Hair Loss From Hair Coloring?

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

I have hair loss. I also use an herbal hair color. Is using hair color promoting hair loss?

Hair coloring agents only impact the part of the hair follicle which is essentially the visible hair located on the head. Hair represents highly compressed skin which is not alive. As such, coloring agents can not promote hair loss of new hair per se. If chemicals are used which go down below the skin level, then damage to the growing elements of the hair follicles can occur. This would be difficult to do and would require a real chemical burn.

Most people who report hair loss from topical solutions are talking about the hair that is already outside of the head, the hair that we comb and style. Hair can be made brittle by the use of chemicals and as such, hair can break off, creating the illusion that it is promoting hair loss. But this hair loss is strictly above the skin and does not usually impact the hair below the skin which is deep and well protected from the things you can do to it. The new hair, which grows at about 1/2 inch per month, will replace the fallen hair almost 100 percent of the time. If you are used to hair that is six inches long, the normal replacement might take 12 months on its own (a half inch per month), reinforcing the concept that topical agents can promote hair loss.

How Common Are Receding Hairlines in Women?

/by William Rassman, M.D./4 /, ,

My hairline is starting to look like my son’s hairline. The frontal part in the mid-line has gone up about 1/2 inch, and my corners have disappeared creating a V-shape to my hairline. I am 52 years old.

Women’s hairlines often rise up to an inch as a woman ages. Menopause accentuates the hair loss process, and it is reported that about 50% of women past menopause lose their hair and are balding to some degree. This could be seen as a thinning hairline with overall thinning in the front, top, and crown of the head, or receding hairline with a disappearance of the corner hairline.

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts - 7 MONTHS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts – 7 MONTHS Post Op

I am assuming that this lady has seen these changes recently. She is of menopausal age. The normal female hairline is located on the crease of the furrowed brow; however, as the hairline in women rise with age, it may rise as much as a full inch from the crease of the furrowed brow in the mid-line. Additionally, the corners of the frontal hairline often becomes thinner with age, taking on the shape of the male’s mature hairline as this lady is reporting.

In women who have plastic surgery of the face, hair lines and frontal corners are often impacted with hair loss. Brow lifts induce frontal loss and lift the frontal hairline back, increasing the size of the forehead. Is is very common to see frontal corner hair loss after facelifts and brow lifts. We commonly get referrals from plastic surgeons for women who complain about the hair line changes after a facelift.

Hair transplants can address hair line issues reasonably well and can lower the frontal hairline back to the crease of the furrowed brow. The corners can also be filled in with hair transplants.

Do You Recommend FUE in Women?

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

I need a hair transplant but don’t want any pain. I am told that the strip surgery is more painful than the FUE. Can a women have an FUE?

Many women have had FUE done very successfully.Some people are better candidates than others regardless of gender. The FUE has little pain associated with it by the next day. For a large session, the FUE requires a large exposure to the donor area which means we need to shave some areas in the back and sides of the head.We try to do this in inconspicuous areas. This is accomplished by shaving the scalp in stripes so that shaved areas are covered with the hair from above. See our NewHair.com website on FUE. We have also done long hair FUE that does not require any shaving, however, we generally do not do this for more than 400 FUE grafts. Strip surgery can have more pain due to the area of the strip being excised but the majority of people find it very manageable with proper medication. Some people get by with over the counter medications and a few may need something stronger.

fue_1day

Any area of scalp that is used for a strip surgery requires an area 4 times larger for an FUE because only one out of 4 follicular units are removed at a surgery. A large shaved area is required for a procedure as large as 1000-2000 FUE grafts. If shaving your scalp is not a problem, then FUE is a good alternative choice.

I chose to have a strip surgery instead of FUE for my hair transplants. I did not find that the strip produced significant pain. Pain management has come along way and was very well managed.

Female Hair Line Lowering Rounding Surgery (Temple Recession Correction) With Photos

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

Following patient had a hair transplant surgery at New Hair Institute. The photos show 5 Days and 7 Months post op. Full results will be assessed at 12 months as more hairs may grow. There was 1000 grafts transplanted and you can see the rounding and a change in the forehead shape. We generally inform our patients results are variable and that 2 surgeries may be desired for added density (but not necessary). In this patient, the hair was very fine, so a second procedure will be necessary if she wants more fullness.

