Bosley Hair Loss Blog

Hair Loss as a Side Effect of Lamotrigine Treatment

I'm aware that this announcement probably doesn't affect many (if any) of my readers, but I still wanted to pass this along to you.  A group of German doctors have written in the American Journal of Psychiatry that hair loss might be a side effect of the usually well tolerated bipolar disorder Lamotrigine Treatment.

Hair Loss as a Side Effect of Lamotrigine Treatment

Always learn about those side effects.

Hair Loss Myths Debunked

There's an interesting column on AskMen.com.  It's sponsored by some hair loss prevention product called Retane. Memories arise from my two horrible weeks of trying Rogaine, but who am I to condemn sponsored content?

Anyway, I thought there were some good insights in the article. Here are the myths about hair loss that the article debunkers.

Hair loss comes from the mother's side
Wearing hats causes hair loss
Losing a handful of hair daily is a sign of male pattern baldness
Excessive use of hair products causes hair loss
Standing on your head cures hair loss
Brushing your hair is better than combing it
Cutting your hair will make it grow back thicker
Excessive washing of hair causes hair loss
Long sun exposure favors hair loss
Color treatment causes hair loss
Diet is related to hair loss
Stress causes hair loss
Hormones are not related to hair loss
Steroids have no side effects on hair

Read Hair Loss Myths Debunked

Day 21 After Hair Restoration Procedure

My scalp is still a little tender, and the ‘re-crusting’ continues.  It’s only in a couple of spots – I guess the follicles are still healing.  Really, it’s only been a week since I’ve been back to normal, but three weeks since the procedure.

Looking back, I didn’t realize what a major procedure this was.  I got a full restoration – 1900 grafts in the course of one day.  If you are considering this kind of procedure, I recommend that you take at least 2 days off (if not more) after the procedure to recover.  Honestly, it took me 5 days.  Even now, 3 weeks afterwards, I’m still feeling it.  This doesn’t surprise me – heck, I underwent a major procedure – but I didn’t anticipate it.  I thought I could just go back to work the next day, but I most definitely could not. 

It’s just something to consider – and though I don’t know, I’m guessing this is true no matter which kind of hair restoration you get:  the bigger the procedure, the more time you should allow yourself to recover.  It's different for everyone, but you may wind up believing that you can go back to operating a back-hoe the next day - and I'm telling you that it might take longer.

Bernstein Medical Hair Transplant Blog

I just ran across an interesting Q&A blog about hair restoration that is written by Dr. Robert Bernstein, a hair transplant surgeon and educator at Columbia University.  While I obviously have no first-hand experience in receiving hair transplantation surgery from Dr. Bernstein, I still applaud him for taking the time to manage his blog and further inform people on how to combat hair loss.  I'll be adding his blog to my hair loss resources section, as it certainly looks like a good read.

Bernstein Medical Hair Transplant Blog

Hair Restoration - Picking a fight against nature

In my  morning reading,  I ran across an interesting story about the Rhode Island radio personality John Bina. Apparently, John had been bald most of his life. Then over the last few years, he underwent three hair restoration surgeries and now has a reason to get hair cuts again.

Picking a fight against nature

Day 19 After Hair Restoration Procedure

 

Three things seem to be happening right now:  first, I notice some “re-crusting” on my scalp.  That is to say, it seems like there might be some new crusting/scabbing around my grafts.  Not much, but a little.

Secondly, I’m starting to notice “shock loss” – where the hairs attached to the transplanted follicles fall out.  They told me it would be about 3 months until the hair started to re-grow, so I’m just waiting to see what happens.  A lot of people want to see my head – the expectation is that the results are instant, but they’re not.  So I do a lot of explaining about shock loss, dormant periods, etc.

Third, I feel some unease.  I’m trusting that everything is going to look good, that everything is going to take, etc.  I’m sure it will, but since the results are visually a “mixed bag” at the beginning, I’ve felt some doubt.  I guess that’s the fun of this blog – I’ll put it out there live for everyone to see

Day 16 - First Hair Cut After Hair Restoration Procedure

 

I got my haircut today, and it feels great.  I intentionally asked my stylist to cut it extra short, so you can actually see the scar. For now you can really see it – but what’s funny is that it’s lower than I thought it was.  Before I thought I was looking at my scar line, but it was just my ‘hat line.’  I'm interested to see how it will look when the hair grows in.  I’m told the hair will cover the scar if it’s longer than 1/2” – I guess we’ll see!

Day 15 After Hair Restoration Procedure

 

OK, I have to admit something:  I couldn’t wait any longer.  Last night I took my Bosley comb and combed my hair.  I figured “If tomorrow morning I can pelt my head with water and scratch my scalp with my nails, a careful combing tonight has to be o.k.”  I gently ran the comb along my scalp – mostly, this helped to remove a bunch of the crusts.  It was also the first time since the surgery that I had the sensation of scratching my head.  I have to tell you, it was one of the best feelings in the world.  Seriously – combing our hair is a simple pleasure that we take for granted (or, in the case of us balding guys, forget about). So this morning I took a shower normally and washed my hair.  It was great to not have to deal with “pouring,” but my scalp was pretty sensitive.  It’s now later in the day, and there’s still a fair amount of sensitivity – I have to be careful when I touch it with my fingers.  It’s kind of a weird combination of sensitivity and numbness. But overall, it feels great to be done with the ‘post-surgical’ interim period.  And it feels great to have my head cleaned up.  You can really see a difference in today’s pictures, even compared to just a couple of days ago. Tomorrow I’m going in to get a haircut.  We’re going to videotape the whole thing, so stay tuned.

New Study About Hair Loss

I ran across an interesting survey today, issued by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. It basically states that people understand why they're losing their hair, but just don't know how to go about fixing it.  From my perspective, I can say that until recently I really didn't know there was a permanent solution to hair loss, either.

Here are some interesting stats that I pulled out of this report:

• An estimated 80 million American men and women suffer from male and female pattern hair loss
• 82 percent of adults polled correctly identified heredity as the primary cause of hair loss
• 15 percent of respondents would first seek out a hair restoration specialist if they were losing their locks
• The survey found that a majority of adults believe stress and medical causes can trigger hair loss (both 58 percent), which can cause people to temporarily lose their hair.
• Younger adults aged 18-24 are the most likely age group to think over-brushing hair (24 percent) and shampooing too much (20 percent) can cause hair loss, both of which are common myths.
• When asked who they would first seek advice from if they were experiencing hair loss, four in ten adults (40 percent) would choose a primary care or family physician.
• Only 16 percent of respondents would consult a dermatologist, and far fewer would turn to a friend or family member (8 percent) or a hairstylist (7 percent) for help.

Other key findings of the survey include:

• Nearly two-thirds of adults (63 percent) would be very or somewhat concerned if they were recently divorced and started dating again and were experiencing unexplained, noticeable hair loss.
• About three-quarters of respondents (77 percent) would be very or somewhat concerned if they were in their twenties and just starting out in their career and experiencing unexplained, noticeable hair loss.
• A vast majority of women (88 percent) would be concerned if they were in their twenties and just starting out in their career and experiencing unexplained, noticeable hair loss compared to 65 percent of men.

Day 14 After Hair Restoration Procedure

 

So it was exactly two weeks ago I got my procedure done, and this is the last official day of “recovery.”  Starting tomorrow morning I can go back to showering and washing my head normally, scratch my scalp, brush my hair – I can pretty much do anything I want.  The only thing is that I have to be careful about sun exposure. I talked to Lissa up in Seattle again today.  She confirmed everything for me, and assured me that starting tomorrow I’m good to go.  Yee-haw!