Post Hair Loss Questions and Get Answers

While many men would rather not experience hair loss at all; those that do, experience many degrees of baldness. While some hair loss sufferers lose hair only at the front, others lose it in the crown while others lose it all over the top.

While restoring a natural looking hairline and frontal core is standard in surgical hair restoration, the bald or thinning crown is often considered the “black hole” for grafts. Thus, patients need to decide how much hair (if any) they want to designate for the crown as they discuss their hair restoration goals with their physician.

Recently, forum member “Mike the Dane” who’s already had a couple of hair transplants posted a thread with photos asking for input from our community as to whether or not he should start to focus on his balding crown. To offer your advice and/or share your experience, visit “To Crown or Not To Crown”.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair loss, baldness, hair restoration, bald, hair transplants, balding

Most balding men and women would love to restore their natural full head of hair by waving a magic wand and/or by popping a miracle pill. However, hair restoration involves careful and strategic planning with a skilled and experienced hair loss doctor. While Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) are typically good at slowing down or stopping the progression of male pattern baldness, hair transplant surgery is the only method of hair restoration proven to grow hair in completely bald areas.

Today’s state of the art hair transplants are very natural looking and undetectable by even the harshest critics. This explains its increase in popularity over the last several years. But while advancements in surgical hair restoration are indeed exciting, it’s crucial for men and women considering this procedure to develop realistic expectations. What can realistically be achieved with hair transplantation varies for each patient. Below, we’ve cited a few important tips in helping you learn what to expect from hair replacement surgery.

Supply Verses Demand: What can be realistically achieved depends on the supply of donor hair and the amount of baldness in demand of new hair. Most patients can typically only achieve an illusion of fullness even under the best circumstances. Thankfully, this is usually enough to provide patients with a cosmetically significant improvement. Those with advanced balding may have to make additional sacrifices and leave some balding areas untouched. To see what hair transplants can accomplish on patients of varying degrees of lost hair, view Hair Transplant Photos by Norwood scale.

To date, finasteride is the only proven hair loss treatment that can stop the progression of male pattern baldness in its tracks by blocking DHT, the hormone responsible for genetic hair loss.  Though finasteride can be purchased on the internet, patients run the risk of dealing with pharmacies selling illegitimate medication.

To learn the best ways to treat your hair loss and purchase Propecia, visit this discussion thread.  Feel free to offer your experience with treating baldness.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair loss treatment, male pattern baldness, DHT, finasteride, hair loss, Propecia, baldness

I am very bald. The crown of my head almost completely bald as is the top of my head. The crazy thing is that I am only 20 years old!

I have looked online and read a few things and have yet to find someone who has had issues with balding that are as worse than or even equal to mine. I was maybe in my second year of highschool when I noticed it. I told people that I thought I was starting to experience hair loss and everyone told me I was crazy. By the time I graduated these same people were telling me that there are solutions to hair loss. Two years later people told me to shave it all the way off. I was good looking in highschool, played on the basketball team, had many girlfriends, great confidence and I felt like I was on top of the world. Since I noticed myself balding all of these things slowly went out the window, my confidence, the cute girls, and my over all happiness.

Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) have both been FDA approved to treat hair loss. But is one more effective than the other?

Though many hair loss sufferers would love to find a single treatment that would solve their problem with balding, usually a multifaceted approach is more effective. Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil treat baldness effectively in many men, but they do so in different ways.

Forum member “Ikki” was recently told by his doctor to get on Rogaine for his hair loss but not Propecia. Click here to see why his doctor may have recommended he stay away from Propecia and when it’s appropriate to use one or both treatments to treat baldness.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: FDA approved, hair loss, balding, Propecia, finasteride, Rogaine, minoxidil, baldness, treat baldness

This hair loss question was answered by Dr. Scott Alexander of Phoenix, Arizona who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  His professional answer is below.

The question I have is regarding the general health of and its effect on hair.  It’s obvious that a good supply of oxygen in the bloodstream is needed, but could someone who has occasional breathing difficulties which causes a sudden lack of oxygen affect hair growth or hair loss?

If you have occasional breathing difficulties, this obviously should be checked out by your doctor to find out exactly what is causing this problem. As for hair growth, if you remain conscious, you are getting enough oxygen to keep your hair alive. This is not the cause of any hair loss that you may have.