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts - 5 DAYS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts – 5 DAYS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts - 7 MONTHS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts – 7 MONTHS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts - 7 MONTHS Post Op

New Hair Institute Female Temple Corner Rounding 1000 grafts – 7 MONTHS Post Op

Using Different Minoxidil Strengths

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

I am a 23 Female, I have been losing hair for 2 years now. My dermatologist prescribed minoxidil 2%, but after 4 months i didn’t see any results. Is it safe to use both 2% and 5% (2% in the morning and 5% at night) to make it more effective?

Thanks

In general we advise our female patients to use minoxidil 5% twice a day, although the official recommended dose is 2%. We take the blood pressure of the patient prior to prescribing this medication. Although this medication can be purchased directly from any pharmacy or grocery store, there are side effects that you must read about prior to starting the medication.

Tags: minoxidil, dose

My Hair Stopped Growing After My 2nd Child Was Born

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

i have been losing my hair since the birth of my first female child. i am now 40 and with the birth of my 2nd female child 8 years ago, my hair has completely stop growing. i have multiple bald spots-the sides, top of crown and side back of my head. do you think the birth of my daughters affected my hair loss?

What you describe requires a doctor’s in office assessment. You might have developed an autoimmune disease like alopecia areata – I do not know. But guessing without seeing you is not in your best interest.

Tags: hair, growing, autoimmune disease, alopecia areata

Can Norlevo (Morning After Pill) Cause Hair Loss?

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

Hello.

I took Norlevo (morning after pill) 15 days ago and now I have noticed that my hair is falling out. How long will this last? Is there anyway to stop it?

Thank you.

The morning after pill is a hormone similar to what you find in a birth control pill. Birth control pills could possibly cause hair loss in rare instances. I can not tell you if that if your hair loss is related to the pill (Norlevo). It may be due to stress in general as well. You need to follow up with your doctor for an exam.

Tags: norlevo, morning after, gene, hairloss

In the News – Reality TV Dance Contestant Uses Alopecia to Her Advantage

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

Snippet from the article:

Franchesca BassSo You Think You Can Dance has done it again in Season 11 with another unforgettable dancer and audition courtesy of Franchesca Bass.

The 18-year-old dancer from Indiana was born with Alopecia Areata which made her stand out automatically in appearance but even more with her dancing. She took her condition and used it to her advantage by creating a character for her performance. She called herself an alien who was afraid to be around others. And holy crap, did she deliver. Her alien side came alive and got her a ticket straight through to Vegas.

Read the rest — ‘SYTYCD’s Stunning Franchesca Bass Doesn’t Let Her Condition Weigh Her Down

Check out the video of her dancing on YouTube or at the link above. This teen was empowered by her alopecia totalis or alopecia universalis, and used it in her dance routine to make it to the next round of this reality TV show.

Tags: alopecia areata, hairloss, hair loss, so you think you can dance, fox, sytycd

Around the Web – How Dating Works When You’re a Bald Woman

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

Snippet from the article:

Besides the odd proposition, dating is getting to know someone from the ground up. It’s sharing the deepest secrets about your childhood and family and bathroom habits. But above all, it’s about being hyper vigilant about your appearance. And that’s the crux of the unpleasantness for me: a huge part of dating is about making yourself appear attractive enough for someone to want to spend time with you and potentially have sex with you — a task that is, in my experience, fraught with feelings of anxiety, deception and fear.

I’ve been bald from an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata for most of my dating career. The condition causes your immune system to mistake your hair follicles for foreign bacteria, halting the normal hair growth cycle and resulting in bald patches (alopecia areata), the loss of all scalp hair (alopecia totalis), or the complete loss of all body hair (alopecia universalis). Alopecia affects around two per cent of the Australian population, which is close to half a million people. I’ve experienced alternating periods of complete baldness to having a full head of hair, but for the past three years I’ve had no head hair, no eyebrows and have lost most of my eyelashes.

