So I did some research and found some shampoo called ProZinc sold in my country which is supposedly a very good treatment for dry, weak hair. It has Vitamin E, Niacinamide, Zinc Pyrithione, Pro-Vitamin B5, Biotin and Piroctone Olamine in it. However, I recall reading somewhere about zinc not being recommended for hair loss caused by Accutane?

Mark,

Do you have an overall summery of what you have found helps with the hairloss and other side effects? When you say the five parts of your routine, do you list them anywhere? I am guessing its: topical steroids, lasers, essential oils and the two supplements that you just mentioned?

Also, there is a form of turmeric with supposedly superior absorption called Bio-Curcumin that you might want to try.

Also, has anyone had any experience with homeopathic roaccutane as a method of combating the side effects?

Thanks,

Rob

So I did some research and found some shampoo called ProZinc sold in my country which is supposedly a very good treatment for dry, weak hair. It has Vitamin E, Niacinamide, Zinc Pyrithione, Pro-Vitamin B5, Biotin and Piroctone Olamine in it. However, I recall reading somewhere about zinc not being recommended for hair loss caused by Accutane?

No, Zinc is not good for you if you have damaged by accutane, it aids Vit A. Not sure about topical form, but know for oral form.

So I did some research and found some shampoo called ProZinc sold in my country which is supposedly a very good treatment for dry, weak hair. It has Vitamin E, Niacinamide, Zinc Pyrithione, Pro-Vitamin B5, Biotin and Piroctone Olamine in it. However, I recall reading somewhere about zinc not being recommended for hair loss caused by Accutane?

 

 

No, Zinc is not good for you if you have damaged by accutane, it aids Vit A. Not sure about topical form, but know for oral form.

 

Thanks for the reply. How exactly does it aid Vit A?

Wow, I have been taking a calcium supplement called Osteocare for a month now, given by my derm which has ZINC in it. And my hair started to fall out after I started taking Osteocare now that I think about it. I'm immediately stopping to take it. I'm pissed off at my derm now

Those supplements have the potential to do both (stop or reduce shedding and helping regrowth).

 

I started losing my hair from my entire body (but mostly my scalp) about 3 weeks after i finished accutane. Scalp irritation wasn't to bad to begin with but then picked up as the shedding got worse... I don't have it anymore because i use topical steroids!!

 

My shedding still continues but at a much lower rate (i use five different things to help control the shedding). My hair cosmetically looks almost exactly as it did pre tane (i have had the hairloss for about 2+ years now). My hairline has receeded slightly but only noticeible to me when i lift my hair up!! The hair across the rest of my scalp is about 70-80% of what it was originally and i started with very very thick hair. I still shed hair from some places on my body, but thankfully my eyebrows and eyelashes have stopped shedding!! The shedding from my scalp is down to about 60-70 hairs per day. And although you may read up to 100 hairs a day is normal, it is most certainly not.

 

Either way, being female and if worst comes to worst your hair shedding persists. There are plenty of things i can recommend which will essentially keep your hair looking decent.

 

So try and relax and wait it out for the next 6 months to see what happens.

 

Take care

That's amazing that you've managed to control it to such an extent. I totally hear what you're saying about the average amount of hair to lose, too. No way did I lose more than 100 hairs a day before this started!

Thanks again for the encouragement and the advice. I guess I just have to wait and see. I'm going to get tests done though because there are some other symptoms that might point to an iron deficiency or something. I'll update if I find out the cause.

Best of luck to everyone else trying to sort this out!

D0nn13- here's an explnation on zinic and Vit A

Zinc status influences several aspects of vitamin A metabolism, including its absorption, transport, and utilization. Two common mechanisms postulated to explain this dependence relate to 1) the regulatory role of zinc in vitamin A transport mediated through protein synthesis, and 2) the oxidative conversion of retinol to retinal that requires the action of a zinc-dependent retinol dehydrogenase enzyme

Girl Afraid- If you are getting Iron levels make sure your ferritin levels are at 70 they have to be for hair to grow and grow back. Most doctors only go off the lab values so you could be at 30 and they will say you are okay.

D0nn13- here's an explnation on zinic and Vit A

Zinc status influences several aspects of vitamin A metabolism, including its absorption, transport, and utilization. Two common mechanisms postulated to explain this dependence relate to 1) the regulatory role of zinc in vitamin A transport mediated through protein synthesis, and 2) the oxidative conversion of retinol to retinal that requires the action of a zinc-dependent retinol dehydrogenase enzyme

Thank you for the explanation.

