Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

I would like to ask Dr. Mohebi about hair stem cell research. If you can explain what it is, how long has it been in research, and in what phase it is at this moment? I’m 31and notice that I had AU, around the age of 29-30. At the time I was going through a lot of stress that made me feel like I’ve brought this on myself. I was taking treatment injections for my eyebrows to see if I can at least save my eye brows. Well, I got tired of the injections, and just left it in the hands of the Creator. Are there eyebrow and eyelash replacement that can be obtain and if so where? I just had a little girl and I really want to take some decent pictures with her and it bothers me at times that I can’t even do that, so I can relate to all who are going through the up’s an down’s and the fight within and without to BEAT-AU, and others. I guess only time will tell.

A:

Hair stem cell is becoming very promising for treatment of many types of hair loss. The phase 3 of the study on hair multiplication was started about 3 years ago and it is ongoing. The purpose of phase three study of any new treatment modality is to prove that there are no long term side effects on the volunteer patient who undergo a new treatment. Hair stem cell technology seems to be a real therapeutic option for many types of hair loss conditions in the next 5 to 10 years.

Having said that, some details about the process of hair multiplication is not quite clear. There is not much information released on the quality of multiplied hair and we are not quite aware about the final cost of the procedure. When it comes to AU (Alopecia Universalis) we cannot know for fact that hair multiplication is the answer to this condition considering the mechanism of AU and the fact that the patient’s own immune system tends to destroy hair follicles.

It is likely that multiplied hair follicles have the same antigenic properties so they could be recognized by the immune system and destroyed the same way that the native hair was initially. A combination of some sort of anti-immune treatment and transplanting multiplies hair might be the answer, but we cannot know for sure before they are investigated thoroughly in the futur.

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Q:

Hi Doctor how are you?

I have been working out and i wanna take some diet pill to help my body loose fat. Is it ok to mix with Proscar? Aalso ive been putting rogaine on the recepient area to speed up the growth. As you can see i have 75% growth i think? In 3 months. It seems like the right side is growing faster and the left side worries me.see alot of fine hair coming out left side though. Dont know if its from proscar and roggaine effect or transplant hair.

Well see in the months to come. Just wanna leave an update doctor.

Thanks and have a good weekend

A:

Here is your answer for your questions in the order you asked them:

1. We do not have any documented evidence on using specific diet pills and/or its preventative effects on the growth of transplanted hair grafts.
2. I do not believe that Rogaine can accelerate the rate of your hair growth on the transplanted area.  They will, however, grow to become similar to what they were in their native location with or without Rogaine.
3. The growth of transplanted hair is not often even.  My recommendation is not to worry about it at this time and give them at least 4 more months until you see the final growth rate.  If you did not have hair in a particular area, medications such as finasteride or minoxidil cannot grow any hair back there.  You may notice improvements in the areas where you experienced significant miniaturization (thinning of hair shafts) with use of these medications.  In those areas, you may see some increase in the bulk of hair over a period of 6 - 8 months.

My recommendation is to continue to be patient and in a few months you may surprise yourself with the density and quality of the transplanted hair.

Have a nice day,

I just read a nice article in Dermatologic Surgery Journal on naturally occurring female hairline based on a study on a large group of normal women.  The study was done in Miami, Florida by Dr. Nausbaum et al.  Although due to the higher numbers of men with hair loss who undergo hair restoration surgery, male hairline has been studied and published more comprehensively though female hairline design through hair transplant is also gaining popularity in the last few year.

The authors came up with a guideline that could be used for designing a female hairline.  The numbers were calculated based on the average of the recorded parameters in women with healthy non-balding female hairline.   Among the interesting parameters, you could see that the presence of the widow’s peak was recorded in 81% of all 360 women.

The authors report that lateral mounds were observed in 90% of the patients in the study.  They published the average measurement parameters on all the indexes in the article.  We at US Hair Restoration perform hair transplants for women with some types of female paterned hair loss and alterations in the pattern of their hairline, or the ones with a male patterned hairline.  We also perform transgender hair transplants for male to female transsexuals.  I believe that transgender hair transplants should be one of the first cosmetic surgeries that a transgender individual should have done to achieve a more feminine appearance.

METRO Source LA magazine is one of the largest and fastest growing magazines. They bring the hottest news in fashion, home design, travel, music and more in a great bi-monthly publication. This month’s publication focuses on Pride events in the hottest and most talked about cities in California: Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. We are fortunate to be a part of this publication especially since we have been featured as this month’s METRO Hot Shops.

