Hi there. I recently pulled my hair, in the front part of my scalp, just to see how bald I am going and noticed that the hair I pulled didn’t have a bulb at the end. Does this mean that I have permanently lost this hair?
You probably pulled a hair that was about to be shed, like the hairs you see in the shower. We lose 100-150 hairs per day. If you want to know if you are balding, see a specialist.
“Regular use of aspirin may lower the risk of pancreatic cancer by nearly 50%, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention”. Such a simple step to take for our entire readership, just one baby aspirin a day not only reduces the risk of pancreatic cancer, but heart disease as well. I give this advice to my friends and family always when asked about the things we can do. My speech includes daily exercise and diet that is not reach in sugars or fats as well
Questions: I haven’t quite yet determined what plan I will do yet. In your honest opinion, to best resolve the wide scar issue, is it better to go with SMP, or perhaps a FUE over the scar, or perhaps a combination of both?
Scars treated with FUE or in fact with any form of hair transplant, does not completely cover the scar area because the density needed is too high to achieve in one session or possibly even two sessions. The scars tend to be white, and the whitish color of the scar seems to always dominate whatever transplant was done. It is easy to do FUE from just above and below the scar, but easy does not mean good. I have done many of these FUE scar procedure, and even after a couple of such procedures, they just don’t really hide the scar. When we started doing Scalpmicropigmentation into the scar, it was clear that this is a better way of dealing with the problem.
Scars themselves, have other problems related to them including hypertrophic scarring (elevated scars) or depressed scars that form a gully (like a lengthy divot) which is never addressed with either SMP or FUE alone, so when this occurs we take still another step by treating the hypertrophic scars appropriately and we use dermal fillers to deal with the gulleys (divots) in the scar which gives us great power in dealing with all of the scar issues. Those who offer SMP and are not doctors, or doctors who are not experts in the treatment of hypertrophic scars or dermal fillers, can not address these other problems.
I am a healthy 22 year old male. I have a head full of hair but I have noticed along with my dermatologist that I have started to experience hair loss.
I want to thank you with your diligence in your answering of questions. I started Propecia and psychologically induced side effects on myself, after thorough research I was able to curb those thoughts and part of that I owe to you.
I have a general wondering that perhaps the increase in sex drive from Propecia could be confidence based? and the same being a lack of confidence in the drug as the basis for the adverse effects. I also read from a doctor that in clinical assessments the effects are even rarer then the clinical trials, his experience stating 3 in 1000 being affected.
I have seen some men report an increased sex drive on Propecia although this is not common. Yes, once a man is freed from the burden of balding, they may be better on their sex side of life. Self confidence is necessary in good sexual performance.
I am 29 and I have been treating hair loss with minoxidil for approximately 6 years with an unfortunate gradual progression in thinning.
I started taking propecia in addition to the above about 2 months ago. When I first began treatment, after a few days on the recommended 1mg dosage, I developed a pain in my left shoulder/arm and also in my chest area (again mostly on my left hand side). I also suffered from less semen being produced. I stopped treatment for a few days and the pain subsided.
Determined to treat my hair loss I tried again with the propecia but taking just half (0.5mg) a tablet a day. After a day or two there were hints of this shoulder pain returning but it then subsided and I have been able to continue with treatment at 0.5mg a day with virtually no problems (I still have decreased semen production but not to the extent that it causes any problems).
My question is: having been taking a half dose for these 2 months would it be worthwhile trying to go up to the recommended 1mg again? Is there a chance that my body may have adapted to the use of finasteride and could cope with the increase or would it be wiser to remain on the 0.5mg dosage (given that i still have the side effect of reduced seminal fluid) and hope that it has some positive effects upon my hair loss situation?
A half a dose will work about 80% as well as a full dose. I would try one more time at the full dose but if the pain comes back, stick to the half dose. Have a doctor check out your chest and shoulder pain.
People with a rare genetic mutation in the gene encoding apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3) not only have lower plasma triglyceride levels, they also have a decreased risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD), researchers report in two independent studies published online June 18, 2014, in the New England Journal of Medicine [1,2]. This could eventually lead to the development of new drugs that mimic this genetic effect, although that potential therapy is far away.
Hi. I am 21 years old. About 9 months ago I noticed that my hair was thinning at the top. I consulted my GP and he said it was male pattern baldness. He prescribed propecia but after 7 months of taking it I experienced side effects and did not see any improvement. I lift weights for 30 mins 3 times a week and have a protein shake daily could this have any effect? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. many thanks
I doubt that there is any connection unless your protein shake has steroids in it.
Hi, I´m 20 years old. I´m using finasteride since two years and I
have a NW 6 pattern (Hair miniaturized on hairline, top and crown).
I´m sure that finasteride help me in this two years because my hair
is more consistent but I know that I am going to lose my hair
progressively. My question is if you know any case of a NW 6 pattern
who had started his treatment early and finasteride give him results
for a long time (10 years). I need some hope but I want the truth.
Thanks. Regards. Sorry for my english.
I have not seen a complete reversal of hair loss on Propecia on a Class 6 or 7 male your age. Mainly male pattern balding or androgenic alopecia is a genetic condition. When it shows up in the late teens or early 20s, the process is usually more rapid. The drug Propecia (finasteride) with or without Minoxidil may slow down the loss but they will not stop the inevitable pattern from evolving. Surgery can address the balding by moving hairs around to the balding areas but if your pattern is a Norwood 6 or 7 pattern, complete coverage may not be a reasonable goal for hair transplantation.
“Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified 19 cases of nontuberculous mycobacteria wound infections among US residents who had undergone cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic.[1] Fourteen of these patients required hospitalization in the United States, with corrective surgery and long courses of antibiotic therapy.” This was quoted from Medscape June 24, 2012.
Surgery overseas (medical tourism) reflects a multi-billion dollar business today. Because of the high costs of medical care in the United States, many consumers are traveling to other countries to get their surgical care, which can often be less than 10% of the fully loaded costs seen in the United States. It is critical to determine if the facilities are accredited, as that adds some modicum of safety in the decision to travel. Failure to do your research, can produce problems as defined in the CDC statement above. You must plan for such an endeavor asking yourself about the language of the country you selected, finding out the credentials of the doctors, the track record of the facility (infection risks should be documented by the facility), the risks of traveling after the procedure, how you are going to follow-up after you leave the country. etc..
Return air travel should be delayed long enough to ‘cover’ anything that goes wrong. Traveling after a procedure can increase the risk of blood clots in the legs and clots that travel to the lungs from a long flight after surgery as cabin pressure changes during the flight home. This is particularly important if a general anesthetic is administered. To learn more about these risks, see: www.cdc.gov/travel
The field of hair transplants are applicable here as doctors outside the US offer transplants for less costs than here in the US; however, where is their track record to be found, one might ask? FUE in particular is a common offering outside the US and competitive pricing, but once you leave the US, you loose the ‘legal’ protections offered by the US Court system. As it takes a full 8 months to see the success of a hair transplant, what if the doctor had not mastered the technique (very common amongst all doctors in the US or outside the US). We see failures at 8 months that are not uncommon as patients come to us to determine what they should do after a failure has occurred. There is little legal recourse for these patients and many of the doctors in the US are not compassionate about answering to their FUE hair transplant failures.
We are announcing a summer discount program for hair transplants as follows:
· Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), reduced from $8/graft to $6/graft (minimum 1,000 grafts)
· Strip surgery reduced from $6 to $5/graft (minimum fee $3,000)
These fees will apply for any surgery performed before August 31, 2014.
In addition, we want to invite you to visit us and see the amazing results of Scalp Micro Pigmentation(SMP) on previous hair transplant patients who wanted a fuller look or wanted to address their scars (see scalpmicropigmentation.com). During your free consultation, ask to observe one of our SMP procedures so you can see, for yourself, the value of this process. At our Open House Events you can meet many patients who have already had hair transplants and Scalp Micro Pigmentation – our Summer events are Thursday July 10th from 4-7 PM and Saturday August 9, 2014 from 11AM to 2PM.
Please visit us at our open house: July 10th between 4 and 7 PM.
5757 WIlshire blvd.
Prom. 2
Los Angeles, CA
Or Call us at:
(800) New-Hair
Snippet from the article:
A three-year-old Italian boy who suffers from a rare and incurable degenerative disorder called Krabbe disease received a stem cell injection last Saturday. It was his sixth dose, and according to the person who developed the treatment, Davide Vannoni, the boy has obtained “very good results.” Under normal circumstances, any claims of improvement in this boy’s ability to move around and develop mentally would be more than welcome. But Vannoni’s assertions — that his stem cell injections can reverse the effects of any number of fatal diseases — aren’t supported by peer-reviewed studies or clinical trials. And he isn’t backed by a drug company or a university either.
In fact, outside of his small circle of associates, he has received very little support from the scientific community. Yet his organization, a nonprofit called the Stamina Foundation, has treated more than 100 patients since 2007 — and at least 14 of those treatments were paid for by the Italian government.
