Taxotere is a drug for treating cancer. Cancers and hair have something in common – they are both fast growing organs. Cancer drugs attack fast-growing organs. In the body, hair is the fastest growing organ, followed by the intestine. Therefore, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are often side effects. Once the medications stop, the hair will probably come back, and nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea along with it will subside.
This is an alternative to hair transplants for many men who can’t afford a hair transplant surgery. However, the on-going costs or service and replacement can exceed the cost of a hair transplant over 5+ years. Education is the key to understanding everything and any alternatives available for the balding male.
My First Ever Hair System Removal, Cleaning & Reattachment. What could possibly go wrong? from tressless
I have been using Clobetasol Propionate foam on my Scalp for Seborrhea for about 10+ years until recently. I liberally applied it to most of the center part of my head. I just recently realized that could be causing my hair to be very thin, breaking off very short. I stopped using this and just use T Gel Shampoo 2 times a week, and the itch seems to be controlled. My question is: will my hair thicken up if I continue to not use the Clobetasol, or did it cause permanent damage? I can tell by the color of my roots that my hair is growing. I should have read the directions and used it very sparingly, but the doctor’s assistant said she uses it and just applies the foam to scalp and rubs it in. So, I didn’t research any further. Will I have any side effects other than thin, damaged hair?
The chronic long-term use of this steroidal medication (Clobetasol Propionate foam) can cause your presenting symptoms.
I would like to see more data than reported here. I do, however, believe this study, because I suspect that the wounds created with the microneedling technique will have increased the blood supply to the scalp that was damaged from the microneedling. What we don’t know is the downside of this type of treatment – complications such as infection, especially when done with less than very clean techniques. Do all patients shower and shampoo prior to microneedling or do they just do this when they come home from work and watch TV?
The problem I see in this patient is not only what appears to be excessive FUE depletion of the donor area, but that FUE extractions went well beyond the donor area into the crown and even the upper neck. Much of the hair extracted was too high in this man’s head or too low near the neck, which will not be permanent hair.
Assuming that you are a Norwood Class 3 at this time and do not have a crown component, it is likely that you will not advance to a significant Norwood Class compared to most people your age. If you take the drug Finasteride, it will not advance the balding pattern. With these factors, it is possible to restore the balding area to a “full level,” provided that your donor area has at least average donor density (which could be a limiting factor). You are asking to restore your recipient site density to near normal in order to cut your hair very short; I think this is worth discussing with your hair transplant surgeon.
I would want to know more about you to give you more insights. If you are a female, then traction alopecia is a possible cause if you pulled your hair back tightly for many years.
If the graft was placed upside down and it grew for months, it might have grown to full length inside your scalp at a rate of about 1/2 inch per month. I am sure that your doctor remove the hair that came from the cyst (and it most likely was created from an ingrown hair).
I also have a history of having Gynecomastia when I was 15, and it was surgically removed. Will my risk be high if I start Finasteride?
Before staring the drug Finasteride, I always perform a HAIRCHECK, which accurately shows the amount of hair lost at the time the drug is started. If no hair is lost, I advise against the drug.
However, if hair is lost, then I remeasure the patient one year later to see what happened to the balding process and if the drug (1) was started, and (2) the value and the benefit, if any, of taking the drug. For young men with a history of Gynecomastia, the drug Finasteride is not any more of a risk in your situation compared to other men of your age.
A proper consultation include building a relationship between the doctor and the patient, not a salesperson. Unfortunately, too many doctors see $$$ when they see patients. I often see patients and tell them that they are not good candidates for a hair transplant or that the timing is too early. I always build a Master Plan with the patient, so the patient has both a short and long-term plan which may or many not include a hair transplant. My favorite part of what I do is meeting the patient. My practice may be unusual in that I have many celebrities and CEOs of big companies, but I also get truck drivers or students too young for hair transplants. I try to give them the materials that equips them to handle their “balding problems” and balance it with their lives.
I went to a surgeon for a consultation, and he said the following in an email to me afterwards: “Your Norwood classification is possibly Norwood 3. You may not look like this, but you are showing a similar pattern. Your Norwood classification is not meant to be seen as a progression of hair loss, but rather a genetic predisposition (like the color of your eyes).” Is this true? I thought this entire time that when you start going bald, you always end up going completely bald (at some point). This is an important question to have answered because it will determine if I end up getting transplants or not. Is it actually possible to lose hair up to, say, Norwood 3, and then the hair loss completely stops? Or is this bullshit? I’m currently 26, and the surgeon said to me that, by the time you are in your late twenties, it is relatively easy to predict what classification you fall under by just using the microscope to identify currently thinning hairs, and that most men who ended up completely bald showed clear signs of hair thinning throughout the head in their late twenties.
Yes, many people with a Class 3 pattern of hair loss will retain a Class 3 pattern of hair loss for their entire life. The original classification system was to define the end stage of hair loss patterns, not necessarily transition stages of hair loss, although some people do get transitions from a Class 3 pattern to a more advanced pattern of hair loss.
I have been taking finasteride for 10 years now, and I have been slowly losing my hair since, though at a much slower rate. I was wondering, will I eventually become slick bald in a class six pattern if that’s what my genetic fate is, even if I continue to take the medication? Does hair have to miniaturize to the point of completely not being visible anymore, or is it possible for the process to stop in an intermediate stage of miniaturization?
Look at the miniaturization pattern and try to predict your hair loss. Or, better yet, see a doctor like me with specialization in hair loss who might be able to answer your questions after a detailed examination of your scalp. Hair does not have to miniaturize for balding to occur, and most patterns can be predicted after a man is 26 years old.
Is hair thickness dependent on which phase it is in right now? The hair I shed is much different than the hair I can cut off. It is less pigmented, much thinner, and less robust. I mean MUCH thinner and not just some but all of them. Is this normal? Are hairs in telogen thinner than in the anagen phase?
When a hair miniaturizes, it becomes less thick, losing its mass. It also loses its pigment, becoming white, and it often stops growing. This hair may just hang there for a long time, not contributing to your overall hair mass.
Great story. When you start early with the approach you used (like prior to the age of 21), the likeliness of these types of results increase significantly. Many times, different hair forums focus on the worst problems that people experience and too few come forward to tell their positive stories, which I know are much more common than most people realize. Congratulations.
The drugs do work. My hair regrowth journey (with pics) from tressless
If you go back prior to the 19th century, the most common disease in the cities was tuberculosis, a wasting disease causing significant weight loss. When a person has a wasting disease, they (either man or woman) lose hair, but if there are genetic factors involved, hair loss appears earlier in men with wasting diseases. Women have estrogen which protects their hair from the effects of male hormones, which they also have in their system (just less). Howevr, women would still lose hair when they contracted tuberculosis. In these olden days, women looking for a man to marry would judge their a man’s health by the amount of hair on their head. A woman could not tell the difference between genetic hair loss (which they did not understand prior to 1900) and a sick man with tuberculosis who might die. Women would not want to marry a balding man due to fear that he would die after she might have children, then be stranded without a man to support her and her family. This prejudice continues today.