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Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair loss, hair growth

Today, physicians and scientists demonstrate that platelet rich plasma (PRP) may actually wake up dormant follicular stem cells and could quite potentially become the next major breakthrough in treating hair loss and growing hair. While some people feel this is yet another marketing attempt to rob balding men and women of their hard earned cash, others are very excited by its potential.

Blood is made from approximately 93% red blood cells (RBC), 1% white blood cells (WBC), 6% platelets, and plasma. When platelets are activated in the body, these sponge-like molecules form branches and release healing proteins called growth factors. Though growth factors have a multitude of responsibilities, the cumulative result is accelerated tissue and wound healing. The basis for the benefit of platelet rich plasma lies in decreasing the RBC count to 5% since they are less useful in the healing process while increasing the platelet count to 94%.

A recent case study on a 26 year old hair loss sufferer suggests that platelet rich plasma can stop and reverse hair miniaturization caused by androgenic alopecia or male pattern baldness. While this 26 year old patient had hair transplant surgery to recover lost hair in the hairline, his posterior crown was traumatized using a 1 mm micro needling roller and platelet rich plasma injected into the crown. The result suggests that PRP not only stopped hair loss, but reversed miniaturization.

To date, Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) are the only two FDA approved and most effective non-surgical hair loss treatments on the market. It’s advised for men in particular to consider Propecia in order to attempt to control future baldness.

Propecia (finasteride) works by inhibiting the production of a large percentage of DHT (dihydrotestosterone), the hormone responsible for male pattern baldness. DHT is also responsible for certain sexual functions and has been said to mitigate the effects of estrogen in men. Thus, one of the biggest concerns all men considering Propecia for hair loss have is the potential for sexual side effects.

Recently, the possibility of sexual side effects while taking Propecia was extensively discussed on our forum. To learn more about the risks and join in the discussion, visit “Possible Propecia User – Worried about Side Effects”.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: Propecia, baldness, finasteride, DHT, dihydrotestosterone, male pattern baldness, hair loss

Thanks to the online collaboration between educated patients and quality physicians, today’s surgical hair replacement procedures can produce results so natural that even your hair stylist can’t detect them.

Ultra refined follicular unit grafting has raised the bar for physicians and their staff. Today, clinics dedicated to this revolutionary procedure can perform larger densely packed sessions when appropriate for the patient. A surgeon must have a large and experienced enough staff to carefully trim all follicular units under microscopes and pack them closely together into tiny incisions carefully and timely. Only experienced and delicate hands can properly place grafts into small and densely packed incisions without damaging the grafts.

Thankfully, a handful of surgeons, such as members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians have significantly improved this technique and regularly perform it with excellent results. Below we’ve provided a few recent examples provided by real patients sharing their stories and photos with us. You are encouraged to offer your input on their hair loss websites.

• Hair loss blogger “Christopher” was fairly bald and unhappy so he decided to start looking into hair loss treatment options. After researching our hair restoration community, he found Coalition member Dr. Jerry Cooley who suggested surgical hair transplantation to thicken up the appearance of his hair. 3000 grafts and 2 years later, Christopher ecstatically claims “I have to say that I am still just as happy as I was when my hair first came in. Dr. Cooley did a great job and a million thanks!!” To read all about his impressive transformation and view his photos, view his hair loss website.

Finding the best hair loss treatment for you takes time and due diligence in learning to discriminate hype from reality.

Thanks to the dedicated patient and physician expert members of our hair loss discussion forum and websites, differentiating fact from fiction and learning what really works to treat baldness is easy.

Below we’ve collected and provided important tips to help you discover which hair loss treatments really work and which ones don’t.

Read the Fine Print: At best, most advertising oversells the benefits of a product appealing to a person’s emotions and desires. You want your hair back and a certain product promises to deliver it. But if you look close enough, you’ll see fine print such as “Results not typical” or “Results will vary”. Be cautious not to be lured by fancy slogans and big promises. Take your time to read the fine print and research each hair loss product on your own.

If It’s Too Good to be True, It Probably Is: We live in a “Buyer Beware” world thus, it’s important not to believe everything you read and hear. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Therefore, much like doing a book report or term paper, research using multiple sources and compare and contrast your findings. This will help you draw more accurate conclusions on which products may help restore your hair and which ones won’t.