3 replies to this topic

[40isthenew30]

I am 37 years old, very healthy... no medical problems whatsoever. My hair and nails grow like crazy - always have. I started Solodyn about 6 months ago for cystic acne and did notice some improvement when I was taking consistently. However, my hair started falling out at an alarming rate about 8-10 weeks ago. I kind of thought it was "in my head" (although I don't know why I second guessed myself with big clumps of hair in the drain). I had really thick, coarse hair prior to Solodyn and have never had hair loss for any reason in the past. I have been on no other medication - either OTC or rX - in the past 6 months aside from Solodyn.

 

I called my derm and they advised me to stop taking immediately, and indicated that hair loss on monocycline / Solodyn is a rare side effect. By Googling it, you wouldn't think it was rare! I also asked if my hair would grow back and the nurse (on the phone... not the doc) said, "it usually does." Wow, thanks for encouragement!

 

Now I am utterly and totally depressed that I still have acne and my best feature - my hair - is about half the volume it was six months ago. Has anyone else experienced hair loss with Solodyn, and did it grow back?

[David Lortscher]

Your hair will definitely grow back. Minocycline alopecia is non-scarring, meaning that the follicles are still present and healthy (not scarred over).

It may take about 3 months after stopping for the hair to start growing back, and then another 3 months for the hair re-growth to START to be noticeable.

Be patient, and in the meantime take 5,000-10,000 micrograms of biotin every day to make sure your hair has the protein it needs to re-grow!

[ciara1040]

I am experiencing the exact same problem right now how is your hair loss now??

[40isthenew30]

ciara1040,

 

I think my hair has at least stopped falling out at the rate that it was since going off Solodyn. As far as the answer to if it will grow back, I am encouraged by David's response, but it hasn't been long enough for me to tell if it's thickening back up!

 

So sad, because it actually was the only thing that worked for my acne, but losing my hair just isn't worth it.