American Hair Loss Association | Hair Transplant & Hair Loss Blog

Archive for May, 2008

Yahoo News reports that the drug finasteride, which is used in hair loss treatment Propecia, may play a role in preventing prostate cancer.

Finasteride was originally sold as Proscar by Merck and Co. and was used to treat prostate enlargement. Finasteride, which affects male hormones, was also found to be an effective treatment for hair loss and was eventually developed into a commercial product for hair loss sufferers. Merck and Co. currently sells finasteride as Propecia, specifically for hair loss.

A study in 2003 found that finasteride could reduce the risk for prostate cancer by approximately 25 percent. A new analysis of the research data, however, has shown that the rate of success is actually 30 percent.

The 2003 study also showed that men taking finasteride who still developed prostate cancer were prone to higher grade cancers, which spread more quickly than other, lower grades. In the reanalysis, researchers determined that finasteride was not responsible for the development of any cancers or tumors.

Best of all, the cases in which finasteride prevented cancers “were ‘clinically significant’ in that they were the same type that currently are treated with radiation and surgical removal of the prostrate gland.”

The study was led by Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. He stated that

“Conceivably, every man when he turns 55, if prostate cancer is of concern to him — if he’s having the PSA checked on a regular basis — his doctor probably should at least tell him that he can reduce his risk by about 30 percent by taking finasteride…”

This is good news for both hair loss sufferers and any men who are at risk for prostate cancer. If either of these health issues are a concern for you, contact your doctor and ask about treatments for hair loss and prostate cancer prevention.

Read the entire article at Yahoo news here

Have you ever seen a set of before and after photos and thought to yourself, Wow, that product must really work! It’s difficult to find fault in a product’s effectiveness when the evidence is so compelling.

Yet the hair loss industry has been duping consumers for decades with photographs that tell stories of success but are based in nothing more than sheer and utter lies.

Nowadays, most consumers are aware of photo-retouching software and understand that images can be manipulated and touched up to resemble something other than reality. However, when an ad proudly declares that the photos haven’t been altered in any way, what’s a consumer to think? The photos must be real and therefore the product must really work!

Wrong.

Even without fancy software, it’s not difficult for photos to be taken in a manner that can mislead the public. Illusions are easily created through simple photography techniques such as lighting and angles.

The American Hair Loss Association and Spencer Kobren’s The Bald Truth radio program recently published a video that depicts how lighting and angles can make the same head of hair appear sparse and balding in one photo, but thick and luxurious in another.

Spencer Kobren explains that a flash can create shadows, which make the hair appear to be thicker, or the flash can be used to generate a glare that resembles a shiny bald spot.

This two and a half minute video will forever change the way you look at before and after photos and it will definitely affect how you make choices when buying products that promise to change the way you look.

Amazing, isn’t it? While this advertising trickery is rampant in the hair loss industry, it is common in many other industries as well. Please share this video with family and friends and help others become smarter consumers.

Some of Hollywood’s finest shining stars have dealt with hair loss by picking up a pair of clippers and shaving their heads down to a smooth, shiny surface. Bruce Willis, Damon Wayons, and Patrick Stewart come to mind. Others have lopped their locks for a movie role, to make a statement, or simply to be daring. Demi Moore, Britney Spears, and nineties songbird Sinead O’Connor demonstrate that even women have opted to go hairless for these reasons.

But not everyone looks like a star without hair. In fact, most people feel like anything but a star when their hair starts to disappear. The emotional effects can range from mildly irritating to downright devastating. Men who can carry off the bald and dashing look are lucky and men in general tend to pull off going bald better and more frequently then women, who often turn to wigs and hairpieces to cope with the emotional devastation of hair loss.

Even though plenty of celebrities sport the hairless look, plenty more refuse to do so. How many of them are wearing wigs or hair pieces? How many have undergone hair transplant surgery or are being treated for their hair loss with medication?

Recent rumors in the entertainment industry suggest that actors may have great concern over how hair loss might affect their careers. Lucky for them, their dressing rooms usually come fully equipped with a hairdresser who can fluff up their locks using high quality hairpieces. You’d never know some of them are going through the hair loss experience at all.

