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dear d2hammer
i havn't noticed any side effects to proscar. have been using it for the past 3months. dont know if it helped grow hair or not. using so many dht blockers. plan on using it for a few more months then switching to saw palmetto with lycopene. i dont think i have male pattern baldness jus cause it happen 10 days after taken accutane and my eyelashes, eyebrows fell out to. just thought blocking dht would help grow my hair faster. i jus felt it wouldnt make anything any worse thats why i took it.
Rav98 said:Hi everyone, I have been reading these posts for the last 6 months. I took accutane for 3 weeks. About 10 days in my hair started falling out everywhere my head, eyelashes, and eyebrows. My scalp went completely dry, I didn't have dandruff (that's what my hair dressers said) because it wasn't oily. It was my scalp peeling away , it was red and extremely itchy. I like most people told my doctor and he brushed it off as normally hair loss (what an ahole, sorry).I think I developed Anagen effluvium. This type of hair loss usually occurs within a few days to weeks after taking the medication. It's most common in people who are taking chemotherapy drugs and is often severe, causing people to lose most or all of the hair on their head, as well as their eyebrows, eyelashes, and other body hairs. Scary. I probably lost 40-50%.
I have been taking nizoral 2%, emu oil, biotin, silica and zinc/b6/magnesium before bed. It's been 6 months, I'm still shedding everywhere (though not as much I think). I have noticed hair growth at front and sides, some hairs are as thick as before, some are thin. But some fall off. Some of the hair is really frizzy and curly when they fall off. My scalp doesn't peel has much, which is nice. Still occasionally itchy and sometimes red though. The top my head looks like streaks, I use to have the thickest set of hair, dam it.
My doctor gave me a prescription of proscar(1mg). To help grow hair I've started to take it. I'm a male 26yrs old, no history of hair loss in family nothing.
Just wanted thank everyone for posting this site has been a big help. Just trying to stay positive, wish everyone the best.
I would stop the zinc, just a suggestion as it aids Vit A. Wishing you sucess and yes staying positive is key as it is a long process.
Oh and no suprise that some of us have hairloss like Chemo Pts as that is what we took for our acne, Chemotherapy for brain cancer. I hate Roche!
Hope everyone is doing well
Ok... Why does this post have thousands of views and hundreds of replies? From what I've read, hairloss is a rare side effect. These posts are leading me to believe that Accutane hairloss is a lot more common than dermatologists imply.
But theres like +/-100 unique people in this thread, doesn't make it common, hairloss is a rare side effect, temporary hair shedding is a bit more common. And no one would make a non hair loss accutane thread or it would be over loaded with a couple million people.(And no one would come on the internet to complain about not losing any hair either 
)
Ok... Why does this post have thousands of views and hundreds of replies? From what I've read, hairloss is a rare side effect. These posts are leading me to believe that Accutane hairloss is a lot more common than dermatologists imply.
But theres like +/-100 unique people in this thread, doesn't make it common, hairloss is a rare side effect, temporary hair shedding is a bit more common. And no one would make a non hair loss accutane thread or it would be over loaded with a couple million people.(And no one would come on the internet to complain about not losing any hair either
People this is a thread to help people, not debate.....By the way not everyone w/Accutane induced hairloss comes on Acne.org either, it is common my friend and not as rare as derms say.
Usually women recover better then men, however w/ that said my hair is not the same though it is thicker and doesn't shed as much.
