I am a 26 year old female. I was on Accutane 60 mg (I'm 5'6 130 lbs) for 6 months, ending this past July. I had the normal annoying side-effects (sensitive skin, itchy eyes) but my hair was wonderful, clean, and full until my last week of treatment, I starting noticeably shedding a LOT of hair. Basically what I've gathered is that Accutane's intensity "shocks" your hair follicles and this essentially stresses your hair and causes it to go into the telogen phase (or resting phase before it falls) MUCH sooner that it is supposed to. My derm told me that I have TE. I have been shedding roughly 500 hairs a day for the past 3 months. More shedding occurs on days that I shower, which I try to wash every 5 days (that's awful though). It has not slowed down. My hair is noticeably thinner to me and others. My part has always had a cowlick on the back of my head, but has never been a problem for me because the weight of my hair kept it under control. But because it has thinned so much, the cowlick doesn't have enough hair anymore to keep it from going crazy so basically I have a big lightening strike part down the back of my head. It's devastating, it's terrifying, I feel unattractive, and it is becoming difficult to stay hopeful. I notice everyone's hair now like I never have before; so many women are practically bald. I do not want to go through that. I scour the internet daily for people who are going through this as well. It's surprisingly difficult to find hopeful stories about this, specifically from accutane. I am taking biotin, and drinking tons of water. I worry about taking too many supplements. I feel like I see some re-growth, only because I have quite a few fly aways. However my hair is shedding greatly still so some flyaways are not encouraginw hen I'm still losing so much.
All of that being said, I had mild/moderate acne. If I could go back, I would NOT take this drug if it meant sacrificing my hair. In the medical world, hairloss is much more permanent and there are far less things to try to help hairloss than compared to mild/moderate acne. Also, my acne isn't back but I have had a few very small breakouts; dry, little pimples, but it scares me that I will be one of hte ppl whose acne comes back after accutane.
Please share your post Accutane stories; things you're still struggling with. Especially if you've experience ANY hair loss and how you coped with it, or if it did or didn't get any better.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Can your doctor prescribe you a steroid cream to stop the scalp issues and shedding? I read on another acne blog that doing that can stop sudden onset hair loss from medication or an acne treatment. You could try using a Biotin enhanced shampoo for growth and thickness. I don't love internal supplements so I'd go for that over Biotin pills. When my hair got butchered, Biotin shampoo helped it grow back a little faster.
You could possibly get your hair trimmeda few inches shorter if it's really long, since the longer your hair, the worse the overall thinning will look. Not the most ideal solution but it will help you aesthetically. Wearing your hair up with headbands/hair wraps orwearing cute hats are 2 go-tooptions if you're extremely self conscious.
get a colon cleanse!!!! The same thing happened to me and it was because the accutane was still stuck in my colon and disrupting everything. Also, take Himalaya liver cleanse vitamins, they are the best to clear out the rest of the accutane still stuck in your liver. Lastly, it is very common to become anemic because of an accutane trial and this can lead to further hair thinning, so try to take some supplements with iron. These steps completely stopped my hair loss and my hair slowly but surely came back to the thickness it was before accutane. Also take some biotin, this will help the hair growth. TRUST ME, do these things and your hair will go back 