Doctors on Hair Loss & Hair Transplant surgery.

I am a 36 year old American Indian female with very long black hair. I have noticed that i have been losing my hair on top by my center part. I have bi-polar disorder, i have been on the same prescription for two years. I have always had extremely thick hair and now it feels so thin. What do you think could be causing this and what can i do to get my hair back to it’s normal fullness? I do not get periods anymore, i had a uterin embolisation three yrs ago. I am very vain about my waist length hair. Please help me.

There are many medications that can cause hair loss. It would be helpful to know what medications you are on.

With women hair loss can begin in your 30s, 40s, or 50s due to normal female pattern hair loss. The cause of this form of hair loss is not as well understood as male pattern hair loss. It will generally leave an intact frontal hair line with loss beginning just behind this. Over time it continues into the top and the very back of the top scalp. It can also involve the sides and back of the scalp in some women. All women with hair loss should rule out hormonal diseases including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and an elevated level of male hormones. You should also be checked for iron deficiency anemia that can come from heavy periods though this does not seem possible in your case. Laboratory testing includes a T4, TSH, FSH, LH, DHEA, CBC, Ferritin level. Some connective tissue diseases such as lupus can cause hair loss so you might check a WESR and an ANA. If you are having joint problems such as arthritis, this might point to a connective tissue disease.

If all these tests are normal, consider two 4mm biopsies of the affected area that should be read by someone who is a dermatopathologist experienced in reading hair biopsies. It is important to obtain intact hair follicles when taking these biopsies and they must be taken from where you are having hair loss. These can often identify the cause also tell us if you have a more difficult form of hair loss to treat such as a scarring alopecia such as lichen planopilaris.

Someone experienced in evaluating hair loss might be able to help evaluate possible cause of your condition by performing an examination of the hair shaft diameters and a hair pull test.

Tags: biopsies, cause hair loss, dermatopathologist, gene, hair follicles, hair loss, hair shaft, hormonal diseases, hormone, losing my hair, pattern hair loss

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I heard the tern “Donor Recharging”, what does it means?

CIT donor recharging is a method of preparation where each extracted scalp follicular unit is replaced with a body hair follicular unit. The exchange of these grafts isn’t always one for one but the purpose of CIT donor recharging is to replete the donor area and help the donor area from being too thinned from harvesting with hair transplant. CIT donor recharging also stimulates the production of melanin, a pigment in the donor area. Donor recharging allows patients with higher degrees of hair loss to maximize their scalp hair donor supply and fill-in the absence of extracted follicular units. The results with donor recharging are subject to the same limitations as BHT and results cannot be guaranteed. CIT donor recharging results vary from patient to patient and the appearance of the results is unpredictable.

Resources:

Click here to read more about donor recharging

Rechargeable donor area ?

Donor After 6,000g Harvested with donor Recharging

Tags: appearance, bht, cit, donor area, donor recharging, follicular units, Grafts, hair transplant, patients, pigment, results

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This video demonstration was taken during live hair transplant surgery with one of Dr. Cole’s patients.  With strip harvesting or traditional FUE, the patients are very limited in their personal appearance and have difficulties getting back to normal daily activities because they are asked to shave their head.
Shaving the head allows the physician to have high visibility of the donor area which is necessary for donor hair extraction. With the new C2G technique, the patients are able to keep their normal hair style before and after the CIT technique!
Now patients can have the best of both worlds. They no longer have to put up with the pain associated with strip scars and they can still maintain their normal hair style.

 

 Online Video [2:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (297)

Tags: c2g, cit, dr. john p.cole, hair style, hair transplant, hair transplant surgery, patients, strip scar, surgery, video

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My mother had esophageal band surgery a couple of years ago due to her excessive weight problem. Following this she has noted progressive hair loss and a change in her personality. I’ve read that band surgery and stomach stapling can cause hair loss. Is this true?

