3363 replies to this topic

[lamarr1986]

How's everyones hair loss going? i lost about hmmm 30 hairs in the shower last night. But yesterday i lost none on my pillow and only 7-10 on my pillow last night. Hair is noticeably thinner to ME. Do you guy's think i have more chance of perminent loss seens as i started loosing mine 5 weeks after tane? I'm still not sure if it's down to tane or not, i mean my hair is ever so slightly curlier and is dryer, but i still think i may be down to illness/stress!!

[_Andy_]

How's everyones hair loss going? i lost about hmmm 30 hairs in the shower last night. But yesterday i lost none on my pillow and only 7-10 on my pillow last night. Hair is noticeably thinner to ME. Do you guy's think i have more chance of perminent loss seens as i started loosing mine 5 weeks after tane? I'm still not sure if it's down to tane or not, i mean my hair is ever so slightly curlier and is dryer, but i still think i may be down to illness/stress!!

Again, hair loss 5 weeks after Accutane isn't unheard of, and stress is overrated as a cause for hair loss.

When you say, "Hair is noticeably thinner to ME," that sounds just like what I was going through at the very beginning of my problem. I think it's the Accutane, in other words.

[gdwright]

hey i just wanted to add that i think my hair shedding has finally slowed down. almost exactly two months post accutane and id say it started around month four. my hair has thinned out everywhere, somewhat noticeable when its windy and pushes my hair around a bit. its not that my hair is thinner, its just that ive lost so much hair to TE, that it just overall looks thinner as of right now. my hairline is a bit of a mess, slightly worse at my part but i contribute that to more abuse on my end trying to get my hairs where id like em. my hair is still a little wavy and wispy towards the front, but i believe its getting better with time. ive been using nizoral three times a week for three weeks now...whether or not its the answer to the shedding i dont know...but i do know that its good for my hair so ill continue using it. multivitamins as well, they cant hurt. so yeah, thank god the shedding is coming to a stop....now my hair just has to repair itself, id say another four to six months from now my hair should be back to its normal thickness. it already feels better, it looks better, but you can just tell that its been through a lot. hang in there everybody...there is a light at the end of the road. if you use nizoral, let it sit in your hair for a good five minutes before washing it out. if you dont use nizoral, do some research on it and youll find it to be beneficial and quite possibly the best shampoo you can use for your hair. thanks for the support ladies and gentlemen, its been a long hard road...six months of accutane side effects, four months of shitty hair, and who knows how long to recover...but these boards definitely offered reassurance when i thought there was nothing i could do for myself and id just like to thank you for that. cya. im in the navy and deploy here in less than two weeks, but when i get back ill shed some light on my improvement and hopefully ill have good news for you all. later

[caribou]

what was the percentage of people on acutane getting hairloss again?

[_Andy_]

what was the percentage of people on acutane getting hairloss again?

13%, but anecdotally more.

[caribou]

and out of that 13%, only a small percentage is permanent, or does that cover only the permanent hairloss?

[_Andy_]

and out of that 13%, only a small percentage is permanent, or does that cover only the permanent hairloss?

Of the 13%, only a small percentage is permanent. That is what I read in a 10-year review of studies about Accutane.

[ithappens]

I too have suffered a tremendous bout of TE that started on the last month of tane and has gone on for awhile. My experience is very similar to GD's in that it is starting to let up now, and my hair seems to be doing a little better in the texture and all. I too have been using Nizoral almost everyday and it has helped tremendously. I do think that I am going to cut back and use it only 2-3 times a week as it can irritate the scalp and all. Hopefully my shedding remains at a stand still and starts to eventually stop. Today I lost around 20-25 hairs mostly in the shower and my hair doesn't seem to be coming out at all pretty much during the day like it used to. I too am hoping for some noticeable regrowth and hair texture recovery in the upcoming months. I will keep everyone posted on my experience etc. And as for those of you reading reading this with severe acne who are concerned about hair loss, but want to do accutane etc my suggestion would be to do the accutane but KEEP IT AT A LOW DOSE NO MORE THAN 20mg. At 20mg all my acne cleared up and i was doing fine for two months till I went up to 40mg. I feel that derms underestimate it's power, and tend to overcompensate the doseage in hopes of long term remission which is good, but at the risk of increased sides. New studies are finding that in many people 20mg is enough to work well and the extra large doses of 40mg may not be necessary to achieve long term remission. Other than that I highly suggest not taking any more than 40mg at all and wouldn't even think about going towards 60-80mg or higher. It seems people with permanent hair loss were on an extremely high dose for their weight. Just stick with 20mg, and the worst that can happen is that you have to go on it again eventually if it comes back, but at 20mg you should barely have any sides. hope this helps.