Regardless of celebrity status, going completely bald has long been an option for many, mostly male, hair loss sufferers. But not everyone has the visage that goes well with this look, which is why many others choose to utilize treatment and hair pieces. The important thing to note when we look at our balding friends in Hollywood is that not only is there life after hair loss, there can be great life after hair loss. And there are many ways to deal with it. You just have to find the solution that works for you.

Remember, before you consider any product or service to treat your hair loss check with The American Hair Loss Association and if you’re considering a hair transplant  make sure you consult with a reputable member of The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeon.

It doesn’t seem likely that a radio program about hair loss would rank in the top ten, but that’s exactly what has happened. Stickam.com is a social networking site that ranks video and audio programs on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

On March 20, 2008, Spencer Kobren’s radio show about hair loss, The Bald Truth, ranked number one for the day and then hit the number one slot again the following week. It remains in the top ten for weekly radio shows, illustrating that hair loss is a hot topic.

In fact, the show is one of Stickam.com’s top twenty rated programs of all time. As the official weekly broadcast for The American Hair Loss Association, The Bald Truth discusses health, sex, and life, but the focus is clearly on hair loss and targeted toward men.

Apparently the topic of hair loss is one that young people are flocking to. The average Stickam user is just twenty-three years old, demonstrating that hair loss is a concern for the young.

One of the show’s primary goals is to educate people about the hair loss industry, which is heavily populated with snake oil gimmicks designed more to generate revenue than to actually help hair loss sufferers. Spencer Kobren’s on-air support group offers help and assistance to men and women who are dealing with hair loss and helps listeners better navigate the murky waters of the $3.5 billion dollar hair loss industry.

A recent Yahoo News article explains:

Kobren’s  on-air hook “SEX, LIFE and HAIR LOSS, America’s #1 Reality Radio Show for Men” has made this taboo subject  more approachable for young hair loss sufferers and has proven to program directors across the country that hair loss hits home with the most powerful demographic in radio, males in the 18-34 year-old age range.

The Bald Truth airs every Sunday night at 8 p.m. EST on XM Radio 152 and on Stickam.com. It has been nationally syndicated for over ten years.

For more information, visit www.thebaldtruth.com or to check out the show, visit www.stickam.com.

If you have questions about hair transplants, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some common questions and answers about the hair transplant procedure. Remember that you should discuss all your questions and concerns with a qualified AHLA recommended hair transplant surgeon before you decide to have a hair transplant.

Whose hair will be transplanted onto my head?

Many hair transplant patients believe that a hair transplant works like an organ transplant, complete with donor. In actuality, the hair for a transplant comes from the patient’s own head. This is because your body would reject hair follicles and tissues from another individual.

Where are my donor sites?

In most cases, especially when male and female pattern baldness are the cause of hair loss, the donor site will be the sides and back of the head. In these areas, hair is less affected by Dihydrotestosterone, the hormone that causes male or female pattern baldness. Once moved to the balding areas of the scalp, the hair will continue to grow as though it were still growing from the donor area in the back of the head.

Does the color of my hair or skin affect my hair transplant?

Hair and skin color do not affect a transplant from a technical perspective. However, hair and skin that are closer in shade coloring have better visual results because there is less contrast. This has everything to do with appearance and less to do with the medical procedure itself.

Which part of my head will receive the transplanted hair?

This all depends on your pattern of hair loss . Loss of hair in the hair line is what really affects a persons appearance, so the logical place to begin to transplant hair would be into the hairline in order to frame the face. Since their is a finite amount of DHT resistant donor hair that can be utilized for a hair transplant most skilled and ethical har transplant surgeons will leave the crown for last just in case the patient needs to have more hair placed behind the hairline if the patient’s hair loss progresses

Will I need more than one procedure?

Several factors come into play when determining how many procedures you will need:

• Extent of hair loss
• Projected hair loss
• Amount of donor hair available
• Artistic considerations

With today’s state of the art hair transplant techniques fewer sessions are usually needed since thousands of hair follicles can be moved in a single session. Many men will be satisfied with a single procedure but some men will require two or more to be satisfied.

