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Ok so I don't really know anything at all about the complexities of hair abnormality and hair loss on Accutane but two questions:
1) Would taking some type of steroidal shampoo or T-Gel (Neutrogena or other) during a course of Accutane be a proactive measure that could protect the scalp and hair from all this? Or is it a much more internal issue? This should be studied. Maybe even here on the boards!
2) Judging from my story, do you think I am likely to get my hair back to normal?
HELP!!!
I am a 19yo male with thick, coarse hair- like hoarse hair. It always grew very fast.
It seems mostly back to normal since I finished Accutane but above my sideburns and back to my ears, along those sides of my head in that area, the hair has thinned out and looks different from the texture of the rest of my hair. Will this change back? It's been two months since finishing my course (about 4 months since the hair change began) and it's still the same. Growing it out hides the patchiness.
Here is what I mean (this is a photo of me just after finishing my 5.5 months:
Hey Lamarr,
Do you think stopping 20 days early would be a mistake? I think I'm going to do it. Like I said I've been clear for 2 months, and I was on 80mg for a month and a half so I'm sure the strength had an effect on me. I don't really see how 20 more days would help me that much, but maybe one every two days is better than every day.
It would be about 5 months on at least 40 mg each month, so I probably reached my cumulative dose already! My derm kept saying that I should just do it because "I don't want it to come back". Well no shit I don't want acne coming back, but 20 more days? Meh, maybe I'll stop on Christmas or something lol.
I know your question wasn't directed towards me, but to answer about if you quit 20 days early, some belive it would make a difference, but I think not, Roche states that Accutane continues to work up to 2 months after your course is over, Some believe that it continues to work longer then that. So my advice is I would stop. Like Lamarr said u have a better chance of recovery.
good luck
I'm not sure what you guys think but I used collagen for a month and my hair has regrown rapidly. The results were immediate for me.. I'm not sure if it actually worked or if my hair just grew back. Something to look into..
What type of collagen did you take? If you stop taking it does the hair start to fall out? Just curious
I stopped Accutane 2 months early and my acne did come back, but it was not as severe as before. My hair loss is quite bad though, my doc assured me I'm wasting my time by going to a dermatologist because he says he'll just tell me the same thing, "Your hair will grow back".
I'm not sure what you guys think but I used collagen for a month and my hair has regrown rapidly. The results were immediate for me.. I'm not sure if it actually worked or if my hair just grew back. Something to look into..
What type of collagen did you take? If you stop taking it does the hair start to fall out? Just curious
I took Collagen type 1 & 3. I'm not taking it at the moment because I finished my small container (it was cheap, 6$). My hair is still growing and it's not shedding horribly but I still lose a few (less than 10 which is better than 200). Alot of baby hairs..
In addition, it also seems to have regulated my sleeping pattern.
Ok so I don't really know anything at all about the complexities of hair abnormality and hair loss on Accutane but two questions:
1) Would taking some type of steroidal shampoo or T-Gel (Neutrogena or other) during a course of Accutane be a proactive measure that could protect the scalp and hair from all this? Or is it a much more internal issue? This should be studied. Maybe even here on the boards!
2) Judging from my story, do you think I am likely to get my hair back to normal?
HELP!!!
I am a 19yo male with thick, coarse hair- like hoarse hair. It always grew very fast.
It seems mostly back to normal since I finished Accutane but above my sideburns and back to my ears, along those sides of my head in that area, the hair has thinned out and looks different from the texture of the rest of my hair. Will this change back? It's been two months since finishing my course (about 4 months since the hair change began) and it's still the same. Growing it out hides the patchiness.
Here is what I mean (this is a photo of me just after finishing my 5.5 months:
Anyone?
Hey Lamarr,
Do you think stopping 20 days early would be a mistake? I think I'm going to do it. Like I said I've been clear for 2 months, and I was on 80mg for a month and a half so I'm sure the strength had an effect on me. I don't really see how 20 more days would help me that much, but maybe one every two days is better than every day.
