Hair Loss News

The American Academy of Dermatology concluded its 65th annual meeting in Washington DC recently.   This world-famous convention for dermatologists attracts doctors from all over the globe who discuss and debate various treatments for abnormal skin and hair conditions including hair loss.   This year’s convention, which  took place at the Washington Convention Centre from February 2-6, had an estimated attendance of over 15,000 physicians.

The Hairlosshelp.com News Blog was privileged to have Dr S. Umar, a dermatologist and hair transplant doctor from Redondo Beach, California covering the conference for us.

Here is his report on what took place:

Hair loss featured prominently in this year’s meeting with female hair loss becoming a recurring theme. Renowned experts on the subject of female hair loss participated in various workshops, discussion groups and forums.

In Vera H. Price, MD’s talk titled, “Managing hair loss made easy”, she acknowledged the frustration often faced by women with hair loss and the physicians managing them.  Dr Price, of the University of San Francisco, California, emphasized the usefulness of the “hair card” in the evaluation of hair loss patients.   The “hair card” is a simple tool that’s used by the physician to differentiate miniaturized hair from new growth, as well as hair loss that’s being caused by hair breakage. It is also useful in measuring the amount of recession.

In another presentation Jeffrey Mullen, MD of Penn State College of Medicine spoke on the subject of female patterned hair loss emphasizing the need for objective evaluation of the condition by using simple tools like the 60-second timed hair count as well as the measurement of mid scalp bald area width in balding women.

Janet Roberts MD of Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland Oregon discussed trichotillomania emphasizing its psychological ramification.  Trichotillomania is a condition where the sufferer constantly pulls on their hair leading to stress on the hair follicles and eventually causes hair loss that could be permanent.

Hair loss in black people was given special attention in this year’s meeting. The hair loss condition called acquired trichorrhexis nodosa was recognized as a common phenomenon in black women by both Corey L. Hartman, MD of the University of Alabama, Birmingham and Valerie Callender, MD of Howard University, Washington DC.

Both speakers acknowledged the possible role of chemical and physical damage in the causation of trichorrhexis nodosa in black women, a condition that ultimately results in increased hair brittleness and loss. Traction alopecia (from braiding, weaving etc) has been recognized as a major cause of hair loss in black women. Chronic Central Centrifugal Alopecia (CCCA) was recognized by several speakers as a frustrating hair loss condition most commonly found in black women. It was formerly believed to be caused by the use of chemicals and/or hot combs hence the older terms such as “hot comb alopecia” and “chemically induced alopecia”. CCCA is now believed to be a primary entity of unclear etiology.

When discussing treatment options for these patients Dr Callender cautioned that during the planning of hair transplantation, doctors should take into account the fact that black people on the average have lesser donor hair density than all other racial groups.

Wilma F. Bergfeld MD of the Cleveland Clinic gave a synopsis of medical conditions to which people with patterned hair loss are specifically predisposed. Dr Bergfeld emphasized the linking of Male Patterned Hair Loss (MPHL) to: Benign prostate hypertrophy, coronary artery disease (CAD), hyperinsulineamia, insulin resistant associated diseases like obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and prostate cancer. Early onset of MPHL is said to be a marker of carrier status of the gene responsible for polycystic ovaries. Also discussed was the linking of Female Patterned Hair Loss to an increased risk of obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance, type II diabetis, hyperlipidemia, and possibly endometrial (uterine) cancer.

In a study presentation by Reygagne Pascal et al, it was reported that oral cyclosporine was used successfully in treating hair loss caused by lichen planopilaris in 10 of 13 patients.

In another lecture, Matt Leavitt, DO discussed the non surgical modalities of hair loss treatment by presenting a simple way of looking at the myriads of hair loss solutions saturating the media.  He emphasized that of all hair loss medications only Minoxidil and Finasteride are FDA approved for hair loss treatment. Spironolactone, Nizoral and Dutasteride are not FDA approved for hair loss, but for other indications.

His breakdown of hair loss treatments included: the Minoxidil Group (eg Avacor, Procede, Folliguard, Hair Advantage, T-Flavanone, Scalp Med; The Herbal/Biologics group (eg Saw Palmetto, Hair Genesis, Soy, Nuhair, FNS, Procerin, Folligro, Emu Oil; The Vitamin/Mineral group (eg Folligen, Hair Vitamins, L-Lysine, Hair Zx, Triaxin, copper peptides; Home Made Group (eg Oz-Brew); Miscellaneous (eg dutasteride, Nioxin, Kevis, Revivogen, Spironolactone, Procyanide, Nizoral, Fluridil) and the LLLT Group (eg Low level laser therapies, Laser comb)

Hair transplantation also featured prominently with speakers like William Parsley, MD of the University of Louisville Kentucky and Marc Avram MD.

One hair transplant method discussed was FUE or follicular unit extraction.

Francisco Jimenez, MD discussed Dr Jim Harris’s SAFE method of follicular unit extraction (FUE) mentioning that it results in transection rates comparable to those incurred in the course of strip harvesting during strip type hair transplantation. He described it as a sharp 1mm punch that makes an initial shallow incision around the follicle that is followed by a blunt tip which is manually manipulated for deeper dissection around the follicle. He added body hair to head transplantation also called body hair transplantation (BHT) to the list of indications for FUE.

All in all the meeting covered a lot of ground and helped inform many dermatologists about the latest hair loss treatments and hair research.

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Dr  S. Umar, M.D., FAAD
DermHair Clinic
Redondo Beach, California
www.dermhairclinic.com