Remember that hair transplant surgery is not for everyone and there are only a handful of truly skilled and ethical hair transplant surgeons in the field today.
Check with The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons before choosing a hair transplant surgeon.

You can also ask accepted IAHRS hair transplant surgeons questions about the hair transplant procedure through the IAHRS Info Center.

In a recent story, the BBC reported that a teacher in Stirlingshire took his employer to tribunal over claims that he was a victim of disability discrimination due to his hair loss.

Sixty-one-year-old James Campbell, who was formerly an art teacher at Denny High School was mocked and teased by the school’s students, who called him “baldy.”

Campbell asked, “How can I stand in front of a class with confidence to get on with my job when I am getting teased and bullied about baldness, when I think they are laughing at me all the time?”

He also stated that if the students were brave enough to call him “baldy” to his face, they might be so bold as to physically assault him.

The court did not rule in Campbell’s favor and found that baldness is not a physical or mental impairment and therefore is not covered under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

Tribunal judge Robert Gall said:

“If baldness was to be regarded as an impairment then perhaps a physical feature such as a big nose, big ears or being smaller than average height might of themselves be regarded as an impairment under the DDA.”

While hair loss is a serious problem that affects sufferers physically, mentally, and emotionally, it did not directly impede Mr. Campbell from performing his work duties. Therefore, hair loss did not render him unable to perform his duties.

In fact, Mr. Campbell was not refused work, did not lose his job, and did not experience discrimination from his peers or superiors. He was being taunted by the children that were in his charge. While the students’ behavior is not acceptable, a greater concern is that a teacher would have so little control over his classroom that he feels justified in claiming disability or discrimination for their taunts.

Schoolchildren are notorious for their taunts and bullying. However, it is teachers and school officials who are responsible for making sure that students do not overstep boundaries in how they treat others.

If Campbell hadn’t been suffering hair loss, the students most likely would have chosen some other weakness to exploit. He missed an opportunity to teach those kids a valuable lesson about hair loss and how to treat others.

Read the full story here.

Hair transplant surgery originated in Japan. In 1939, Dr. Okuda, a Japanese dermatologist developed a breakthrough process to restore hair to those who suffered with scalp injuries and for burn victims. He used a punch technique, which involved extracting small sections of hair-bearing skin and implanting these into small holes in the areas where skin had been damaged. Once these grafts healed, they produced hair in areas that were previously bald.

Just a few years later another Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Tamura, improved upon Okuda’s method by minimizing the size of the grafts down to one to three hairs each. He was working with women to restore hair in the pubic area lost to either genetics or trauma. The surgery that Dr. Tamura developed is quite similar to surgeries that are still performed to this day.

Because these innovative developments in hair transplant surgery occurred around the time of World War II, they did not become accessible in the U.S. until many years later.

During the early 1950s, New York dermatologist Dr. Norman Orentreich completed the first hair transplant in the United States for a man who had male pattern baldness. Orentreich faced much criticism for the procedure that he’d developed. His technique was similar to Dr. Okuda’s, and did not render attractive or natural looking results. He did, however, establish that hair on the back and sides of a man’s scalp was not prone to the ravages of DHT and male pattern baldness.

Hair transplant procedures became more common by the 1960s, but because of the less than pleasing results of the early punch graft procedures developed and marketed my doctors like Norman Orentiech, hair transplant surgery developed a negative reputation. It took almost three decades for hair transplant surgeons to develop significant improvements to these early methods.

In the 1990s, follicular unit micro grafting was introduced and changed the field of hair transplants forever. Finally, the old stigmas could be dismissed and hair transplantation could become a viable option for hair loss sufferers who were appopraite candidates.

Today, surgeons continue to improve upon methods for performing hair transplant surgery. Today’s state of the art techniques can produce stunning results and are increasingly embraced by hair loss sufferers.

To learn more about what to look for when considering hair transplant surgery, visit the surgical hair restoration section of the American Hair Loss Association’s website.

Also, to find a qualified hair transplant surgeon check with The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons.