Nizoral and hair loss, does it work?

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

“I seemed to respond well to rogaine and I’m wondering how long my hair will stay where it is now? I’m very nervous about using fin because of possible sides but am considering adding Nizoral a couple times a week as well. If I responded well to Rogain and continue with regular application do you think I will keep the results long term? Also, is Nizoral worth adding in a couple times? I appreciate all the help a ton!”

Nizoral is an anti-fungal agent and effective for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis caused by a fungus. It may have some hair benefits with people who have hair loss but the mechanism is not clear if it does.

New source of powerful antibiotics are coming

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

Researchers have found that the Komodo Dragon is impervious to disease and infection. They seem to have powerful proteins circulating in their blood that protect them. The compounds may produce antibiotic like activity for humans, a discovery which will be worth billions of dollars and possibly save tens of thousands of lived. Reference Bloomberg

komodo dragon

 

Seasonal hair loss and finasteride dosage

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

I’ve noticed that as the weather has gotten warmer, my hair looks a lot thinner than it did in the winter. I’m currently on the big Finasteride at a half dose, so I don’t think I suddenly lost more hair (although possible). Could it be that your hair is more oily and appears more thin or bald? Has anyone else experienced this? How can you counteract it?

I think that you are just getting older and losing more hair. You are misleading yourself if you think that it is seasonal hair loss. Follow your doctor’s advice. Get a HAIRCHECK to see what you are actually losing. Look at this situation scientifically. If you are taking a half a dose of finasteride and do not have a reason for it, you might consider going up to a full dose. Too many people are reducing the dose and getting less than the full value of the drug for fear of getting sexual side effect that are not necessarily applicable.

A drink of alcohol a day increases the risk of breast cancer in women of all ages and also causes other cancers

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

CNN Reports:

“sipping an average of 10 grams of alcohol a day — equivalent to a small glass of wine, an 8-ounce beer or 1 ounce of hard liquor — is associated with a 5% increased breast cancer risk in premenopausal women and 9% increase in postmenopausal women, said Dr. Anne McTiernan, a lead author of the new report and a cancer prevention researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.”
See:  https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
The following is taken directly from the National Cancer Institute website.
     Clear patterns have emerged between alcohol consumption and the development of the following types of cancer:
  • Head and neck cancer: Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for certain head and neck cancers, particularly cancers of the oral cavity (excluding the lips), pharynx (throat), and larynx (voice box) (4). People who consume 50 or more grams of alcohol per day (approximately 3.5 or more drinks per day) have at least a two to three times greater risk of developing these cancers than nondrinkers (4). Moreover, the risks of these cancers are substantially higher among persons who consume this amount of alcohol and also use tobacco (5).
  • Esophageal cancer: Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for a particular type of esophageal cancer called esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (2). In addition, people who inherit a deficiency in an enzymethat metabolizes alcohol have been found to have substantially increased risks of alcohol-related esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
  • Breast cancer: More than 100 epidemiologic studies have looked at the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of breast cancer in women. These studies have consistently found an increased risk of breast cancer associated with increasing alcohol intake. A meta-analysis of 53 of these studies (which included a total of 58,000 women with breast cancer) showed that women who drank more than 45 grams of alcohol per day (approximately three drinks) had 1.5 times the risk of developing breast cancer as nondrinkers (a modestly increased risk) (7). The risk of breast cancer was higher across all levels of alcohol intake: for every 10 grams of alcohol consumed per day (slightly less than one drink), researchers observed a small (7 percent) increase in the risk of breast cancer.

The Million Women Study in the United Kingdom (which included more than 28,000 women with breast cancer) provided a more recent, and slightly higher, estimate of breast cancer risk at low to moderate levels of alcohol consumption: every 10 grams of alcohol consumed per day was associated with a 12 percent increase in the risk of breast cancer (8).

  • Colorectal cancer: Alcohol consumption is associated with a modestly increased risk of cancers of the colon and rectum. A meta-analysis of 57 cohort and case-control studies that examined the association between alcohol consumption and colorectal cancer risk showed that people who regularly drank 50 or more grams of alcohol per day (approximately 3.5 drinks) had 1.5 times the risk of developing colorectal cancer as nondrinkers or occasional drinkers (9). For every 10 grams of alcohol consumed per day, there was a small (7 percent) increase in the risk of colorectal cancer.
  • Research on alcohol consumption and other cancers:Numerous studies have examined the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of other cancers, including cancers of the pancreas, ovary, prostate, stomach, uterus, and bladder. For these cancers, either no association with alcohol use has been found or the evidence for an association is inconsistent.However, for two cancers—renal cell (kidney) cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)—multiple studies have shown that increased alcohol consumption is associated with a decreased risk of cancer (10, 11). A meta-analysis of the NHL studies (which included 18,759 people with NHL) found a 15 percent lower risk of NHL among alcohol drinkers compared with nondrinkers (11). The mechanisms by which alcohol consumption would decrease the risks of either renal cell cancer or NHL are not understood.

