Lamarr- I have a question for you, if you don't mind. It is kind of a broad question, but how does one know if he/she has hair loss due to accutane? I ask this because I find about 10, maybe 15 hairs on my pillow every morning or every other morning. My parents keep trying to tell me its because I don't shower everyday anymore and its normal hair loss. Then again, I have a buzz cut so I have no idea what's coming out in the shower. There is never any hair in my hand.

Thanks.

 

 

Fred that is a tough question my friend....I would say keep an eye on things and start using a salacytic acid based shampoo and occasionally something like nizoral.

 

Do you have any iritation or redness?

 

Thanks for getting back to me...I appreciate it. It is a tough question indeed. I have zero irritation or redness. I can say for sure that all of the hair on my body feels brittle and dry (my arm and leg hair stick straight up). I shower every other day, but I run into some issues with this. First, I have to use T-gel with coal tar extract to combat the dry, flakiness of my scalp. This is most important because if I don't use this stuff then dandruff can literally cover any surface that I so choose to brush my hair over. Second, I'd like to use a good moisturizing shampoo and condition to improve the quality of my hair, but I can't because of the aforementioned issue.

I feel like the shedding has calmed down (I only get about 5 hairs on my pillow in the morning) since aggressively using neutrogena T-gel. Is this possible? I didn't think dry scalp/dandruff had anything to do with hair loss. I know that dry hair can break due to dryness, but I have a buzz cut so there is no way this is happening.

Thanks for your help,

Fred

I also did the "test" for TE- picking 10-15 areas on your head and using your thumb and middle finger to yank the hair fairly hard. If more than 4 hairs come out on each of the plucks then you could have TE. That came up negative.

I know that you can develop hair loss at any point during and after your course, but I'm just trying to put my mind at ease......for now.

oil girl- what do you recommend i do if you if i possibly have diffuse alopecia areata?

oil girl- what do you recommend i do if you if i possibly have diffuse alopecia areata?

I first suggest that you go see a doc to see if it is diffuse Alopecia and maybe have some lab work to make sure certian hormones and vitamins are normal.

Then If it is Alopecia then I suggest you email Lamarr1986 or you can read back on the previous page as Lamarr advises what he uses to keep his under control. Also maybe read through some of his posts as there is a lot of info he has posted regarding hairloss etc that is helpful.

You can see what the doc says, but I would just be very careful if you try propecia.... Also if it turns out to be TE then there is also advice on this thread regarding that.

You have to remember patience and take the time to research and read as it will help you. I know it took a 8 months to figure out some of things going on with me and then time to help thoose side effects. The answers are here in this thread I know its long, but the answers are here.

Is it normal for people to become bald without ever shedding? My hairline is receding at the temples and and I'm afraid I'll be bald by next year.

Is it normal for people to become bald without ever shedding? My hairline is receding at the temples and and I'm afraid I'll be bald by next year.

Lamarr stated that there are people he spoke to with receding of the temples see page 144 of this thread.

Okay so , I've been noticing patches in my hair , and when I spike my hair or wet it you can see the scalp , but when I was still on accutane you couldn't. But the thing is about week ago if I put my hand through my hair hair would fall out or if I pulled it a few hairs would come out , but today I do the same thing and maybe 1 hair fell out and I pulled out maybe 2 in over 5 tries... what's going on. Another wierd thing is that I now have pimples on my head that I never had before accutane , or during..

Its been 3 months since I finished my accutane treatment. I'm a 104lb female that started at 10mgs for 2 months then 20mgs for 3 months then 40mgs for 3.

I experienced mild hair loss during the end of my treatment (very mild). Like I said, it's been 3 months and I have been experiencing an excessive amount of hair loss these last two weeks that has increasingly gotten worse. Yesterday I found myself crying in the shower with strands and strands of hair in my hands, my hair is sooo thin! My hair is all around shedding I believe. I do see lots of spikes of re growth (I guess) but I don't know I'm terrified!

I made an emergency appointment with my Derm for tomorrow (hopefully get blood work done). And I plan on picking up some iron supplements and B-12 on my way home from work today. Also, I feel a tingling sometimes burning sensation on my scalp, No signs of redness or irritation though (????) I overall do not feel good.

Hi, leesett. Make sure you don't OD on iron and B12. That's another problem if you do. If you are going the iron supplementation route, taking vitamin C and Lysine with a regular dose of iron will do.

Try not to worry about it anymore and gradually learn to accept that the hair is shedding. This is one of Accutane's side effects and your doctor should have discussed this risk beforehand. At any rate, we're all in this mess already and we have to go past that.

