Avoid Excessive Sun Exposure When You are Young

Hair Transplant
1

I remember reading on the Internet that head hair serves no practical purpose other than cosmetic. I totally disagree with that. When I was younger, I spent too much time out in the sun in Southern California. In my 20’s my hair was thinning and several bad sunburns developed into Actinic Keratosis in my later years. I got a prescription for 5 fluorouracil which is an anti-cancer medication. This did a good job of getting rid of the scaly red spots but it makes you look like a mutant for about 6-7 weeks while the area is being treated.

I would be interested in hearing from Dr. Woods and Dr. Umar regarding any new studies related to ways of inhibiting this skin problem.

I read recently that in Australia where people are active outdoors in the sun, Actinic Keratosis is very common. I also read in a recent medical study that a low fat diet helps fight the reoccurence of Actinic Keratosis.

2

AK’s unfortunately reoccur as you get older and then you get basal cell carcinomas, which have to be surgically repaired. Buy a good hat hat covers your ears and the highest number sunblock you can find. I have had ak’s and basal cell carcinoma and protect my skin from the sun every day, it’s a hassle.

3

fordham wrote:

“AK’s unfortunately reoccur as you get older and then you get basal cell
carcinomas, which have to be surgically repaired. Buy a good hat hat covers your ears and the highest number sunblock you can find. I have had
ak’s and basal cell carcinoma and protect my skin from the sun every day,
it’s a hassle.”

I have been treating every AK spot that appears with 5 fluorouracil. Sometimes they can recur and sometimes if left untreated, they progress to BCCs. I have never had a BCC and don’t currently see anything progressing in that direction.

Outdoors, a hat and sunscreen is of course a necessity. As we age our resistance to certain conditions and illness is diminished… But there are new discoveries in the form of diet and medication that improve our ability to fight this kind of thing. I was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge about something effective to keep this condition under control besides what is commonly known and recommended.

4

I don’t think this is the section for this discussion. This is the hair transplant section. You’ll get more responses if you post it at its appropriate place.

» fordham wrote:
»
» “AK’s unfortunately reoccur as you get older and then you get basal
» cell
» carcinomas, which have to be surgically repaired. Buy a good hat hat
» covers your ears and the highest number sunblock you can find. I have had
» ak’s and basal cell carcinoma and protect my skin from the sun every day,
» it’s a hassle.”
»
» I have been treating every AK spot that appears with 5 fluorouracil.
» Sometimes they can recur and sometimes if left
» untreated, they progress to BCCs. I have never had a BCC and don’t
» currently see anything progressing in that direction.
»
» Outdoors, a hat and sunscreen is of course a necessity. As we age our
» resistance to certain conditions and illness is diminished… But there are
» new discoveries in the form of diet and medication that improve our ability
» to fight this kind of thing. I was just wondering if anyone has any
» knowledge about something effective to keep this condition under control
» besides what is commonly known and recommended.

5

I had two reasons in mind for posting here. One is obvious, to get some positive feedback, the other reason was directed toward guys “on the fence”, deciding whether or not to have hair transplant surgery.

To you guys considering hair transplant surgery, consider your personal history of sun overexposure and family history of Actinic Kertosis or skin cancer. You may want to take a careful look at your scalp before deciding to go ahead with hair transplant surgery. In my case the Actinic Keratosis was subclinical (not visible) before my surgery. It wasn’t until some time later that I had to treat an area with a cancer drug that has as one of its side effects, hair loss. It’s more psychological than anything. All of the hair grew back, but nevertheless, If you have any evidence of AKs on your scalp, I would recommend having it treated before you have HT surgery, just to get it out of the way.

6

Sure, have your scalp examined by a dermatologist before surgery.

I have never heard anywhere that a low fat diet can affect whether you get AK’s or skin cancer. The only thing that might have some mild benefit, is vitamin C consumption, but the science is very sketchy. There is a lot of research for products for this condition, so better solutions are coming down the road. Check out the kera stick.

7

From the New England Journal of Medicine:

Effect of a Low-Fat Diet on the Incidence of Actinic Keratosis

Homer S. Black, J. Alan Herd, Leonard H. Goldberg, John E. Wolf, John I. Thornby, Theodore Rosen, Suzanne Bruce, Jaime A. Tschen, John P. Foreyt, Lynne W. Scott, Suzanne Jaax, and Kelly Andrews

Background Actinic keratoses are premalignant lesions and are a sensitive and important manifestation of sun-induced skin damage. Studies in animals have shown that dietary fat influences the incidence of sun-induced skin cancer, but the effect of diet on the incidence of actinic keratosis in humans is not known.

Methods We randomly assigned 76 patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer either to continue their usual diet (control group) or to eat a diet with 20 percent of total caloric intake as fat (dietary-intervention group). For 24 months, the patients were examined for the presence of new actinic keratoses by physicians unaware of their assigned diets.

Results At base line, the mean (±SD) percentage of caloric intake as fat was 40 ±4 percent in the control group and 39 ±3 percent in the dietary-intervention group. After 4 months of dietary therapy the percentage of calories as fat had decreased to 21 percent in the dietary-intervention group, and it remained below this level throughout the 24-month study period. The percentage of calories as fat in the control group did not fall below 36 percent at any time. The cumulative number of new actinic keratoses per patient from months 4 through 24 was 10 ±13 in the control group and 3 ±7 in the dietary-intervention group (P = 0.001).

Conclusions In patients with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer, a low-fat diet reduces the incidence of actinic keratosis.

8

Of course one needs to be skeptical of Internet articles, but there are a lot of claims that a body chemistry leaning more toward alkaline than acidic help reduce the incidence of cancer.