It would be about 5 months on at least 40 mg each month, so I probably reached my cumulative dose already! My derm kept saying that I should just do it because "I don't want it to come back". Well no shit I don't want acne coming back, but 20 more days? Meh, maybe I'll stop on Christmas or something lol.
Stop now, from what i have found, your acne is going to come back if it is going to come back.... 20 days will make no difference.
Ok so I don't really know anything at all about the complexities of hair abnormality and hair loss on Accutane but two questions:
1) Would taking some type of steroidal shampoo or T-Gel (Neutrogena or other) during a course of Accutane be a proactive measure that could protect the scalp and hair from all this? Or is it a much more internal issue? This should be studied. Maybe even here on the boards!
2) Judging from my story, do you think I am likely to get my hair back to normal?
HELP!!!
I am a 19yo male with thick, coarse hair- like hoarse hair. It always grew very fast.
It seems mostly back to normal since I finished Accutane but above my sideburns and back to my ears, along those sides of my head in that area, the hair has thinned out and looks different from the texture of the rest of my hair. Will this change back? It's been two months since finishing my course (about 4 months since the hair change began) and it's still the same. Growing it out hides the patchiness.
Here is what I mean (this is a photo of me just after finishing my 5.5 months:
If you aren't shedding a significant amount of hair i wouldn't worry to much. You have a great chance of things going back to normal. Using nizoral once per week during tane would probably be beneficial, i personally like zinc and salacytic (sp) acid based shampoos.
I wouldn't start messing with steroidal shampoos or topicals until the hairloss has been persistant for many months.
Do not overuse these shampoos as this can increase shedding, less is more sometimes.
Those of you in america can pick up topical hydrocortisone over the counter in the form of a scalp application. I would try this if you have itching or inflammation with your shedding.
To try and bring down the number of pages of the thread I have created a thread on accutane hair loss. It is to consolidate the experiences of hair loss, and it would be much appreciated by those in the community if those experiencing hair loss would participate in the thread. Thank you.
Hey there...
So I took Accutane for around 2-3 months about a year ago and stopped them completely 13 months ago...although my guess is they left my system after bout 6 months properly. I lost ALOT of hair VERY VERY rapidly although then it quickly stopped and my hair texture slowly come back to normal (this taken about 8-9 months). But now my main thing is my diet and I've sworn to improve my iron intakes and b12 etc and to STOP drinking caffeine (I used to drink ALOT stopped now) as this has a serious effect on your hair health over-rall.
from reading I'm guessing that this is TE?...rapid hair loss and now the hair loss DOES happen BUT it's only since having TE is when I've actually started noticing everytime a hair falls out..but it's normal for a good 10-20 to anyway so paranoia went through the roof...toned it down now though lol the hairloss isnt THAT noticable cause I always had awidows peak anyway but still annoying what happened. I changed sides of my fringe/bangs and it's all good now using correct conditioners etc...the diet needs to be fixed if I a recovering from TE ?
recently when I lift my hairline up I see new hairs sprouting through, this is like a year after stopping accutane and I have a widows peak anyway so my hairline was never straight but this has to be sure sign it's going to go back to normal? how long does it take to completely recover...I think maybe 3/6 months?
I'm 19 M btw
Hey there...
So I took Accutane for around 2-3 months about a year ago and stopped them completely 13 months ago...although my guess is they left my system after bout 6 months properly. I lost ALOT of hair VERY VERY rapidly although then it quickly stopped and my hair texture slowly come back to normal (this taken about 8-9 months). But now my main thing is my diet and I've sworn to improve my iron intakes and b12 etc and to STOP drinking caffeine (I used to drink ALOT stopped now) as this has a serious effect on your hair health over-rall.
from reading I'm guessing that this is TE?...rapid hair loss and now the hair loss DOES happen BUT it's only since having TE is when I've actually started noticing everytime a hair falls out..but it's normal for a good 10-20 to anyway so paranoia went through the roof...toned it down now though lol the hairloss isnt THAT noticable cause I always had awidows peak anyway but still annoying what happened. I changed sides of my fringe/bangs and it's all good now using correct conditioners etc...the diet needs to be fixed if I a recovering from TE ?
recently when I lift my hairline up I see new hairs sprouting through, this is like a year after stopping accutane and I have a widows peak anyway so my hairline was never straight but this has to be sure sign it's going to go back to normal? how long does it take to completely recover...I think maybe 3/6 months?
I'm 19 M btw
I am about to complete my fifth month of accutane and have one month left, My overall hair has thinned but my hair is still kinda thick... My big problem is my hairline has receded about half an inch.... I am worried and its driving me insaneee.... my derm told me my hairline should go back no to normal but in some cases it has been permanent.... Any words of advice???
Do not overuse these shampoos as this can increase shedding, less is more sometimes.
What would you constitute as overuse? I just started using Nizoral based on the recommendation of many hair loss forums. I certainly don't want to make the shedding worse, but it seemed like there is a lot of agreement that it helps reduce hair loss.
I've been off Accutane for 6 months and my temples receded about an inch on each side. Both of sideburns also receded. I'm still holding on to some hope that I could get some of my hairline back, but I'm also not really holding my breath. At this point, I just want to do what I can to keep what I have.
So I'm now in month 13 of my Accutane hair-loss.
I am convinced that Minoxidil does nothing to assist in this type of hair loss. I used a 5% solutions twice a day for 10 months and I noticed no improvement and I've now gone off of it and see no difference with regrowth.
I used a topical steroid for 2 months, which seemed to slow down the shedding a bit but it also destroyed my scalp. My scalp became so sensitive that I could not touch it. My skin also started to shed quite badly on my scalp (very large and thick chunks of skin would fall off, which really could not make conditions for hair regrowth ideal), so I've gone off the steroid for 2 weeks now. My scalp is slowly recovering but my shedding has come back with a vengeance. It's been shedding a lot more since I've gone off the steroid, but I would rather have a healthy scalp. After my scalp has fully recovered I may use a steroid shampoo twice a week to see if I can find a healthy balance. I am still using Nizoral shampoo twice a week to help out my scalp.
I'm wholly convinced that anyone suffering some form of Alopecia Areata from Accutane cannot stop or resolve it through treatment. I think its up to your body to resolve the issue with time.
Over the past 13 months I always held the hope that my hair would get better, that it would all grow back, that my temples would fill back in and that the top of my hair would thicken up again so that I didn't look to be in my 50's while in my 20's, however that seems to be highly unlikely.
My next step is to try steroid injections at my temples to see if that encourages growth, but short of that my next option would be an oral steroid, which has enough side effects to make it undesirable.
I think that best solution to this problem is acceptance, acceptance that your hair albeit is an integral part of your self-image, it is nothing more than a physical feature and at least you have your health. There are those who have much worse side effects from Accutane who are suffering from a large number of side effects and at least we got the least severe of those side effects.
I will update from time to time. Since everybody's body is different, your mileage may vary, what doesn't work for me may work for you. However to date I have found no good solution to resolving my accutane-induced hair-loss. I wish all of you the best of luck with your recoveries.
Matt
Hey Lamarr,
Do you think stopping 20 days early would be a mistake? I think I'm going to do it. Like I said I've been clear for 2 months, and I was on 80mg for a month and a half so I'm sure the strength had an effect on me. I don't really see how 20 more days would help me that much, but maybe one every two days is better than every day.
It would be about 5 months on at least 40 mg each month, so I probably reached my cumulative dose already! My derm kept saying that I should just do it because "I don't want it to come back". Well no shit I don't want acne coming back, but 20 more days? Meh, maybe I'll stop on Christmas or something lol.
Volcom, I was on 40 Mg per day for 3 weeks and 13 months later my condition is continuing to get worse. I would recommend that you go off now. Also, I noticed after 2 weeks my hair at one of my temples was getting thinner, I went off Accutane and never thought about it again, until 3 months later my hair started falling out in droves. Your hair loss can begin several months after you go off Accutane as well.