So, I've spent well over an hour reading around 40 pages of this thread and I still can't make my mind about what is better, losing hair during your course, or after your course is over? What's the difference?

edit: I've just finished reading the entire thread..

Oli girl: thanks for the tip. Have an appointment books for sometime next week so will remember to bring that up.

D0nn13: I'm wondering that myself. It seems to be completely arbitrary.

i was told, since i was already thin, i said ARE YOU SURE??? and i was told it won't cause any visable hair loss, and if anything it would just be some light shedding, much light every day anyhow, maybe slightly more, but you'd never see it, and it grows back anyhow. my derm knew of my past quams with my hair and severe worry and said he would never tell me to take it if he thought for one second it would cause me any trouble, knowing my other cosetic concerns on top of it. i trusted him, let's just say, i have so much hair loss, i use spray on hair and wigs at this point, and i only took HALF my accutane recommended doseage, and was not on it for long. my eyes are all screwed up now to, and it never dried out my skin one ounce, like i hoped and expected, just my eyes, and though my hair is oily now from being pregnant, it has not stopped the hair falling out. it comes out with the root on it (of course doesn't hurt , except my pride).

i'm hinging to what he said about definate regrowth, but as someone, who has ALWAYS been worst case senerio, i'm not extremely optomistic. good to find others in my boat. very hard as a woman to deal with. i once had such beautiful hair and skin and now i have been destroyed. BOTH of those things are horrendous now. handling one is hard enough, but both..downright impossible most days.

*sigh*, i'd love to join you all. my derm. told me when i frantically called his offce, that i signed nothing about this horrible hair loss i speak of and could basically...sue the company if i wish, which i would try, if it's possible. i was never told to expect my scalp to be pretty damn bald in the crown and thinning all elsewhere. i once was a model, HA. i couldn't model a trash bag anymore:( i would go bald for perfect skin, but for ZERO trade off, and ruined dry eyes, and no skin changes, it's downright evil:(

BTW is there ANYTHING else to try aside from accutane for severe oil and skin woes that accutane treats?? anything? i can't do it for awhile, but you know i'll be back on the wagon soon. i can't just deal with this anymore.

thanks, shel

It's interesting... I am actually noticing the texture of my hair change. In front of my ears the area above my sideburns now naturally wants to grow backwards, towards the back of my head. With short hair it's hardly noticeable, but when I grow my hair out, I guess I will for the first time have hair that "flips out".

I am frustrated that at the moment I can hardly even style my hair with wax (like a faux-hawk or flipped up at the front, which is how I've successfully done it for years now) but I think that's a bit more temporary.

Weird!

This is odd. I just realized I'm losing most of the hair from the back of my head, not my temples or the front. I'm really not losing an alarming amount from my front and top, maybe 15-20 a day. I don't know if this is a good thing or not.. I really hope mine is just reversible TE.

Edit: I have a very mild itchiness on my head, I don't know whether it's caused by my new shampoo or not though. Also, I'm also losing pubic hair :/ My beard, stache and body hair are just fine though.

What I can say is, the hair shedding will slow down after a year or two.

P.S. When people says permanent hair loss it doesn't mean that you will lose all your hair and go bald. Instead, it means that some of the hair that was lost will never regrow again.

Actually, I just realized that I'm making up the whole itchiness thing. There is no scalp itching for me. I guess that's a good sign. Hopefully I'm just going through TE.

hi all, i recently stopped accutane at the 3-month mark, due to major hair shedding/thinning/breakage.

i was only on 10mg/day, very low-dose, but experienced too many side effects, the one which i could not tolerate being the hair loss. i'm a 32 year old female and had exhausted all other avenues [topicals, atibiotics, hormonal, etc.]

anyways i'm doing a few things now, and my hair is already bouncing back to normal so thought i'd share my regime.

first off, i only shampoo once or twice a week, and always with a dry scalp shampoo. other days i rinse out if needed and then condition. i deep condition/use a hot oil treatment once a week, and always use a leave-in conditioner. i try to let my hair air-dry and avoid my ceramic flat-iron unless going out smile.gif

i'm eating plenty of protein-rich foods, or drinking a protein shake.

i'm taking the following twice a day: biotin, saw palmetto, flax oil, evening primrose oil, milk thistle.

once a day: green tea extract.

i keep my hair out of the sun and usually wear a bandana or ball cap when working outside.

also, i've been trimming my ends frequently to minimize breakage and to create the illusion of thicker hair........just in a month's time, things are already looking much better, so be patient and have hope!

good luck to everyone!!!!!!!