You can also try taking L-Carnitine Tartrate along with your iron regimen.

Best of health.

So my Derm gave me a slip to run some blood test and recommended Rogaine. She did examine my scalp and hair and said she thinks its TE. My concern is that it maybe AA.

I don't have any bald spots and my hair is thinning evenly (from what I can tell) I guess it's a little thinner on the sides but I never had much hair there to begin with.

I SOMETIMES get that heat/ tingling sensation on my scalp not all over just on the very top. There is a root to the long strands of hair that I loose. I do seem to have tons of baby hair and I have not lost any body hair. I'm not sure how much hair I loose cause I don't count them but if I had to guess maybe 150-200 a day, especially if I wash my hair, as I tend to lose more in the shower.

I asked my Derm for a topical steroid (like what lamarr uses). She said it wouldn't help MY problem but she gave me a prescription for a steroid shampoo and added & don't think it will help you but if you want to try

Some questions:

If you get that tingling/ heat sensation on the scalp, does it automatically mean its AA?

Has anyone tried a steroid shampoo?

Rogaine is there an initial shed and how well does it really work?

Has anyone else tried emu oil and grape seed oil?

I made an appointment for tomorrow with this doctor that my mom has been raving about. This doctor also practices holistic treatments and is very thorough with blood work.

I also did the "TE Test" as Fred Q stated and yup I pulled out about 3-4 hairs each time.

Someone please! I really don't know what to do. I've never been so depressed! I need help!

I bought emu oil and grape seed oil. I applied to my scalp and left it on for about an hour. I just got out of the shower and I lost a whole lot of hair. I'm already wig shopping, at this rate I'll be bald by the end of the year.

Can Accutane cause hair itchiness? I think my scalp may be inflamed? Perhaps this is responsible for the hair loss? I always notice the itchiness when I shave my head bald whereas when I grow it out I have no problems.

I don't see any blood anywhere, what should I do? I use head and shoulders. Please help.

Leesett- I would not recommend taking Rogaine at all.... What tests did your physican order and I would make sure you get a copy of thoose results when they come in.

I had temp Alopecia and though my hair and scalp are no where near the same before accutane it is much better. I did have tingling and burning in the begining.

I would suggest 1st since you are female to see what your labs are, I do recommend seeing the Holistic.

If you take iron make sure you take it with b12, folate and if you can tolerate it drink it w/ a cup of oj and then some water. Also make sure you have your thyroid checked and other hormones. Some have had sucess with Biotion, however, some believe it caused acne. I have been okay.

Try not to stress and let me know what becomes of the holistic physican.

One thing I do noticed is that most people who are in the early stage of hairloss due to accutane do have a tendency of asking whether what they have is 'TE or DAA'. Obviously most people will hope for the former since it is temporary but the thing is that no one knows exactly what type of hair loss they are experiencing and I would say only time will tell.

Hi everyone.

It's been quite a while since I've posted on here.

I see some familiar names still posting, which is good & bad (bad that you're still dealing with this shit, as I am).

I figured I'd share an update on my experience with hair loss / thinning for those who might be interested.

So I've been off of Accutane for sixteen months now. I had quite a lot of thinning and a lot of frizziness and dryness in my hair for quite some time. A while back (a few months ago), I posted that I had maybe 50-60% improvement in my hair. I realize now that this was a gross overestimate (although there was some improvement).

I've given up on trying to put a number on what percentage improved my hair is, but I can definitely say that it is improving. It's much less frizzy than it was initially, and a fair amount thicker too, but still quite a bit thinner than it was before Accutane. I'm noticing lately that it is noticeably improving on the top, where the loss and frizziness were worst.

The thing is, though, that the progress is slow. Very slow. Painfully slow. At this rate, it could be several more months before it gets to resembling my normal, pre-Accutane, thick, full hair. I've really had to adjust my expectations of how long it's going to take for this to go back to a point where I'm content with it again.

I'm not doing anything special. I had tried jojoba oil maybe about a year ago, but it honestly didn't do anything except give me thin, frizzy, oily hair rather than thin, frizzy, dry hair. I do eat pretty healthy, however; I guess that's worth mentioning.

I stand by my previous statements that Acccutane was a huge mistake.

Anyway, that's my little follow-up.

Thulsa, do you still experience shedding, if so, has it decreased at all since it began or is it still constant. If you don't experience shedding anymore, when did it stop? My hair is still shedding the same amount as it did in the beginning and I am 9 months in

Thulsa, do you still experience shedding, if so, has it decreased at all since it began or is it still constant. If you don't experience shedding anymore, when did it stop? My hair is still shedding the same amount as it did in the beginning and I am 9 months in

No, I no longer experience shedding (or if I do, it's so minor that I no longer notice it). I'm sorry to hear that yours is still shedding. I don't think I can pinpoint exactly when it stopped; it was too gradual. But to give you an approximate time, I'd say somewhere within the first year post-Accutane certainly. I can't guarantee that your experience will be similar, of course.

