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 Dr. Alan J. Bauman is the Founder, Medical Director and Chief Surgeon of the Bauman Medical Group, P.A. located in Wharfside at Boca Pointe in Boca Raton, Florida. His practice is dedicated exclusively to treating male and female pattern hair loss. Dr. Bauman uses state-of-the-art medical and surgical techniques to help his patients maintain and/or restore their scalp hair.
Christina Sanders
2005-02-17
hair loss
Dear Sir,
I am a 33 yr. old female that has been experiencing extensive shedding for over two years. I have tried numerous products (shampoos, topicals with no luck). Since May of 2004, I was on a regiman of Dexpathanol, 5%minox. with carrier lotion, herbal antiandrogen pill twice a day, DEA and SLS free shampoo, Coenzme and vitamin conditioner. Not only was I not seeing any difference in shedding but have not seen any difference in hair growth. So, as of Dec. 1, 2004, I am adding 5% Saw palmetto to the treatment of 5% minox. in addition to adding Folligen spray and cream and emu oil. What do you think about this regiman? Would you recommend something different? My hair is practically all gray which I do color every 5-6 weeks but with the hair loss what is growing is very thin. I don't know if that is just the texture difference because it is gray or not. At this point, I don't care if my entire head is gray just stop the hair from falling out! How is a hair count conducted? I have done my own and it is at least 300 a day! Hair falls out in the shower when I shampoo/condition, then again when I put mousse on and again when I blow dry it. Sometimes hair falls down my neck when I am not doing anything and forget me trying to run my fingers through my hair just for the heck of it. Every hair that comes out has a white bulb which is getting finer and finer. I just feel like my hair is not deeply rooted or that it is not getting the proper blood supply or oxygen. I have done um-teen blood tests and even a scalp biopsy and everything has come back fine however, I was just recently diagnosed with lupus but my dr. said that he did not feel that the hair loss was from that. He said that lupus usually causes patcy hairloss. I am getting ready to do a saliva test for hormones but after that, I don't know where to turn. I recently read about a dr. in New York that deals with women who have androgenetic alopecia. He said it is treatable, and that it typically has to do with a woman's hormones and that just because you take something to lower your testosterone---if you don't do something about the other female hormones then your problem is not solved. What do you make of all of this. I don't mean to babble, but I have read so much about this problem and am determined to find the answer. Any insight you have into this problem, I would be most gracious.
Thank you.
Christina,
I am impressed with your multi-therapy approach to your hair loss problem. However, it is important to realize that many of the treatments you are using simply have no scientific evidence to support their use in hair loss. Remember that it takes up to a year to notice a change while using Minoxidil (and other therapies) and that there is no quick-fix or silver-bullet 'cure' for female hair loss (like there is for men). Additionally, it may be hard for you to judge the results of these treatments by yourself, since you are not doing any hair density measurements or hair caliber measurements. These are things we do in my clinic in Boca Raton--track the changes you are experiencing. 300 hairs/day is well over the normal shedding range (150-200). Are you washing your hair every day? Even adding in some additional therapies (like nutritional supplements or laser therapy) may not be enough. It is not uncommon for women to maintain their hair with a non-invasive regimen, then enhance some critical areas with hair transplantation. Can you submit photos of your current hair loss staus to doctorb@baumanmedical.com for evaluation? This would be very helpful. I would also suggest that you review some of the videos at my website www.baumanmedical.com that pertain to female pattern loss.
Let me know what questions you have.
Sincerely,
Dr. B.
doctorb@baumanmedical.com
www.baumanmedical.com
1-877-BAUMAN-9 toll free
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