[_Andy_]

I too have suffered a tremendous bout of TE that started on the last month of tane and has gone on for awhile. My experience is very similar to GD's in that it is starting to let up now, and my hair seems to be doing a little better in the texture and all. I too have been using Nizoral almost everyday and it has helped tremendously. I do think that I am going to cut back and use it only 2-3 times a week as it can irritate the scalp and all. Hopefully my shedding remains at a stand still and starts to eventually stop. Today I lost around 20-25 hairs mostly in the shower and my hair doesn't seem to be coming out at all pretty much during the day like it used to. I too am hoping for some noticeable regrowth and hair texture recovery in the upcoming months. I will keep everyone posted on my experience etc. And as for those of you reading reading this with severe acne who are concerned about hair loss, but want to do accutane etc my suggestion would be to do the accutane but KEEP IT AT A LOW DOSE NO MORE THAN 20mg. At 20mg all my acne cleared up and i was doing fine for two months till I went up to 40mg. I feel that derms underestimate it's power, and tend to overcompensate the doseage in hopes of long term remission which is good, but at the risk of increased sides. New studies are finding that in many people 20mg is enough to work well and the extra large doses of 40mg may not be necessary to achieve long term remission. Other than that I highly suggest not taking any more than 40mg at all and wouldn't even think about going towards 60-80mg or higher. It seems people with permanent hair loss were on an extremely high dose for their weight. Just stick with 20mg, and the worst that can happen is that you have to go on it again eventually if it comes back, but at 20mg you should barely have any sides. hope this helps.

I fully agree with ithappens. An honest assessment and very good advice regarding the dosage.

[lamarr1986]

Yup, low dose longer treatments are the way to go... if i was to do my course again i would do 20 mg a day for 6 months, if it came back just get the derm to do the same again, maybe for 9 months instead. I was bumped up to 90mg for the last 10-15 days of my course (from 80 mg).
90mg was 1mg/kg for me, but i had all sorts of terrible side effects pretty much instantly when jumping from 80 to 90, this made me discountinue the drug about 1-2 weeks before the end of my course was due.
No one can yet notice my hairloss, even when i point it out. But i can tell my hair looks and feels thinner than it did. Don't know how long it will be before other people can tell.

How big do you find the bulbs on the end of the hairs are in general? mine do normally have them but they are very small. I might post pics when it gets worse, if you look at my profile picture you can see how thick my hair was, it was actually a real hassle to style etc

Glad i started using nizoral within days of noticeing my shedding, with any luck it may help prevent it from getting terrible, who knows though.

I have low body fat as i worked out for years, you guys think body fat percent would effect the efficiency of isotretinoin? as in make it more effective?

[lamarr1986]

Also, do you guys use a conditioner? which one do you find the best? and do you put it on after nizoral?

[gdwright]

man its nice to see something positive in this thread for once. ithappens, my shedding has almost come to a halt. this morning i found only three hairs on my hands after washing my hair. it seemed like it happened almost instantaneously. one day, took a shower looked at my hands and was like "no way!" it'll happen for you soon. i would definitely cut back to two to three times a week with the nizoral. lets see, i weighed at the time of my accutane course 210lbs, i took 40mg/day for the first month then got bumped up to 80mg/day for the remaining five. i think that may have been a bit excessive, but my face is very clear and has been for almost six months. okay, now my hairline...ithappens, you may notice the same thing. my hair line is ripped, its very jagged like it held in some spots but lost some in others. im sure this is the case all throughout my hair, but its easier to see at the hairline when you can hold you hair up and not have anything else in the way. this morning i was having a close look and where its not complete in some spots i see ehhh, bout quarter inch hairs coming in...so im guessing my hairline is in the process of filling back out which is outstanding. stick with the nizoral, for the person who asked what conditioner to use after the nizoral...my advice would be to not use a conditioner until the next day. i used excuse me, use...pantene extra straightening because my hair curled up as most of you know. i also use a deep conditioner maybe once a week because its just good for ya. let the nizoral do its work, let it sit in your hair for a good five minutes (youll feel it bubbling up and stimulating your scalp), wash it out, and leave your hair be. take multivitamins, it has all the b's that your hair needs to repair itself. what else, thats it...im just glad to see that people are realizing theres a light at the end of the tunnel. its so fucking frustrating trading one problem (acne), in for another (hair thinning) in such a short period of time. its also frustrating to watch all your hairs coming out for months knowing that theyre falling out way faster than theyre growing in...but once the shedding stops, life gets nice. cya guys