Bariatric (Weight Loss) Surgery: Metabolic, nutritional, psychological and physiological Consequences Bariatric or weight loss surgeries have become commonplace in the USA and in other countries, in part due to an ever increasing incidence of obesity in the context of a societal standard of beauty that emphasizes a thin, shapely physique. Lobbying by various organizations, as well as medical studies detailing the present and future consequences of untreated obesity, has led to insurance coverage for these surgeries, which were previously deemed “cosmetic”. This article will detail some of the physical and mental aspects of the often rapid weight loss which occurs after bariatric surgery.
The bariatric surgery community utilizes a number of procedures to promote rapid and hopefully permanent weight loss. Some of the earlier methods have been abandoned or modified due to unacceptable morbidity in the post-operative period, both immediate and long-term. Currently used techniques most often decrease absorption of calories or promote early satiety (feeling of fullness), or some combination of the two.

Unfortunately, the decreased absorption of calories is accompanied by decreased absorption of macro- and micro-nutrients. This often leads to nutritional deficiencies of varying degrees of severity. Sometimes these deficiencies may go undetected for some time, until they have had a profound effect on the patient. Many of these deficiencies can be very difficult to treat (refractory) once established. They may cause significant derangement in the patient’s physical, mental and emotional health.

(Read The full Article » » » »)

Tags: anxieties, bariatric surgery, calcium, caloric, calories, cosmetic surgery, depression, emotional distress, endocrine system, hair follicles, hair loss, hyperparathyroidism, iron, magnesium, medical therapy, metabolic, nutritional, obesity, patients, physiological, protein, psychological, psychotherapy, surgery, vitamin, weight loss, zinc

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I had hair transplant procedure a week ago and I’ve note that the hair is still growing in the grafts. Does this mean the hair has been accepted and that it will continue to grow?

Following hair transplantation hair in the grafts will continue to elongate for about 10 days. Some of this may be continued hair growth, but it also reflects a move toward anagen effluvium. In anagen effluvium the dermal sheath begins to contract and move toward the surface of the skin much like an accordion. This shortening of the dermal sheath will push the bulb of the hair shaft toward the surface of the skin. Therefore, some of the elongation of the hairs is not due to growing, but rather due to a contraction of the dermal sheath toward the skin surface.

Once the dermal sheath contracts, the hairs will either begin to shed on their own beginning in two to three weeks after the transplant. Some of the hairs will continue to rest on the surface of the skin for a prolonged period of time. Eventually the scalp skin will either begin to form a wall around the resting, non-growing hair, or the scalp will form a pustule or pimple like reaction that will eventually burst and the non-growing hair will exit the skin with the exudate from the pimple or cyst like structure.

It is probably a good idea to minimize the number of the cyst like structures that you get because they represent unnecessary inflammation. Inflammation may not always be a good thing. In theory inflammation might sometimes lead to an autoimmune response toward one’s own hair and this in turn may compromise future graft growth.

In order to minimize inflammation, we generally recommend that patients begin removing non-growing hair fragments beginning three weeks after the hair restoration procedure. The best way to manage this is to aggressively wash the scalp with soap and a wash cloth. Non-growing hair will come out easily like removing a pin from a soft stick of butter. Growing hairs on the other hand must be plucked and it takes a good bit of force to accomplish this.

Sometimes hairs do continue to grow following a hair transplant without ever going into the resting phase, but it is unlikely that you will see more than 10% go into the resting phase. It is far more likely that the hairs will shed. Occasionally hairs almost shed, but then continue to grow. We can easily recognize these hairs because they have a dark tip that is coarse followed by a narrow constriction that is of lighter color. This is followed by a gradual darkening of the hair shaft and increase in hair diameter once again. We call these hairs that exhibit signs of this trauma pol pinkus hairs and they are a sure sign of recently transplanted hairs that have continued to grow.

Tags: anagen effluvium, cyst, dermal sheath, dr. john p. cole, Grafts, hair diameter, hair growth, hair restoration, hair shaft, hair transplant, hair transplant surgery, hair transplantation, inflammation, non growing hair, patients, pimple, resting phase, scalp

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