Sun Exposure after Hair Transplant

[35YrsAfter]

There is really no clinical substantiation (proof) that smoking causes hairloss unrelated to MPB. More of a theory than actual proof. I no longer smoke but I use to for 40 years and did so after all four of my HT procedures. I do not advocate this because of the constriction of the vascular system among other things like lung cancer, yet it never negatively impacted my results.

Of course there is the classic example of the homeless man with a full, luxurious head of hair in the alleyway, gassed to the eyeballs, chain-smoking cigarette butts.

According to Sharon A. Keene, MD, recent studies indicate that cigarette smoking raises testosterone levels in men by around 10% - 15%... The increased base hormone, testosterone undergoes 5α-reduction to form the more potent androgen, dihydrotestosterone. This particular study I read may have inadvertently solved the smoking fetish mystery. Perhaps men who get turned on watching women smoke cigarettes were around women smokers at puberty having their testosterone levels raised via second-hand smoke and are the victim of classical conditioning:

Classical conditioning "Pavlov's dog"
"Conditioning is usually done by pairing the two stimuli, as in Pavlov’s classic experiments. Pavlov presented dogs with a ringing bell followed by food. The food elicited salivation (UR), and after repeated bell-food pairings the bell also caused the dogs to salivate. In this experiment,the unconditioned stimulus is the dog food as it produces an unconditioned response, saliva. The conditioned stimulus is the ringing bell and it produces a conditioned response of the dogs producing saliva."

BTW testosterone is responsible for sexual desire in both men and women. In women, testosterone is produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands.

Back to the smoking issue. It constricts blood vessels. Lowered blood supply can definitely impair growth of healthy hair. It just doesn't manifest in the majority of men and women to where it becomes a problem. I just got off the phone with a new patient who had a strip surgery a year ago. Although we haven't seen him yet, he told me that his last hair restoration doctor believes a restricted blood supply caused his necrosis and hair loss in a 2 inch area.

-35YrsAfter works at Dr. Cole's office
www.forhair.com