It makes dating hard. Particularly as a young woman — someone whose physical appearance is weighted above all else as her most defining and valued characteristic.

Read the rest — How dating works when you’re a bald woman

This is a great article by Michelle Law as she talks about how life in the dating scene can be a challenge when you’ve got alopecia. Bald women should not be made to feel alienated.

Tags: alopecia areata, alopecia, hairloss, hair loss, female hair loss

In the News – Henna Temporary Scalp Tattoos for Chemotherapy Patients

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

Snippet from the article:

Complete hair loss is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy. Patients often turn to wigs, hats, and scarves to cover their heads, but now there’s a new alternative.

Henna Heals is a global community of artists that tattoos temporary “henna crowns” on patients’ bald heads, as a form of empowerment.

In 2011, Henna Heals began as a group of five women in Toronto,Ontario, but has since expanded to nearly 150 artists worldwide — in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Australia.

Read the rest and see the photos — Overcoming Cancer With Henna Heals: Global Artist Community Empowers Patients With Temporary Head Tattoos

Henna

 

You can learn more about Henna Heals at their website.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, chemotherapy, chemo, cancer, henna

My Wife Is Losing Hair and I Want to Cure It!

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

Hello Sir,
My wife is suffering from thinning hair from last 3 years, now one can see the scalp in front. However, she has got good long hair and the hair density is reasonably good at the back. But it is thinning in front which is really a matter of concern. Earlier she used lot of Richfeel products but none of them was helpful. Richfeel, is one of the company from India specialized in curing hair related issues.

Currently, one of the local dermatologist has suggested her Ducray’s Neoptide along with novophane plus tablets. I hope that this will work. It has been 45 days she is using those. I hope it wont have negative impact which lead to further hair loss.

I am really worried and am ready to take her to any part of this world to get the best hair of her dreams. Please suggest me the best treatment for her, do you think hair transplant is too early and that should be the last option to be considered. She is 27 now. I have also got her laser comb from hairmax, will it be helpful in any case.

I am so worried, because she is only 27 and I am really afraid that in 10 years time she will lose all her hair.

One good hope I can see is that she has got long hair and hope that with advance oil and medication she could easily grow her or make her hair thick on front side. Moreover, her mother has also got thin hair but not so thin like my wife. In fact my wife’s mother hair were good when she was 27 but my wife problem of hair loss has become serious now at this early age. Is it heredity that she is losing hair so early. Is it curable?? I hope there are no side effect of the medicines and lotions, especially in women we have to see when it comes to pregnancy and fertility related issues.

Please guide me.

We’ve written briefly about the Richfeel Anagrow product before, which apparently contains plant stem cells. Unfortunately, there is no clinical science to back up their claims. You said that this company specializes in “curing hair related issues”, but there is no cure for hair loss that I know of.

I can tell that you’re trying to help your wife, but you’re throwing money at a problem that is not as simple to fix as you’re hoping. The LaserComb is unlikely to do much, if anything, for her hair loss. The only FDA approved medication for treating female hair loss is minoxidil (Rogaine/Regaine), and the collection of oils and lasers are more than likely just going to provide no results, wasted time, and poorly spent money. Female hair loss can be tricky to treat, as there are a variety of possible causes in addition to genetics. See a partial list here.

There’s no way for me to know if your wife is a candidate for hair transplantation without an examination first, but depending on the hair loss pattern, she might be a candidate for Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP). First though, your wife should go to an actual medical doctor (a trichologist is NOT a medical doctor) to find out the reason for her hair loss. It could be a vitamin deficiency or related to some other medication she is taking. Once a cause is determined, then a treatment path can be planned.

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, female hair loss, richfeel

In the News – Woman Living with Alopecia Totalis

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

Snippet from the article:

Prom night sends most teen girls on a dizzying quest for the perfect dress, accessories and hairstyle to make their ensemble complete. On her prom night, Jennifer DeFreece was harried by one simple detail: “I just wanted eyebrows for my prom pictures.”