calling out lamarr, oil girl, or anyone else who has some insight and knowledge about accutane hairloss. i just have one more quick question. i am on month 10, going on 11 soon of my shedding and it does not look like it has slowed down a bit. a scalp biopsy has told me that i have MPB, but I have my doubts about that diagnosis as I am losing hair diffusely from every part of my head. should i start taking the propecia or rogaine, etc immediately or should i wait until month 15 or so and reassess my situation. the problem is that my hairline may get worse in that 5 month time period and i dont want that to happen. also, if my hair stops shedding if i start taking the propecia, i wont know whether or not it is because of the propecia working or just that this process of shedding is complete. what do you recommend i do? Is ~15 month of shedding long enough to make an accurate assumption on what my hairloss really is? keep in mind that i only took accutane for 9 days. i want to take the propecia to stop the receding hairline but i also want to know whether or not my shedding cycle is over or the propecia is effective. that is the dilemma i am faced with.....please help....thanks
calling out lamarr, oil girl, or anyone else who has some insight and knowledge about accutane hairloss. i just have one more quick question. i am on month 10, going on 11 soon of my shedding and it does not look like it has slowed down a bit. a scalp biopsy has told me that i have MPB, but I have my doubts about that diagnosis as I am losing hair diffusely from every part of my head. should i start taking the propecia or rogaine, etc immediately or should i wait until month 15 or so and reassess my situation. the problem is that my hairline may get worse in that 5 month time period and i dont want that to happen. also, if my hair stops shedding if i start taking the propecia, i wont know whether or not it is because of the propecia working or just that this process of shedding is complete. what do you recommend i do? Is ~15 month of shedding long enough to make an accurate assumption on what my hairloss really is? keep in mind that i only took accutane for 9 days. i want to take the propecia to stop the receding hairline but i also want to know whether or not my shedding cycle is over or the propecia is effective. that is the dilemma i am faced with.....please help....thanks
Hey man, I personally know that Lamarr advices against taking propecia. With that being said, if you really do have MPB, I think it will definitely help. It is entirely possible that you are suffering from accutane-induced hairloss (TE, AA, or whatever it may be) as well as MPB. When a hair is shed it gives DHT an opportunity to shrink the hair follicle, so I believe people who were destined for MPB will progress towards it faster when they have hair shedding due to accutane. Do you have a history of MPB in your family? If so, it is entirely possible that you have MPB, as well as accutane-induced hairloss. Because of this fear with myself, I have been on propecia for almost 3 years with no side effects and I have kept a pretty full head of hair which I am hoping will last a long time (knock on wood). In the end it is your call, and just because I haven't suffered any adverse effects doesn't mean someone else won't. Thats my two cents, hope it helps.
makes me regret not getting on propecia 10 months ago when my shedding just started and my recession and total number of hairs shed wasnt that much 
. but the bigger regret of course is taking the tane for 9 days. i hope a new hair transplant technology comes out within the next 10-15 years....
makes me regret not getting on propecia 10 months ago when my shedding just started and my recession and total number of hairs shed wasnt that much
Well Texasboy you can try it, we were just warning you to be careful. I guess the thing is too if all your hormones and such came back fine and you have a family hx of mpb accutane can speed up the process of mpb. Ever thought of a 2nd opinion. Have you tried some of things Lamarr suggested? Also stress makes it worse.
calling out lamarr, oil girl, or anyone else who has some insight and knowledge about accutane hairloss. i just have one more quick question. i am on month 10, going on 11 soon of my shedding and it does not look like it has slowed down a bit. a scalp biopsy has told me that i have MPB, but I have my doubts about that diagnosis as I am losing hair diffusely from every part of my head. should i start taking the propecia or rogaine, etc immediately or should i wait until month 15 or so and reassess my situation. the problem is that my hairline may get worse in that 5 month time period and i dont want that to happen. also, if my hair stops shedding if i start taking the propecia, i wont know whether or not it is because of the propecia working or just that this process of shedding is complete. what do you recommend i do? Is ~15 month of shedding long enough to make an accurate assumption on what my hairloss really is? keep in mind that i only took accutane for 9 days. i want to take the propecia to stop the receding hairline but i also want to know whether or not my shedding cycle is over or the propecia is effective. that is the dilemma i am faced with.....please help....thanks
Hey man, I personally know that Lamarr advices against taking propecia. With that being said, if you really do have MPB, I think it will definitely help. It is entirely possible that you are suffering from accutane-induced hairloss (TE, AA, or whatever it may be) as well as MPB. When a hair is shed it gives DHT an opportunity to shrink the hair follicle, so I believe people who were destined for MPB will progress towards it faster when they have hair shedding due to accutane. Do you have a history of MPB in your family? If so, it is entirely possible that you have MPB, as well as accutane-induced hairloss. Because of this fear with myself, I have been on propecia for almost 3 years with no side effects and I have kept a pretty full head of hair which I am hoping will last a long time (knock on wood). In the end it is your call, and just because I haven't suffered any adverse effects doesn't mean someone else won't. Thats my two cents, hope it helps.
I'm glad you have been okay on propecia sw, the thing is I have stories from many people who have taken tane, to go on develope side effects from propecia, for instance 'ithappens' in this thread, propecia ended up giving him so endocrine problems and insomnia amungst other things.
They persisted after he stopped the drug as well!
I'm sure some people will be fine on it, but seens as some of our bodies have been negatively effected by accutane, i don't think such a powerfull systemic drug should be used unless it's really needed.
