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Ask Dr. Wasserbauer
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Dr. Wasserbauer, considered by many to be one of the best hair transplant surgeons in California, answers questions about hair loss every day in her hair restoration practice, in the Hospital and in hair loss blogs. below are a few of those questions and answers.
Send your hair loss question to Dr. Wasserbauer.
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Patient Questions and Answers
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| Patient Questions and Answers
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Q: I just got engaged and I want to fix my male pattern baldness before the date. How long does the hair take to grow and will it look natural?
A: Realistically, you can't "fix" male pattern baldness. You can however slow or stop the progression with Propecia and/or Rogaine, and in most cases replace the hair that you've lost for a mature and totally natural-looking hairline. You don't say how old you are, but depending on your age and how much hair loss you have experienced, you should be able to achieve a noticeable improvement in 6 months after the surgery, a very good improvement at 9 months, and your full result at a year after surgery.
I always like to warn people that if you start the process a little too late, you will end up with your wedding picture as your "before" pictures and the ones where you are holding your first child as your "after" photos. Depending on your comfort level and who you decide to tell (because you don't have to tell anyone and they won't be able to pinpoint the difference in most cases), this may be an "interesting" moment when you explain to your children how you re-grew hair. |
Q: Does wearing a hat make your hair fall out?
A: No. Neither does masturbation, chocolate, sunburns, shaving your head, or any other random cause you can think of. Almost all hair loss is caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and the action of the hormone DHT. In patients with pattern hair loss, the hair follicles at the back of the head are not genetically susceptible to DHT but the ones at the top are. This is why a skilled surgeon can take hair from the back of the head and move it to the top/front and it will grow -- because those follicles are immune to the effects of DHT no matter where you put them.
That being said, the "hair-loss-from-hats-rumor" is the most persistent, long-lived rumor regarding erroneous causes for hair loss that exists in the hair loss community. Frankly I hear it so much I find it funny. Le me be clear; It is a symptom of hair loss, not the cause. The likely etiology is the fact that wearing a hat (baseball caps in particular) not only hides the baldness and protects the exposed skin, it also reframes the face in the way the hairline once did - making people appear younger and drawing attention back to their faces (away from their receding hairline). It is so effective that people who are starting to lose their hair adopt the tactic almost immediately, and thus perpetuate the rumor. In this way it is lovingly passed down from fathers to sons to friends and to brothers and sometimes sisters. For those of you reading this, PLEASE join in the fight to eradicate this scourge of a rumor! Wearing hats does NOT cause hair loss.
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Q: I recently had cancer and have lost nearly all of the hair on my head. My last chemo treatment was about three months ago and my hair has not grown back yet. Can hair transplant give me a full head of hair again? I want my life back.
A: One of the reasons hair loss is associated with illness in recent decades comes from the world of chemotherapy patients. Certain types of chemotherapy drugs (not all - which ones you get depend on what sort of cancer you are treating) will cause temporary hair loss by interrupting the growth phases of the hair follicles. In almost 100% of the cases, the hair will grow back. It does take a little time, however, and the hair that grows back has been known to change in character, that is, it might be curlier or thicker or thinner, or even a different color that it used to be (incidentally, many case studies of this phenomenon have been reported in the medical literature in case you are interested, see___).
Most hair surgeons and Oncologists will have you wait at least a year before giving up on having your hair come back, and that is my suggestion as well. You may not need hair transplant at all or perhaps a more limited amount than you think! Also, you have to wait since you need to have a supply of donor hair (usually from the back of your head) to transplant from. Remember, there is hope, and you WILL get your life back, and not just because of the hair, either. |
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