would be very difficult and time consuming. A lot of work for very few hairs.

There is no such thing as scar-less surgery in the real world. Since I started offering Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP), I have treated many Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) patients who thought (and were told by their doctor) that their FUE surgery is “scar-less”. Even FUE produces some tiny scarring.

Tags: pilofocus, hair transplant, surgery, hair replacement, scarring

I’ve Used Provillus and Emu Oil for Months with No Success

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

I’m 17, 18 in 2 months, and I am a norwood class 3. My hairline is receded and the rest of my hair is extremely thin on the frontal, temples, mid-scalp and vertex. I’ve been taking Provillus for 3 months now with no success and emu oil for about 2 months with no success. I’m so depressed and i have to wear a beanie 24/7 now. All i want is to have my hair back, is there anything i can do?

You should really see a good doctor to get a treatment plan in order. At your age, finasteride works very well at reversing the hair loss. Nothing is guaranteed and I can’t say for sure what kind of results you’ll see. That said, I’m not surprised that Provillus or emu oil did nothing for you, even though it was only a few months of use.

The more time you waste with unproven products, the more hair you’re likely to lose.

Tags: provillus, emu oil, hairloss, hair loss

If I Stop Propecia After 6 Years, Will My Hair Be Better Than Had I Never Taken the Drug?

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

Hi Doc,

Simple question for you: Assume you respond well to Propecia, take it for 5 years, then stop. In year 6, is your hair better off, worse off, or the same as if you had never taken the drug?

Thanks!

You’ll probably end up with the same hair loss that you would’ve seen had you never taken the medication. It could take months before the hair loss catches up after you stop taking Propecia, but we do call it “catch-up hair loss” for a reason.

Tags: propecia, finasteride, hairloss, hair loss

I’m Planning a Hair Transplant to Treat My Norwood Class 1 or 2 Pattern

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

I am 25 years old and have a receding hair line and am planning to undergo a hair transplant. I think it is class 1 or class 2 baldness currently. If I undergo a hair transplant and get my hairline fixed, is there a chance of thinning of my hair in the crown area while the hairline being intact. If so, what are the alternative procedures to prevent thinning of the crown after getting my hair line fixed with the hair transplant.

NW1Progressive hair loss is a real problem. I am not in favor of surgery on Norwood class 1 or 2 pattern men in the early or mid-20s. I don’t know enough about your hair loss history to have any idea if you’ll eventually thin in the crown.

You have to be careful not to get into a situation where you’re using your valuable donor hair for a quick hairline fix, when you don’t know how your hair loss may progress down the line. You may need those grafts later to fill out your hair. Hopefully your surgeon will discuss this with you further.

Young men on finasteride (Propecia) can often slow down the hair loss or even stop it. That’s something else you should talk to your doctor about.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, hair transpant

Is My Corner Recession a Mature Hairline or Thinning? (with Photos)

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

Hey Dr,

Thank you for the baldingblog! Here are some photos of concern of my hairline and just want to know if it is mature or thinning? You may publish if, you would like. Thank you!

30 yrs old, Male

 

The hairline corners do not appear to be too far beyond a mature hairline, but if it bothers you, you can restore the corners with hair transplantation surgery. If it does not bother you, I would wait it out and see how it evolves. Some men will lose hair in the pattern you present, with no further loss. Some will see continued recession or thinning. Not sure which camp you fall into, but if you have your hair bulk analyzed you will be able to get a metric to it… then have it analyzed again in a year to compare the numbers. What is most interesting about your hairline is the location of the ‘center point’ which is touching the highest crease of your furrowed brow. That was where your mid-line hairline was when you were 10 years old, but the sides did move upward to its mature position. As you wait this out, you should see the mid-line location move up as well.

Tags: hairline, hairloss, hair loss

Not Hair Loss News – Study Shows Prostate Cancer Drug Xtandi Delays Advanced Tumor Progression

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

Snippet from the article:

The prostate cancer drug Xtandi prolonged lives and delayed tumor progression when used before chemotherapy in a study of men with advanced cases of the disease, researchers said on Tuesday. The study results are expected to open up a broader market for Xtandi, which was developed by Medivation and Astellas Pharma, and open a new front in its competition with Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster drug Zytiga.

Xtandi, also known as enzalutamide, was approved in 2012 as a treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer who have already tried the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. The new study showed it was also effective when used before chemotherapy.

Doctors said that could be a welcome option for the tens of thousands of men each year who have advanced prostate cancer but little or no pain or other symptoms. Many of them would rather take a pill like Xtandi or Zytiga than go for periodic infusions of chemotherapy, with its harsh side effects.

Read the rest — Drug Shows Promise in Advanced Prostate Cancer When Used Before Chemotherapy

Tags: prostate cancer, xtandi, enzalutamide, health