I am 25 and look how bad I look! My friends tease me about it because I am the only one that is balding.

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

You have an early Class 3 pattern of balding which means that as you get older, the hairline will probably rise and the middle section you see now, may disappear.  The only way to slow it down or stop it is with the drug finasteride which works well in young men. I know that there is a lot of bad talk about this drug on the internet, but only less than 4% of men get sexual side effect. Far more men either get their hair back or stop the balding completely. At 25, you could also get a hair transplant.  I looked into my Gallery on my website and found someone who had his entire hairline moved down as shown below on the right next to your picture which is on the left.  This was, of course, a hair transplant, something you might consider.

 

class 3

Two different people are shown above (not a before and after picture)

I have Alopecia Areata

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

I have Alopecia Areata and the patchy part of the disease that had various bald spots is gone. Now I am left with thinning hair but a normal hairline, but a thin one.  Can I have Scalp Micropigmentation?

Good planning with SMP is critical in discussions with your doctor. In a worst case scenario where your disease comes back with a vengeance, you can always resort to a shaved look that will look good always, regardless of the presentation of the AA.  We often perform SMP giving the patient the opportunity to go both ways, with a full head of hair (whatever they have especially when thinning or patchy balding spots) to a shaved head of hair.  These are options should be discuss with your doctor. This is a great option for patient who don’t know what their future hair loss will look like.

Why do people lose hair with chemotherapy?

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

The hair is a rapidly growing organ, possibly among the fastest of body well (outside the intestine). Cancers are also fast growing so when the cancer is treated with Chemotherapy, the treatment targets fast growing cells. That is why many people who get this get stomach and intestinal side effects. Hair loss occurs in the same way.  We have written about the Cold Cap to prevent hair loss with chemotherapy and it is an important tool, review posts here:  https://baldingblog.com/?s=cold+cap&x=0&y=0 and you can review the many posts on the subject.

Some people only partially regrow their hair if they lost it. This may be caused by permanent changes in the life of the hair follicle which is frequently limited anyway. When a hair follicle reaches the end of its life (from genetic balding or even old age), the cells undergo apoptosis (cell death). The Chemotherapy may damage the hair cycle clock limiting how many cycles the hair goes through. We know that hair goes through aging in all of us and we often see changes of hair character (from a coarser hair to a finer hair) or graying (as we lose the pigment cells that give our hair color.

Diagnosed with cancer and treated with chemotherapy, now have hair loss

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

I have been diagnsed with an aggressive large-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma and received chemotherapy from June until September. My chemo included Adriamycin. I had two hair transplant procedure years ago and they have thinned.  What should I do?

It might be worth trying minoxidil topically on the area where you lost hair. You will have to give it 8-12 months to see a benefit.

I have been on finasteride for 8 months and noticed a deformity in my penis. Could this be the drug?

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

Some men get penile deformities without finasteride. In my 27 years in practice, I have not had anyone present with this problem suggesting finasteride, yet I do see reports on the internet about it. There is an incidence of penile deformities in the general male population and the urologists are the best doctors to evaluate it. A friend referred me a patient who has it and was never on finasteride, He was treated by a urologist. not me.

William Rassman, M.D.

I have erectile dysfunction now and I am 26. I want to start finasteride, so what will happen to me?

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

Pre-existing erectile dysfunction is more common than most people think. The statistics are something like 20% of men in their 20s, 30% of men in their 30s, 40% of men in their 40s, 50% of men of men in their 50s.  Many men don’t like to recognize that they might have ED, so it is easier to blame Finasteride, so for this reason, it is difficult to tell which causes what. The risk of making it worse is about 4% as the general statistics remain the same, i believe.