The miniturization is caused by the inflammation initiated by the Diffuse Alopecia Areata. The likely caused of accutane induced Diffuse AA is a loss of immune privilege within the hair follicle. Essentially the body can no longer identify what objects are foreign and which are part of our own body.
99% of accutane side effects can be explained in the same way. Anti inflammatorys help (especially in preventing miniturization), immuno supressants would stop the hairloss but there are no safe ones to use long term and supressing the immune system isn't a good thing systemically. Immunomodulators are also likely to help, but you would need to find the right one. I use mepacrin an anti milarial for a number of my accutane induced side effects, but it does nothing for the hairloss.
I recommend a combination of topical steroids, minoxidil, laser therapy and essential oils. I don't use all of these at the moment but they all help my situation.
Minoxidil is proven to change levels of cytokines locally (cytokines are immune cells) so it can act as an immunomodulator in alopecia areata. In some people minoxidil may prove effective, others maybe not so much....
Laser therapy helps in a similar way but also increases stem cell proliforation (every hair follicle has a collection of stem cells at the bottom to create the hair). Topical steroids obviously supress the immune system and are anti inflammatory. Essential oils are also anti inflammatory if you use the right ones.
I totally agree with Lamarr. The condition is generally known, however not a lot of information is known about how Accutane causes this condition.
My thoughts are that don't get obsessed about thinking that it is a non-reversible condition, that the miniturized hairs or the curly hairs are a sign of MPB. Don't convince yourself that you look terrible and life is over. Your body is experiencing an auto-immune disorder (if you have the long lasting hair-loss and not the TE that lasts less than a year) and your body will eventually right itself.
There are any number of auto-immune disorders that are self correcting, and there are also those that are not, however we have to stick to the hope that one day it will all be over and we will never look back.
Please keep others updated from time to time, even if you do recover. Everyone loves a good recovery story.
Cheers,
Matt
hey guys,
I see we have new guys on here, I been one of the first people on this thread over 3 years ago. And I would like to say that I had terrible loss throughout, i was on 80mg/4 months and 60mg 2 months. My hair got a lot better and grew back almost completely but then started shedding again and im thinning now and its been since February of 2006 that i started. I would advise not to go on accutane as it makes things worse for so many, if your suffering from acne get on Vitamin B5, its a water soluble vitamin unlike Vitamin A (accutane), you will have the same results not acne without the redness and all the blood test of accutane. It's going to be 4 years since I stopped accutane and the shedding continues. In the near future I will start looking into hair restorations procedures.
Hi everyone,
I'd just like to report that my hair has recently been noticeably improving. I'm nearly nine months post-Accutane. It is still not as thick as it should be, but it is definitely better than it was; a fair amount thicker and a lot less less wiry / frizzy. Definitely some improvement, not "it seems better" or "maybe it's a little better." I recently got a haircut (after letting it grow for quite a long time), and I noticed how much better it was after, as if the "bad" hair had mostly been cut away, leaving newer, healthier hair. I'd estimate that it's maybe 50% better (although it's hard to quantify these things exactly, of course).
In case anyone wants to know, I didn't do anything special to my hair. I just waited.
I hope this gives some of you hope (but I certainly wouldn't want to give false hope to anyone, either), and I wish everyone the very best with their hair.
Hey guys, just thought I'd throw this out there... at some stage during my accutane treatment I noticed that milk was a trigger for my acne, not sure if it was pre or post shedding, but I haven't drank milk in like 2 years, and my hair is still falling out. Just wondering if anyone else stopped drinking milk around the time of their hair loss? I know it's pretty out there... but I had been drinking the hormones from the milk for 18 years, then suddenly stopped. Maybe it could have thrown out my hormone balance or something?
mycure,
I also realized that dairy (along with soy) was the trigger for my acne. After cutting them out, my acne has completely disappeared, no thanks whatsoever to Accutane. However, I noticed the hair problems began before I stopped dairy, and my hair has started to improve (see above), even though I am still not consuming dairy. I'm pretty sure that in your case it's just a coincidence; it was the Accutane that caused your hair problems.