“They claim that they are able to isolate mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of patients simply by using a drill,” says Elena Cattaneo, a pharmacologist and the director of UniStem, the University of Milan’s Centre for Stem Cell Research. “And then they have been claiming that they’re able to transform these mesenchymal stem cells in 20 minutes into neural stem cells,” to restore a person’s neural functioning. This is impossible, she says, adding “I spent my life generating neurons from stem cells. All this makes no sense.”
Read the rest — Meet the con man selling fake stem cell treatments to children
Stem cell clinics are seemingly appearing everywhere. Why? The answer is plain and simple MONEY. I was just invited to join such an organization and of course, I declined. Let the buyer beware!
Hi,
This is the 6th month after my hair transplant was done. After 2 months my transplanted hair shed out, then after 4 months I noticed there was new hair that started growing. At the 6 month mark, the weak hair started falling out. Is this shock loss after the fact? Is this normal or there is any other issue? Can you please give me your suggestion.
Thanks
It does sound like it might be shock loss, perhaps somewhat delayed for the first round of it. The progressive hair loss that occurs in all of balding men can get accelerated by a hair transplant surgery.
I usually prescribe finasteride (Propecia) for my patients to minimize this impact. Were you on this medication? If not, you should consider going on it to slow down the acceleration of the hair loss that yet still may come. As always, if you have questions or concerns with your surgical procedure, you should follow up with your surgeon to get his/her take.
Hi doctors,
I appreciate your taking the time to read this. I have a seemingly unique issue that I need your advice about. My hair stopped growing just after my 40th birthday. I’m 42 now and I havent seen hair loss but I also havent had to go to the barber even once. This seems really unusual and I don’t know whether this is worth seeing a doctor about. It isnt a “problem” really since I am saving money by not getting hair cuts but I just want to know if this is somethng you have heard of before. Why would my hair just stop growing and should I expect hair loss to follow in the near future??
What you’ve described isn’t something I’ve encountered before.
Hair cycling occurs in everyone and it usually cycles each hair in about 2-4 years. Hairs grow in the anagen phase of the hair cycle. Could it be that your hair cycle is just extremely short? If that were the case, new hairs are continuing to grow and fall out like normal, but just not achieving any length because of a very short cycle (and thus appearing that it’s staying exactly the same).
It’s possible that some underlying health issues could be the cause of this, but I really don’t know. Are you using any chemicals or high heat to style your hair? Sorry, but I’m stumped on this one.
I received a follow-up from a patient after he met with me for a consultation —
Thank you taking the time for the consultation. I wanted to get some clarification on some density counts that you made on my hair. You came up with the number 20 after inspecting my scalp. What does that number refer to? I am looking at some hair loss blogs and reading up on how other people have done and many doctors are using numbers like 60 or 70 or 80 or 90. Is that the same scale? If so mine at 20 would be extremely low. I guess that is on a different scale. Maybe you can help explain the difference. I am a little bit confused.
I used the term miniaturization in your case. There are two ways to determine what is the quantity of hair and the quality of the hair on your head. Miniaturization is a visual way to estimate the quality of your hair, which extrapolates into a projection of how much hair you will eventually lose and how fast.
If one takes 100 hairs, for example, and 50% of them are miniaturized and 50% are normal, that means that the genetic process is impacting 50% of your hairs. As this process advances, these hair will become finer and finer until they disappear. Assuming that the other 50 hairs remain normal, that would leave you with a bulk measurement of 50% of what it should be.
The second measurement we do is bulk measurement, where we quantify the impact of the good hairs and the miniaturized hairs together. This is a mechanical measurement with an instrument which is accurate to within 10%. Continuing with the above example of 50 out of 100 hairs being normal and 50/100 hairs being thin (but contributing to the bulk measurement), the bulk analysis would probably have shown less than a 50% reduction of bulk. The bulk measurement device (HairCheck) would add the two to come up with a metric, and this metric is always compared to the back and sides of your head.
I’m a 22 year old male and i have no medical problems that I know of so far, but i don’t have any hair on my legs. i am kind of ashamed to wear shorts and show my legs to others. is there anyway anyone can help me out?
It’s possible that when you get older some leg hair may appear, though if you haven’t developed it by 22 years old I would think the chances are pretty slim that it’ll start growing later. It is most likely genetics, though if you at one time had some hair on your legs it could be due to some underlying issue (diabetes or a thyroid condition) or even extremely tight fitting clothing.
If hair never grew on your legs at all, I’d look to your genes, in which case there is nothing that is 100% safe to do about this.