When she was just a baby, DeFreece was diagnosed with alopecia totalis, an autoimmune disease that results in the total loss of scalp hair. By her 1st birthday, she’d lost all of her hair.

“I was like Charlie Brown,” says DeFreece, now 33 and living in Northridge, California.

Alopecia is nondiscriminatory. It can occur in men and women at any age and is a strictly physical disease, but sufferers say it’s also a disease of the spirit, exacting a devastating emotional toll in this world of silky shampoo commercials and Rapunzel fairy tales.

Read the rest at CNN — How it feels to be a bald woman

Tags: hairloss, hair loss, alopecia totalis, female hair loss

In the News – Woman Suing Microdot For Causing Permanent Hair Loss

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

Snippet from the article:

They promised her a full head of hair, but it was a bald-faced lie, a $15 million lawsuit says. A real estate exec says she shelled out over $250,000 to a clinic that promised to “restore her hair and confidence” — and wound up leaving her permanently bald.

Deborah Betesh’s lawyer, Bruce Baron, said what happened to his client at the Microdot Technique was “an egregious case of fraud, misrepresentation and deceptive business practices.” “The defendants preyed on someone who was hoping to remedy something that was truly a burden and they’ve now destroyed her life,” he said.

Betesh, 56, first went to the E. 58th St. clinic in 2012 because she was worried about her thinning hair. She says techs at the clinic told her they could give her “the hair of her dreams.” They also told her it was “a safe and effective alternative to having hair transplant surgery,” and that just two to four hours after the procedure, “her short hair would become long, and that her thinning hair would become full again,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says.

Read the rest — Salon that promised to give woman ‘hair of her dreams’ caused her to go permanently bald: suit

Wow, that’s quite a bit of money and seemingly little research done. She’s claiming there was artificial hair surgically implanted, while the defendants are adamant about performing no such procedure. Without knowing more about this case specifically, the Microdot process sounds like it is just another type of hair weave to me.

Tags: hair loss, hairloss, lawsuit, microdot

If I Don’t Want to Use Minoxidil for Life, Should I Even Bother Starting It?

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

I am female and decided to have an FUE transplant of 1200 grafts just to fill the front centre. I have some existing native hairs there but it was just getting very thin and more and more difficult to conceal.

I am now due to start the minoxidil foam 2%. I was advised i should use the foam once a day in the evening for at least 6 months. I do not wish to use minoxidil for life and would stop after the 6 months. My question is whether i should use it at all if i plan to stop..? is it necessary to use after surgery? Will it cause more hair loss if I stop after 6 months?

Many thanks

You must use minoxidil for life to maintain any benefits you may see from it. If you do not plan to stick with a minoxidil treatment beyond just 6 months, I don’t really see a point in starting it. If you do start and then stop after 6 months, you will lose any hair that regrew from the medication… though it’s not likely you would’ve seen much regrowth after only 6 months anyway.

Follicular unit extraction (FUE) to the middle of the head for increased density may have a negligible impact. A reasonable alternative to your surgical plan might be Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP), as it is less expensive and the results are instantaneous. See an example female patient here — Bride-to-Be Received SMP Before Her Wedding to Cover Her Thinning Scalp.

Tags: female hair loss, minoxidil, rogaine, hairloss, hair loss

In the News – Breast Cancer Patients Find Strength in Hair Loss

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

Snippet from the article:

Kim Irish had just started a new job and was in California for a training session. She had her tests and was waiting for the results but had asked the doctor not to call her so she could concentrate on the training.

She was set to return to Indianapolis when she got the call from the doctor confirming she had Stage 2 breast cancer. “I was standing in the security line at San Francisco airport when she called me, and I can still see the people in line around me,” she said.

Irish had a lumpectomy followed by four rounds of chemotherapy and 33 sessions of radiation. “My doctor told me my hair would start to fall out three weeks after my first chemo. The moment he said it would start — it started.”

Read the rest (and watch the video) at USAToday.com — Breast cancer patients find strength in hair loss

Fair warning: The video automatically loads when you click that link.

Tags: breast cancer, cancer, hairloss, hair loss