[sverd]

Could I buy nizoral at any drug store?

[davidhatesacne]

that's so nice to hear gdwright and ithappens! glad your guy's thinning is slowing.

i went to my regular doctor (mom thought it'd be a good idea) about my hair thinning. i told him i was on accutane and told him all the details and he seemed to think it was no big deal. he said all accutane patients that he's had that have had thinning (although rare) have gotten better. he said i have nothing to worry about, and he checked my hair and told me i had a full head of hair. he sent me for a blood test anyways, but we will see. hopefully my hair loss slows soon like your guys! i can't tell you how happy i will be to see this come to an end.

[_Andy_]

that's so nice to hear gdwright and ithappens! glad your guy's thinning is slowing.

i went to my regular doctor (mom thought it'd be a good idea) about my hair thinning. i told him i was on accutane and told him all the details and he seemed to think it was no big deal. he said all accutane patients that he's had that have had thinning (although rare) have gotten better. he said i have nothing to worry about, and he checked my hair and told me i had a full head of hair. he sent me for a blood test anyways, but we will see. hopefully my hair loss slows soon like your guys! i can't tell you how happy i will be to see this come to an end.

Hey David,

Did your doctor give you a timeframe? Also, how many months have you been losing hair?

[davidhatesacne]

i've been losing hair since around the beginning of february, which was also the time i went off accutane. (4 months in to the course, but face was clear and still is 3 months later)

the doctor said if it doesn't slow down in about 1-2 months to go to the derm and see what he thinks about it.

[lamarr1986]

Guys... How long after you noticed the hair loss was it before you could begin to see regrowth?

[gdwright]

lamarr....i noticed regrowth almost immediately after the shedding began...little hairs coming in on the hair line. now ive seen long and short hairs come out in the shower so whos to say that those arent succeptable to shedding as well...but yeah month four started shedding, month five noticed considerable regrowth at hair line, shed real bad for the next two to three months, now im looking at my hairline and not only do i still have those hairs growing in, but where my hair line is a bit choppy, i see hairs filling all that in. i can only imagine this is going on through out my whole head of hair. two months post tane, shedding has slowed dramatically should have my hair back to normal four to five months from now. its still a little curly though, but that probably doesnt pertain to you. i felt like i drew out the tane a month too long. i should have stopped at five but i wanted permenant results and thought the extra month would do it for me, and so far it has...but i could really feel it my last month of treatment. my body knew i was takin it a bit far. hope this helps.

[gdwright]

and also realize that even though it might seem like it, your hair is not falling out all at once. which is why youll see regrowth and still have hair falling out left and right. with TE, your hair falls out and theres a new one ready to take its place right afterwards. once the shedding subsides its only a matter of time before your hair goes back to normal. hey ithappens....hows your hair holding up?

[lamarr1986]

If my hair loss was due to decrease levels of biotin, how long would it take for shedding to stop if i was using biotin supplements?
Reason why i ask is this....
I was on accutane for 19 weeks, experience no hair loss, i was never particularly 'dry' my body always seemed to resist the dryness more than alot of people, although of course my nose and lips were far more dry than normal.
The reason why i think it may be due to a lack of biotin is i was on a course of anti biotics for two weeks (serious dosage) and two different broad spectrum anti biotics at that, i think i may of already had reduced levels of biotin from accutane then my anti biotics coupled with the use of B5 and a b complex which didn't contain any biotin....

anyway im going to take 3 mg of biotin a day and see what happens, will continue using my nizoral aswell!!