California US Hair Restoration offices, located in Encino in San Fernando Valley, Beverly Hills and Orange County and led by medical director Dr. Parsa Mohebi, uses modern techniques and provides top-notch client services to anyone looking to get treatment for hair loss or to correct prior hair procedures. Clients walk away with the most natural look. “The worst scenario is if someone were to compliment you on your hair transplant,” Dr. Mohebi says. “They should absolutely not be able to tell.”

US Hair Restoration takes pride in providing personalized hair loss treatment and educating our patients and answering all their hair loss questions. “Our facilities accommodate almost every personal need of every patient we see and our pricing is as competitive as it gets in today’s market.”

“We meet with each client from beginning to end, and follow up with them regularly,”

For more details or to get a glimpse of our editorial piece in METRO Source LA Magazine, be sure to pick up a copy for yourself. Available in most major book stores. You can also download a copy of the editorial by clicking the image below.

For more details or to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION, contact our Los Angeles Main Office.

888-302-USHR
888-302-8747

Q:

I just had a few questions following the consultation,

As you said I have slightly more miniaturization in the crown than the donor area, but still in normal range, what would cause me to have more in one area than another other than MBP, is that normal for non MPB scalps?

• Could finasteride worsen the hairline due to the rise of testosterone, or is that irrelevant?
• Are there any safe and minor treatments to slow the progress of maturation or reverse it that you would recommend at this stage?

A:
I will be sending you a letter with all information that we discussed during our consultation at US Hair Restoration Beverly Hills Office.  You may have very initial signs of MPB, but the numbers for miniaturized hairs are not far from high normal.  Let us wait and see your progress before putting you on hair loss medication finasteride.  Early stages of male patterned hair loss may not always be obvious enough in our scalp microscopic evaluation to be differentiated from having upper normal levels of miniaturization.  Propecia (finasteride) is a great hair loss medication to prevent balding, but I know many people who went on it without the proper documentation of their miniaturization.  These hair loss patients may have to take it for the rest of their lives without knowing that they have really needed it to start with.

The main cause of hair loss is DHT (dihydroxy testosterone) and not testosterone, so finasteride can not deteriorate your hair loss or hairline maturation changes. Maturation of hairline is a natural phenomenon and should not be mistaken with balding.  We do not want to stop it.  I do not recommend any medications to stop the maturation of hairline either.

Q:

Hello,

I did a search for hair re-growth, hair loss, etc. and I found your email address.  These internet searches are definitely far from perfect, in fact sometimes they are way off!  So if this is not the type of business or practice you’re in, I apologize and please disregard this email.

I’m a 43 year-old male.  I started losing my hair, very slightly, at age 27.  I really haven’t lost a whole lot since then, however, my hairline has receded a little and I have been using Rogaine pretty faithfully.
I’m trying to find the best way or multiple ways of re-growing my hair.  First, I am curious to know if it is okay to use Rogaine (5%) and take Propecia?  Do you know if Nioxin or any other shampoos or hair thickeners are helpful?  Would you recommend any?  Are there any other factors that make a difference in re-growing hair such as: vitamins, hormones, foods or physical exercise?

Do you think these types of remedies are all stop-gap solutions and I will need to look for something more permanent? Do you have any insight or additional thoughts or sell any products or services that I can purchase that will help?

Thank you,

A:

Thanks for your email.  You have asked many questions which most have been answered in our Hair Restoration Blog.  There are many hair loss products in the market, but most of them do not have any active ingredients that can help your hair loss condition.  There are only two FDA approved medications that have been approved and proven to be effective and safe for hair loss treatment and prevention.  Those two medications are Rogaine and Propecia.  If you are suffering from male pattern baldness, hair transplant surgery may be the only option that can improve or eliminate the appearance of baldness by bringing good quality hair from the permanent zone to the front and balding areas.

I do not have any particular hair loss product nor recommend many different lotions and potions that are out there in the market for hair loss.  You can find other valuable information on our postings in our blog and can answer your questions on:

• Nioxin - hair loss product
• other shampoos for hair loss
• vitamins for hair loss
• balding and hormones
• foods for hair restoration
• physical exercise and hair loss

I recommend that you find a good hair restoration doctor who can evaluate you and come up with a master plan for your condition.  This may include medications, surgery or even cosmetic changes that you need to bring your hair and beauty back to your life.  We do offer an online consultation for hair restoration through pictures and if decided that you are a candidate and you choose to have a hair transplant with us, it could be easily done.  Our California offices of hair restoration can arrange your trip to our Los Angeles office for your hair restoration surgery.