Hey everyone,

I stopped taking accutane a few days ago. I was only on 40 mg/day for about two weeks (also took 2mg of biotin) but quit early because I couldn't handle the hair loss. I started experiencing major shedding, dandruff, and itching about a week into treatment. Bought some head & shoulders and that seemed to take care of the dandruff and itching within two days. I am losing hair now but I honestly cannot tell how much. I haven't shampooed or brushed my hair in three days. I don't touch it unless I absolutely have to. I am planning to buy nizoral tomorrow.

I am trying to stay optimistic about this because I know that I would have eventually tried accutane at some point in my life. I have been dealing with acne for about 10 years now and three different doctors have recommended accutane for me.

My scalp doesn't itch anymore but it does feel a little warm to the touch. Scalp also feels slightly grainy. The hair that falls out does have a bulb attached at the end but it's very small. Does this sound like TE? Would be grateful for any answers/advice. Thanks.

Hard to tell what you are experiencing now but my guess is TE. Just wait it out and try not to fret because most of the hair will grow back with time if it is TE. By the way, there's no need for you to use Nizoral for the time being.

Hi Guys

I have 2 questions.

The first is about lasers and laser combs, and if anyone has had any success with these and which product they use. I'm not sure if they are a gimmick or are effective in promoting hair growth.

The second question is a little more complicated.

The long term affects with hair loss post-accutane would appear to be an acquired auto-immune disease (such as vasculitis and lupus which are known side effects of taking Accutane)

I've read that Accutane can cause a number of autoimmune diseases that result in leukocytes being developed to attack cells in the body. In the case of Accutane induced hairloss, those cells would be developed to attack the cells used in the development of hair.

So my question is does anyone know (or have tried) medications used to treat auto-immune type diseases could be effective in treating accutane induced hairloss? such as cortisone-related medications such as prednisone or an immune supresant drug such as cyclophosphamide might be effective?

I'm going on 11 months of persistent shedding that has not slowed down to date, and at this point I'm willing to try most anything that would have some benefit (without its own side-effects).

I'm glad Accutane is being pulled off the market by Roche in the U.S., but the generic versions I'm sure will still be available to cause damage until enough law-suits are generated against other pharmaceutical companies...

Cheers

Matt

Do not take steroids it can cause hair loss also....Retinoids and Vit A are acutally part of the steroid family.

As for immuno suppresent drugs I am not sure, however I believe that Lamarr1986 is on a anti malaria agent and it is diffrent I believe than a immuno suppresent and much safer. He has lupus like disorder.

I use a home made laser system, consisting on 250 5mw 650nm lasers. The laser combs and most other devices you see on the market are way underpowered. I also use topical steroids so i guess that answers your question. As oli girl says i also take mepacrin, which is immunomodulating and anti inflammatory. I only take two pills per week of the mepacrin now though....

Cheers

I use a home made laser system, consisting on 250 5mw 650nm lasers. The laser combs and most other devices you see on the market are way underpowered. I also use topical steroids so i guess that answers your question. As oli girl says i also take mepacrin, which is immunomodulating and anti inflammatory. I only take two pills per week of the mepacrin now though....

 

Cheers

Thanks Lamarr, what topical steroid are you using?

I was looking at several but they all have the possibility to cause hair loss, with exception of CapEx shampoo which uses fluocinolone acetonide which does not have a side-effect of hair loss.

Also, how did you get the components to make your laser comb? And has it been noticeably effective for you?

I've been using Xandrox 5% on my hair since March (3 months after hair started falling out), and I'm not sure if its effective or not. I was told by my doctor that the residue left behind may be causing my hair to fall out as well.

I've been shedding heavily since I started on Xandrox, and I'm looking pretty rough these days. I haven't seen the shedding let up or stop, and until it does my hair is going to be worse and worse... hoping to nip this thing in the butt.

Thanks

Matt

Just thought I'd drop by and update. My hair shedding has slowed down quite a bit, if not stopped altogether. I have even longer hair now and am not experiencing any significant shedding anymore.

Anyone using organic shampoos?

Currently I'm using Kiss My Face shampoo. Smells good and doesn't have SLS which is known for causing hair loss. Currently my hair is cut very short and I apply Rogaine to it daily.

I'll update you guys if I see any improvement

Hey, I had hair loss caused by accutane and wanted to share my story to give some hope perhaps. :> I'm a male and was 20 yo. at the time hair loss started.

So basically I started losing a lot of hair after having finished my course of accutane. I had no problems with it during the treatment and if I had hair loss already back then I did not notice it.