Hi everyone,

I think I might be starting to experience accutane related hair shedding/ thinning, so i thought this is the thread to go to. i started noticing a couple hairs coming out in the shower about two weeks ago, and hairs on my pillow too. since then, I believe its gotten worse. every time i run my hands through my hair in the shower ill get 5-6 hairs. also, when my hairs wet you can slightly see my scalp on the top of my head. i dont think you could before. my hair looks normal when dry. i dont think anythings noticable to anyone else yet. I mentioned the shedding to my derm he didnt seem concerned just said "oh minor hairloss?".

Im almost 3 months into accutane. should I stop now? My results have been amazing. Could I be on my way to more serious hairloss/TE? Have people only experienced minor shedding/thinning without it developing into anything more? I dont know what to do or think!!!?

Any feedback would be greatly greatly appreciated thank you!

Hi everyone,

 

I think I might be starting to experience accutane related hair shedding/ thinning, so i thought this is the thread to go to. i started noticing a couple hairs coming out in the shower about two weeks ago, and hairs on my pillow too. since then, I believe its gotten worse. every time i run my hands through my hair in the shower ill get 5-6 hairs. also, when my hairs wet you can slightly see my scalp on the top of my head. i dont think you could before. my hair looks normal when dry. i dont think anythings noticable to anyone else yet. I mentioned the shedding to my derm he didnt seem concerned just said "oh minor hairloss?".

 

Im almost 3 months into accutane. should I stop now? My results have been amazing. Could I be on my way to more serious hairloss/TE? Have people only experienced minor shedding/thinning without it developing into anything more? I dont know what to do or think!!!?

 

Any feedback would be greatly greatly appreciated thank you!

the question is, what do you value more? nice, thick hair or clear skin?

thulsa, last question. did your hairline recede at all?

Hi everyone,

 

I think I might be starting to experience accutane related hair shedding/ thinning, so i thought this is the thread to go to. i started noticing a couple hairs coming out in the shower about two weeks ago, and hairs on my pillow too. since then, I believe its gotten worse. every time i run my hands through my hair in the shower ill get 5-6 hairs. also, when my hairs wet you can slightly see my scalp on the top of my head. i dont think you could before. my hair looks normal when dry. i dont think anythings noticable to anyone else yet. I mentioned the shedding to my derm he didnt seem concerned just said "oh minor hairloss?".

 

Im almost 3 months into accutane. should I stop now? My results have been amazing. Could I be on my way to more serious hairloss/TE? Have people only experienced minor shedding/thinning without it developing into anything more? I dont know what to do or think!!!?

 

Any feedback would be greatly greatly appreciated thank you!

If you have short hair (buzz cut), this is completely normal. If you don't, then I would be a little concerned about the bolded.

I too am concerned with hair loss, but I've recently become less worried about it due to a few things.

• Normal hair loss per day is 50 strands of hair
• I gave myself the informal TE test, and it was negative
• I started washing my hair everyday even though it wasn't necessary and stopped noticing hair on my pillow (I only shower every 2 days while on accutane)

I also think that a lot has to do with you being paranoid because you're paying more attention to hair loss because it can happen. In other words, before accutane you never really paid attention to your hair.

I got the same BS answer as you did from my derm after my 1st month check up.

After the second month check up, he combed through my hair and said he saw no visible signs of hair loss, and also gave my hair a few generous tugs. He said that if on all of those tugs he pulled more than 5 strands of hair out then there would be cause for concern.

texasboy,

I'll say that my hairline did recede slightly. Let me try to explain this further, though: You know how men tend to lose hair first in the "corners" of their foreheads as they age? I noticed that this area, which previously had had plenty of hair, was the hardest hit, losing nearly all hair from the region. So whereas before & after the hairline wasn't necessarily that different, before I had hair covering over it to some degree, whereas after Accutane, those "corner" regions had much less hair to cover them. This gave me a considerably less youthful look. I hope this explanation makes sense.

Anyway, I'm glad to report that things are considerably better, although as I mentioned, progress is slow.

As for kazuya, who asked whether to stop the medication because of hair loss concerns, I'll just say this: take a good look at these boards first (both negative & positive experiences). Know that your doctor will be quite ignorant of this issue and / or will heavily downplay any hairloss symptoms; in all probability (if they're like my former dermatologist & nearly all dermatologists I've ever heard of) they will not take your concerns seriously.

