Emailed Dr Lee...

[jrw]

And asked him about what bombscience said about hairs that get thinner down the shaft and are unpigmented, that the hair will not grow back, or will not grow back healthy. Dr Lee said there must have been some misunderstanding because this was not the case, that info is false.

"While I may have 'pulled a hair from his head', I would not have based
my diagnosis of male pattern baldness (miniaturization of the hair follicles) from the
hair that was 'pulled from his head'. I almost always do a 'hair pull'
on all the patients I see at my office to obtain a rough determination
of the percentage of hairs that are in the telogen phase."

I asked him about hairs getting thinner as they move down the shaft and if the pigment has anything to do with male pattern baldness.

"Not so. At the beginning of anagen, the leading tip of the hair shaft
is pointed. One rarely sees that because the anagen phase is 3+ years
and the hair will have been cut many times during that period. For the
remainder of the anagen period, the hair shaft is the same diameter,
unless there is some systemic disease that affects the hair growth.
During the 1-2 weeks of catagen, the hair follicle involutes, so there
is a quick tapering of the scalp end of the hair. Loss of pigmentation is unrelated to male pattern baldness."

Just wanted to clear this up, as I was curious after reading bombscience's post, and wanted to get clarification.

 

[pharoh]

Loss of pigmentation is unrelated to male pattern baldness

If this is true why in my temples where I am balding are there hairs which are both thinner and lighter than my normal hair? Some of the hairs are completely unpigmented, but there are none in the area which are the same darkness as the rest of my hair.

 

[flux]

He means that if the hair loses pigment right at the end of the growth cycle, its normal. If it has less pigment while in the middle of the growth cycle, then you have problems.

Thanks JRW. I feel a bit better now.

 

[elguapo]

I, too, thank you for the thread and inquiry. Good to know. Because the majority of my hairs do the same, getting thin in the catagen phase before coming out in the telogen phase.

And I agree with the response to the temple question. Well said.

later.

 

[jrw]

Flux, you are welcome. I just wanted to find out the truth, because that would be new info to me.

 

[kiwi1973]

thanks that cleared that one up for me too

 

[bombscience]

And asked him about what bombscience said about hairs that get thinner down the shaft and are unpigmented, that the hair will not grow back, or will not grow back healthy. Dr Lee said there must have been some misunderstanding because this was not the case, that info is false.

"While I may have 'pulled a hair from his head', I would not have based
my diagnosis of male pattern baldness (miniaturization of the hair follicles) from the
hair that was 'pulled from his head'. I almost always do a 'hair pull'
on all the patients I see at my office to obtain a rough determination
of the percentage of hairs that are in the telogen phase."

I asked him about hairs getting thinner as they move down the shaft and if the pigment has anything to do with male pattern baldness.

"Not so. At the beginning of anagen, the leading tip of the hair shaft
is pointed. One rarely sees that because the anagen phase is 3+ years
and the hair will have been cut many times during that period. For the
remainder of the anagen period, the hair shaft is the same diameter,
unless there is some systemic disease that affects the hair growth.
During the 1-2 weeks of catagen, the hair follicle involutes, so there
is a quick tapering of the scalp end of the hair. Loss of pigmentation is unrelated to male pattern baldness."

Just wanted to clear this up, as I was curious after reading bombscience's post, and wanted to get clarification.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying in my post. The catagen phase of hairgrowth does not yeild 2 inches of hair. When Dr. Lee plucked my hair to see how many hairs were in the telogen phase he agreed that the hairs were thinning over 2 or more inches of the shaft. And I think he used the same phrase "the hair shaft is the same diameter,
unless there is some systemic disease that affects the hair growth". Therefore, something is affecting the growth of my hair. That's all that he said and he more or less repeated it in your email.