19 and losing my hair

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

I’m 19 and started to notice I was shedding a lot about six weeks ago.  In those six weeks I’ve lost probably half of my density at the front, and a decent amount at the crown. What the hell is happening? How can this happen so quickly, this is genuinely devastating. I have an appointment with my GP on Friday where I’ll be trying to get a fin prescription, but I don’t even know if fin can help. If the GP won’t give me a script I’ll probably end up having to wait 8-12 weeks to see a dermatologist, by then it’ll be too late I imagine.

See a doctor who has the HAIRCHECK instrument to find out exactly how much hair you have lost. I doubt that you lost half of your hair in just 6 weeks.  If your doctor prescribes you the drug finasteride, then when taking the drug you will know which way you are going, better or worse over time.  See here: https://baldingblog.com/2017/01/10/value-haircheck-bulk-measurements-two-patients-seen-today/

Exercise, testosterone and hair loss

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

Would the increase in testosterone due to exercising cause more hair loss (via increased DHT through conversion), or would losing weight induce hair loss assuming you’re on fin in either case?

No, exercising will not cause hair loss no matter how vigorous you exercise. Excessive short term weight loss can cause hair loss.

Finasteride can increase depression and increase patient actions on self-harm but not suicide

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

In an article just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine edition by Dr. Blayne Well et.al. , the impact of finasteride on patients with known depression were studied. Of that population, 272 patients out of 100,000 have a tendency for depression.  Could it be that these men, once identified should not be prescribed the drug finasteride?  Their concern was to determine if there was a suicide risk that increased because of the use of 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors which included finasteride and dutasteride.

The answer, in my opinion, to this is probably Yes, it is a good idea not to give this drug to people with known depression.  Note excerpts below:

Suicidesuicide2

finasteride and mis-information

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

My docotor who prescribed Finpecia (Finateride 1mg by Dr. Ready Pharmaceuticals) for 90 days. He indicated about men suffering from erectile dysfunction but only in 1 % case. But now after surfing the website https://buying-propecia.com/ including this finding, I understand that the risk rate is much beyond that. I understand you are a pharmacist and from your experience, would you recommend one using Finpecia ??

The risks for sexual side-effects from finasteride is between 2-4%.  Some people believe it is the drug dosage and they reduce the dosage even without known sexual side effects.  Unfortunately there is a lot of mis-information from doctors and the internet. I am a physician and hair transplant surgeon, not a pharmacist; however, I don’t think that concentration of the drug alone is an indicator of response to the drug. One might also want to consider receptor sensitivity and number of receptors and probably other parameters on the biochemical and cellular level.

 

Finasteride and sleep problems

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

I’ve been taking fin for a couple weeks now and my sleep has been greatly affected by it , specifically I am unable to hit R.E.M sleep or stay asleep for a long time. Does this resolve itself over time, or do you recommend stopping completely?

I have not heard this particular complaint. I do know that the body readjusts to hormonal fluctuations over a few weeks/months. If I were your doctor, I would recommend you give it a few months and see what is happening to your sleep patterns.

 

Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) removal with a laser, will it damage hair?

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

Hair follicle damage can result from laser removal of the Scalp MicroPigmentation pigment but it depends on many factor.

The main factor is the depth of at which the SMP ink was placed into the skin.  The human body has three layers of skin: the epidermis, the dermis and subcutaneous tissue.  During an SMP procedure, the ink should be placed into the upper part of the dermis just below the epidermis. Many people go deeper and when they do, the inks spread and form a blotch instead of a dot as the ink migrates in the deep fat.

