Is this a common symptom because of finasteride? It also aches a lot when I lift heavy in the gym, especially when doing squats. My left testicle also got bigger than my right testicle, is this normal? My right testicle doesn’t ache at all, only left.

Pain in a testicle can be from many causes, and if it is swollen it would worry me even more. You should see a doctor as some of the causes can be threatening to the testicle.

This is a publication from the Kaiser Wellness Journal written by my son Sean Rassman, an orthopedic surgeon moved by a motivational speaker

Woe is me vs. Wow is me – what’s your take?
Published July 9, 2015
By Sean O. Rassman, MD
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fontana

Of all the physician off-sites and speeches I have attended in the last nine years, the personal life story told by my colleague, Dr. Kent Miyamoto, had the greatest impact on me.  I am sure each physician who heard him speak that day took away something different. What touched me most about his story was not what one may think — the precariousness of life — but what he felt as a patient. He said that he had tried to thank his doctor for saving his life and his gratitude was met with, “I was just doing my job.” He indicated that he actually felt a bit dismissed and cheated by the response.

This made me rethink all of my patient interactions. What we do is more than just a job to the people we treat.  I may see up to 40 or more patients on a clinic day, each scheduled for 15 minutes. In reality, I may have even less time than this, due to my seemingly always overbooked schedule. Many days I go through clinic stressed. I work straight through every lunch and often stay an hour or more after my clinic to finish up and then respond to patient messages. I will admit that I have felt frustration and even anger towards patients who try to extend their 15-minute appointment into 20, 30, or sometimes 45 to 60 minutes. I have thought too many times, “Don’t they know how busy I am and how many other patients are on my schedule?”

There was something about Kent’s story that made me realize, although we may only spend 15 minutes with a patient, that 15 minutes is amplified in so many ways.
Often, patients wait weeks or months to see me and may drive for an hour or more in each direction. They may give up several hours of a day for a 15-minute appointment with me. It is likely that all of their family, friends, and perhaps even coworkers have heard about that upcoming appointment. Many patients have likely spent hours thinking about it, discussing it, trying to anticipate what the doctor will say, and, after the appointment, may spend additional hours trying to make sense and summarize that 15 minutes with all of those in their lives.

I realized I had the choice to see these appointments as something that I needed to get through or 30 to 40 opportunities to make a tremendous impact in people’s lives and the hundreds of friends and family who are impacted by that illness. This is both an honor and a weighty burden.

I asked myself, what would happen if I tried to use the 15 minutes not just to “satisfy” or placate patients, but what if I could use that time to wow or amaze them with by showing them that I not only understand their problems, but that I care about them?

Switching to this attitude resulted in a mental shift and I began to look forward to my clinics more as opportunities to make daily, meaningful impacts and perhaps even amaze a few people.

This mindset is something to which I must frequently rededicate myself, particularly when dealing with difficult patients. Whether they are abusive or manipulative, they can contribute significant stress and one or two difficult patients can ruin a physician’s entire day.

I will probably remember little of our motivational speaker from that meeting last year, aside from the fact he liked to climb mountains, but I will always remember Kent’s story and the impact it had on me.

In the past, I was often guilty of brushing off the compliments of grateful patients, because I knew I had a chance to reduce their 15-minute appointments and use extra minutes on difficult patients.

I used to focus on trying to get out by 5 p.m., but came to realize, if I focus on providing not only excellent orthopedic care, but also emotional and psychological care, even if it means I finish 30 or 60 minutes later, I would leave happier and more satisfied.


Now, I make it a point to try and own the difficult patient, even though I have to accept that I will not be able to positively affect each one. Coming up with ideas for dealing with the difficult patient are the things I struggle with most.  Here are some that work for me:

1. Attempt to empathize. It may change your own perspective and reactions.
2. Make sure the patient knows that you are truly listening. Sometimes that is all you can do.
3. Make sure the patient does not feel brushed off; something the patient believes other providers have done.
4. Accept that you may need more time with that patient; that you may leave late and try to somehow see this as a positive challenge.

Sometimes, the angry, difficult patients can become the most grateful and sometimes the challenge and joy can be flipping them from angry to amazed.

Yes, there is a very subtle change in the shape of your frontal forelock, suggesting it might be returning. I would stay on what you are doing as it seems to be working

It looks like you went from a juvenile hairline to a mature hairline. The distance between your nose and your chin appears to be the same distance from the bridge of the nose to the frontal part of the hairline. You look good and hairy!

Eric Von Detten 20 year hair loss Progression from tressless

The use of your turban with the pulling that is created from the tight wrap is the most likely cause of the hair loss. If the loss has been there for more than 8 months, it is probably permanent and the only good treatment is a hair transplant. We see this commonly in Sikh men and have treated this successfully with hair transplants many times.

Male, 19, Sikh… formerly had long hair, suffering from Traction Alopecia and created an account specially just to post on here and take your guys’ opinion on what should I do regarding this. Feel free to recommend anything although I think minoxidil would greatly help me. from tressless

99% of men with hair loss have genetic causes for it. The best way to deal with it is to develop a Master Plan ( https://baldingblog.com/exactly-master-plan-going-look-like/ ) with a good doctor who is caring and understands you and the process that will keep the hair on your head for life. This is what I do. Find that doctor, get a HAIR CHECK test to get a baseline for your hair loss ( https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/ ), and then you and your doctor should work out just what will be done to keep your hair.

I wrote about this here: https://baldingblog.com/selecting-hair-transplant-doctor/

This is a global approach to selecting any doctor for cosmetic work anywhere. We have monthly open house events for prospective patients to (1) meet many patients one-on-one and judge the quality of the work for themselves, (2) see a surgery live actually on the day of the Open House and (3) get a free consultation to get a Master Plan built for your hair covering short and long term hair loss possibilities. Few doctors will do this because dissatisfied patients come and can ruin such an event as happened a number of years ago where former patients actually picketed the doctor’s office. Your doctor should be proud of his/her patients and willing to bring patients for meetings to educate you. I also started doing this in 1993 at medical meeting where I brought my patients to teach doctors what a good hair transplant should look like. After many years, the ISHRS (International society) had established patient ‘live viewing’ sessions at every annual meeting. What is good for the doctor, should be good for you, the patient.