I agree with Thulsa Doom regarding dermatologists. When I first brought it up to my derm, he goes "It can happen, but it will all come back shortly after stopping the medication." He then walked out of the examination room which I thought was ridiculously rude.

After the second time, he saw that I was stressed/angry about it so he spent a little time addressing it, but still downplayed it a lot.

Hi Everyone, .... I'm following this thread from the start.... am on page 30 (3 years ago), but wanted to jump to the end just to see. I'll finish reading it all, but right now I want to post my story and make some comments.

I have used Retin A .25% for 25 years. I'm 51 years old and female. I started to have hair loss issues, presumably unrelated to Retin A use, about 10 years ago. Since sorting various issues out (hormones, low iron, low b12, low thyroid, adrenal fatigue, etc.), the shedding has continued for virtually this whole length of time.

I've used Men's rogaine foam for the past 3 years and it's been phenomenal. The weird thing is the number of new hairs I lose, and have lost, for 5 years now or so. Not only this, the texture has changed and much of the new growth is a weird kinky curled kind of hair. I now see this as a retin a $#%& up hair.

This past January, when I was relatively stable with hair loss, using rogaine with great growth, I started on Retin A .1 mg strength, 4 times as strong as what I was on. This is when the crap major hit the fan. Finally I put it together and stopped using it 2 months ago.

I just got a vit A test and my liver is maxed over the high range with vit A. Same test one year ago showed normal levels.

With the extreme shedding has been this- gobs of new hairs shed, scalp pain and burn, excessive top of my head and bang loss, around my face shedding and choppy thin hair line loss.

I can't get the shedding to stop just yet, but the scalp pain I have extinguished with taking 5 jarrow borage oil (GLA is a natural anti-inflammatory) capsules a day with 5 cayenne capsules. From my research the pain is due to a "substance P" that builds up. Cayenne releases this. It works perfectly for me. I take them with meals, split 2-1-2. If I try and back the dose down, the scalp burn returns.

Looking back I think I started to shed hair from the .1 mg Retin A about 2 months after using it. Can't be sure. Every time I saw my hair loss go up a bit I stopped using it. Then would pick it back up again thinking it was unrelated. My shedding today is radical. It's all over and it's a huge bundle. I have used Nioxin #3 shampoo for a year now having had success with it lowering my shedding last year when I was sporadic with the retin A .25 mg. Without the Nioxin and Rogaine I fear I would be in a wig right around now.

As much as I researched Retin A topical and hair loss I didn't find much of anything. A .0125 dose is used with minoxidil to stimulate growth!! The difference is all in the dose. Then I thought it would be wise to do an Accutane google. Bingo. You guys have many of the same characterisics in your hair shedding profile as I do.

What a mess. I can apprecaite this is going to take a long time to clear. I just started on some liposomal glutathione to get the vit A cleared from my liver.

My other side effects from toxic build up were - blurry eyes and depression- both are now gone, although not the depression fully.

Eileen

So I went to my appointment with the holistic physician and believe it or not she actually seems to believe that Accutane just might be causing my hair loss! Lol!!!! But was honest and said she wasn't an expert on the subject and referred me to a Derm. She did see that my hair was thinning and said that it looks a little thinner on the sides, no bald patches, no visible irritation and very little dryness.

She had my Derm fax over my blood work and saw I was a little low on iron but was dissatisfied with blood work my Derm ordered and re issued an order for lots more.

For now, she told me to take 325mgs of iron a day, 2000mgs of biotin, prescribed a 0.01% steroid solution and Nizoral shampoo. I have an appointment with her on Friday to go over my lab results and an appointment on Tuesday with the Derm.

I think I'm going to use the steroid solution, Nizoral shampoo and iron but not sure about biotin since ive been warned that it caused some people to breakout.

The condition of my hair has not changed. I shed an amazing amount of hair when I shower and an unfair amount during the day. I started sleeping on a silk pillowcase, which has been extremely helpful for nighttime shedding, no more waking up to a pillow of hairs (less abrasive) The heat/tingling sensation on my scalp has now turned into an itchy tickle sensation.

I was extremely depressed last week and lost my appetite. I lost 5lbs in 4 days. I was shocked today when the nurse weighed me in at 98lbs Ugh that's the last thing I need right now. I need to eat! I'm slowly starting to accept my hair loss and trying to get used to the idea of permanent hair loss. I'm terrified still, but according to this thread, there's not much I or doctors can do! Hats and hair pieces????