If the SMP ink is placed in the correct location, damage to the hair from laser removal will be minimal because the hair goes much deeper and if the laser is limited in depth to under 2mm, it will not reach the hair follicles.  If the SMP ink was placed to deep into the dermis, then the heat from the laser might damage the hair follicles.

spider bite

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

Spider bites are common. They can be very dangerous. A few years ago, I got bitten by a brown recluse spider. These spiders often are found around boxes in your garage.  I was very lucky as some people can lose a leg or arm or even die from such a spider bite as I had. Seeing an experienced emergency physician is a good idea as the problems tend to be slow in appearance such as this photo. This photo probably reflected a bite a few days earlier

spider bite

What theories exist for the causes of male hair loss ?

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

You should know that Egpytians were a mix of Bantu, Arabs and even a bit of Caucasian so its not surprising that their would have hairloss. Even African Americans suffer hair-loss due to mixtures with the European gene pool even if they are not Bantu of San

The San bushmen are an isolated and relatively pure ethnic group, and they are of special interest because they share the direct lineage from the direct descendants of all humans. They give us a window to what humans might have originally looked like 60000 years ago

The history for genetic hair loss and its causes has perplexed doctors and other scientists for generations; however, one doctor did come up with a solution which I outlined in a post some years ago after reading his book. Here is the post: https://baldingblog.com/2008/01/23/evolutionary-reason-for-hair-loss/

Juvenile hairline with balding behind it

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

This man shows a juvenile hairline that is about a half inch thick at the leading edge of his hairline.  The genetics on his hairline is different than the genetics on the rest of his head. The hair behind the juvenile hairline clearly shows male pattern balding to some degree.  If he likes to wear his hair short, he can treat his balding with Scalp MicroPigmentation. You can learn more about SMP at https://scalpmicropigmentation.com.  He would wear it combed back and his hairline which will be normal, will easily comb back with a normal looking frontal hairline.  His other option is a hair transplant with the hope that the frontal juvenile hairline will perhaps persist well into his adult life.  I wrote the book on this and you can read it at the link below.

https://newhair.com//pdf/2015/phenotype-article-published.pdf

 

juvenile hairline

Use of an expired shampoo claims to have caused hair loss

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

I used expired shampoo, i knew what i was getting myself into, but i loved the shampoo’s effects on my hair and i continued using it even after its expiry, it was Dove, there was a lot left and i didn’t want to throw it away, i was being a cheapskate. Anyway I started having hairloss and it was a little too much than before even though i had it before. I stopped using it and the extreme hair loss still hasn’t stopped, do you think it’s the shampoo or other reasons…and i am only 23 years old.

I find it hard to believe that DOVE shampoo, expired, could cause hair loss. Maybe you have another cause of hair loss and this was a coincidence. Maybe you should see a hair specialist if it continues to try to nail down the cause.

Posting comments from two patients

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

I must be the luckiest man in the world. I love people and my patients are the special people who are like family to me.  I get emails like this all of the time but this patient took the time out of his busy law practice to write a letter and to tell me about his experience with this last surgery. He was able to compare the 1997 surgery with the surgery last month. This patient, who had his initial surgery with me 20 years ago, has maintained contract with me ever since. I have kept in touch with patients that go back to 1992, and the transplants I did on them at that time, still held up. Helping people is what Dr. Pak and I are about.  This patient is one example of many who express their appreciation and I am grateful and humbled by it.  Click on the image to enlarge.

letter

Here is a second email that also came in today through the Realself website:  I decided to have a transplant about a year ago after seeing some amazing results that one of my friends got from a procedure. I spent about three months researching doctors and watching youtube videos and I met and spoke with many of the top rated surgeons in California. I found Dr. Rassman while watching youtube videos on transplants. I consider myself a very good judge of character and Dr. Rassman’s series of videos on hair restoration were very honest and concise and what he was saying made sense to me. And he demonstrated good character. After meeting with other surgeons I went to meet Rassman and Pak. As soon as I entered the clinic I felt comfortable. All the staff are happy, relaxed and professional. I also went to one of their open days to meet other patients (something I never thought I’d do). I had the surgery with Dr. Pak last November and my results are amazing. I love the new hair line he’s created and people that I’ve told about the procedure cannot believe I’ve had it done. I will have another transplant even though I probably don’t need it. This reason is I want as much density as I can get – I work in front of the camera and have very bright lights on my head. I’m going to have my next procedure with Dr. Pak. I have now sent many of my friends who are receding to meet with the team at NHI. They’ve all had very positive experiences. It sounds corny but they really do feel like part of my family now. They’re happy for me to come in for check ups and both doctors always make time to see me. Thanks Jae and Bill – I can’t thank you both enough! FYI – Having this procedure was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.