My hair thinned fast but I was hopefull that it'd stop after a couple of months. I lost hundreds of hairs each day thought this varied a bit from day to day.

After about.. 6 months maybe.. I went to meet the doctor but he was of no use and told that it just typical male balding thingy... ;_;

Few times I thought the shedding had stopped already but after sometime it would start again :c And there wasnt really regrowth to talk of at any point. The top area of my head was most affected. I got almost bald on that area.. well at least the skin of my head showed through quite a lot :S

After about 10 months I decided to start using rogaine. I suggest you all try it as first treatment if your hair loss doesnt get better in reasonable time.

So rogaine did its job and after couple of months my hair was already visibly better.. At first it perhaps made me shed bit more which was a bit scary but thats part of how it works from what I've read.. :/ And I didnt really have that much hair to lose at that point.

But it did great job at stopping the hair loss and getting the hair to grow back ^^

I kept using rogaine for about 4-5 months during which my hair got back to what it was. After that I stopped using rogaine as it was quite annoying to apply it twice a day and now that I had full hair I didnt feel the need to use it anymore.

I feared that rogaine was the only reason I had hair and that it might all fall off as they say that the hair that rogaine has helped to grow will shed if you stop using it.

It's been 4 months now since stopping and my hair is still good and normal

Good luck with your hairs everyone and ..dont let youself get too depressed over it :>

Hi everyone,

I had posted on my hair issues a couple months ago but I decided to try again. Very briefly, I'm male, 29 years old, I did Accutane for five & a half months, 80 mg/day. My course ended six months ago. My acne's gone now, but no thanks to Accutane (I'm not going to go into the details of that here). Before, I had very thick, full, somewhat oily hair. Now my hair's thinner, drier, and kind of frizzy and unhealthy-looking. It sticks up in odd directions in places as well. The top appears to have been affected more, both in terms of thinness and frizziness, than the sides and back. I don't notice a lot of shedding (on my pillow, for example), but if I run a comb through it, several hairs will typically come out. I think that each individual hair seems to be thinner in diameter on average as well. I haven't noticed the little white bulb on many hairs that's supposed to be present with telogen effluvium, from what I understand. It does seem to be marginally better than it was initially, but I'd be lying to myself if I said it was really noticeably improving. My dermatologist told me after finishing the medication that it was telogen effluvium, and that it would be back to normal within a few months. Well, I've come to realize that dermatologists are often ignorant of Accutane issues to a large degree and/or they downplay the side effects, as many of you undoubtedly know as well. My parents tell me, "Oh, it looks fine," but I know when I look in the mirror or run my hand through it that it's much thinner and crappier than it was before. Check out the pictures.

I've read a good deal of this post, as well as other posts. There seems to be a lot of contradictory information and so much different advice out there that I'm really not sure what to think of my situation or do about it, if anything. I've read quite a bit about using a particular shampoo or conditioner, or using a certain kind of oil in the hair, or washing it less frequently, etc. I have noticed that washing less often helps it look a little better, but not much. I've tried olive oil & jojoba oil, but all they do is give me shitty oily hair rather than shitty kind-of-dry hair. Honestly, I think these things aren't going to be of much use; it's like polishing a turd / trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...I think you get the point - it's the hair that's the problem, not what I am or am not doing to it with shampoos, etc.

I've experienced a good deal of stress and frustration about my hair. I do realize that having nice hair is not the most important thing in life, but let's be honest: nobody wants shitty hair. I refuse to think of my desire to have normal hair again as vain or extravagant. I don't want a Lexus or a mansion with a butler, just for my hair to be more-or-less back to normal. I'm just concerned and it's been weighing on my mind for months now, and I'm hoping that someone out there can give me something useful. Anything that would help in any way would mean a lot to me. Thanks in advance and good luck to everyone out there dealing with this hair issue like I am. If I do learn anything useful in my experience with this, I'll post it in hopes that it'll help some of you out there.

Hi Thulsa Doom,

I lost hair the same way as you. At the beginning, there was no white bulb on the hair that came out, I was told this was due to the hair breaking mid-shaft because it was so thin.

However later on, my hair started falling out at a much rapid pace, but it had those white bulbs at the end. To be honest I was kinda glad my hair fell out faster but had the white bulb because that meant I had TE (which is completely reversible).

My doctor says I have to wait 6 months at least to see results. I refuse to take Propecia because it'll give you man-boobs and a limp penis. Rogaine is only temporary, doesn't work on a majority of users, and is expensive.

But good news is that I no longer have severe acne.