You can contact our office at 888-302-8747.

Good luck,
Parsa Mohebi, MD

Temporal triangular alopecia (TTA), also known as congenital triangular alopecia is a skin disorder that is assumed to be congenital.  Balding spots contain normal numbers of hairs, although virtually all are vellus (baby hair) or indeterminate follicles

Congenital temporal triangular alopecia is a form of nonscarring alopecia.  This hair loss condition is generally present at birth. TTA, however, does respond well to hair transplantation.  A few studies have shown that patients whom underwent hair transplantation were successful.

A new study was just published in dermatologic surgery which shows that follicular unit transplantation can  successfully treat congenital temporal triangular alopecia.

Dear Dr. Mohebi,

I am 21 years old and I have the beginnings of a small bald spot on the back of my head - one of my friends first noticed the spot about a year ago. My hair is thick and curly and I did not expect to have hair loss this soon, especially because I don’t really have a family history of hair loss (except for my paternal grandfather). My hair type is very similar to my mother’s family, and in her family most people keep their hair into their 80s, though it becomes very white. I currently live in Watertown, NY.

I have had widespread eczema since I was little, and when I was younger they classified it has icthyosis. At one point, when I was about 5, I suffered pretty bad eczema on my scalp and started losing some hair. I used prescription shampoos for a while and that seemed to take care of it. The only other medication I take on a regular basis is Zyrtec. I work in a very high stress field, and sometimes work 16 hour days - could that have contributed?

Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to control my hair loss?

Thanks!

A:

Bald spots or patchy hair loss on scalp can have many different causes.  The most common cause of patchy hair loss is known as alopecia areata (AA).  We’ve discussed and described this issue on our site and in this blog on many posts before.  If AA is causing patchy hair loss, hair transplant will not be the answer.

You need to find and maintain a good relationship with a good dermatologist who can make your diagnosis and start a treatment plan for your hair loss condition.  You may also need a skin biopsy to confirm your hair loss condition.  Many of the diseases that present themselves with patchy hair loss are chronic conditions and require consistency in treatment.  Some inflammatory skin conditions may also be seen along with scalp hair loss.

Ichthyosis is a family of generalized and mostly genetic skin disorders.  All types of ichthyosis have dry, thickened, scaly or flaky skin. Ichthyosis has been reported along with patchy hair loss condition.  That combination is known as The tay syndrome (congenital ichthyosis with trichothiodystrophy).

Q:

Hello,

Do you map hair for miniaturization, and are you able to tell which, if any, hairs are currently being attacked by dht, testosterone, or something else entirely such as a disease? Or should I be looking into a dermatologist?

Thinking about getting on Propecia, but I am not sure if my receding hairline is caused by dht (androgenic alopecia), or just naturally receding from testosterone. If it’s the latter then Propecia might affect my hairline negatively due to an increase in testosterone. Or perhaps something else entirely, deficiancy, or disease. Just a bit precautious and want to stay ahead of whatever is causing it.

Please advise,
thanks!

A:

Yes, as part of our hair loss evaluation, we do perform a miniaturization study on all of our hair loss patients before planning any medical or surgical hair restoration.  This helps to determine the candidacy of each individual before starting them on medical treatment.  A miniaturization study needs to be done before starting hair loss medical treatment so you have the mapping of the scalp before the treatment that could be used in the future to assess the effectiveness of the medication.  Miniaturization study also can predict your destination when hair loss is concerned.

You can call our main office at 1 (888) 302-8747 and arrange a hair restoration consultation at one of the California offices of US Hair Restoration - Beverly Hills, Encino or Orange County.  We look forward to assist you to come up with a master plan for the prevention or treatment of your hair loss condition.

Treatment of a sebaceous cyst is done through complete removal of the cyst.  Excision of the cyst is simple, however for a scalp cyst, surgeons may have to manipulate the hair follicles that are already under pressure from an expanding cyst. This process may cause damage to some hair follicles that lay over the cyst.

I have seen this condition many times where patients lose hair after removal of a scalp cyst.  The most common cyst of the scalp is a sebaceous cyst that is generally an accumulation of sebum in a capsule in the subcutaneous area (below the skin level). The cyst may happen anywhere in the body.

Patients may experience scalp scarring and hair loss around the incision that is made for cyst removal. This balding spot can be permanent, but depends upon the size and location of the hair loss patch.  This can be treated by simple excision or for larger hair loss patches hair transplantation onto the bald area might become necessary.