That is just my thoughts on the subject and by all means people should try it if they are dead set on it.
I'm am sure it will help maintain hair for men in the long run, regardless of the cause.
Cheers,
Mark
Ditto to what Lamarr said!
Darkpeep- I don't think I have any after I fell extremely ill from Accutane. I lost a whole year or so of my life. I have current ones, but I am a girl and though my hair is not as thick and goes through cycles of shedding it is not as bad when I had the temp alopecia and chronic TE. Plus a lupus drug I have to take to combat most of my side effects helped my hair stop shedding, but I have many other issues from Accutane.
Lamarr do you have any pics??? I thought you had some on here???
Lessett- I haven't heard of that, but it is worth a try. I assume it is over the counter shampoo?
Rav98- Have you tried shampoos for itchy and dry scalp such as selson blue??? If you can find a Alo vera plant it might help the scalp too??? Try not to itch the scalp either, I know hard.
Hi Everyone,
I haven't posted on here for over two years (last posts were summer 2008 I believe), but I wanted to give everyone an update on my situation. I took accutane (claravis 40mg twice daily) for about 4 months during the summer of 2007 and began noticing hair loss about a month into it. Unfortunately, I listened to my derm who explained to me that shedding was common and that it would stop, blah blah, blah. Didn't discover this forum (and others) until 4 months into it and stopped immediately when I found that people were still shedding afterwards.
I wish I could say that my situation has improved/recovered, but I'm sorry to say that it hasn't. I've gone through several periods when shedding would slow down drastically, but it always seems to pick up again months later. No regrowth on the top (where the hair loss is noticeable) and while my hair line hasn't receded, it's quite thin. My hair also kinks when it grows out, which is obnoxious because I have this sort of wavey look when it would otherwise be straight.
My treatments:
I've been using (large amounts) of rogaine twice daily on my scalp, both as a treatment and as a cosmetic option (it thickens the hair a bit and makes the balding area less noticeable). I do think that minoxodil is helpful in reducing the shedding and would recommend it, though it becomes expensive when you're using enough to cover your entire scalp and hair line area.
I've done the supplements on and off (consistently for about a year at one point)--- I really don't think they help. These include curcumin, grape seed extract, evening primrose oil, biotin, reservatol and a vitamin that doesn't have vitamin A in it (B to Zinc, now called "Vitmins")
Also started using propecia and have been on that for about four months- no side effects but jury is out on whether it's going to help.
I've seen many derms about this problem, but am going to see a "scalp disorders" specialist to give him the whole story, what I think is wrong (I agree with Lamarr's assessments for the most part) and ask him to try topical steroids. I'm just worried that they'll exacerbate the problem. I'll probably ask for blood work for vitamin A and possibly get a scalp biopsy, hormones checked, etc so I can eliminate everything else as a cause.
My plan is basically to continue the rogaine, propecia and possibly topical steroids for another year. If I don't see any improvement by next fall, I'm going to look into a small hair transplant, if I'd be able to afford it. Going bald at 23 sucks, and I'd rather have hair now at the risk of having no donor hair in my 30's or 40's, when I'd hope to be happily married, settled down, etc anyway. Also there will hopefully be hair cloning and all that sort of thing available in the next decade. That would definitely be a dream come true.... I'd tell them to grow about a million hairs to the point where you'd need a hedge trimmer to give me a hair cut haha.
Anyways, I hope that some of you have had better progress on this than I have- I would classify myself thus far as not recovered and slowly getting worse, but fortunately not at the crazy rate it started with (ie hundreds of hairs falling out daily).
As an addendum, I've also contacted a few law firms asking about the feasibility of suing some of the companies that make this shit-- they've all told me to take a hike because they're only interested in people who have had the horrific intestinal problems (ie Crohns). It's all probably connected if you ask me- like Lamarr has said before accutane probably causes an autoimmune reaction and our best hope lies in some of the alopecia areata research that's going on.
Hey jnt- I remember seeing your name a while back. I was one of the original posters way back in spring of 07. My course was oct 06-apr 07. I have been on propecia for a few years and I think it has helped me keep my hair pretty thick, although I can never know what it would be like without it. I still shed, and I grow the same kinky hairs that you do. I find it curious you want to do a hair transplant. Isn't your hairloss diffuse? It seems like it would be very hard to do a hair transplant for our type of hairloss. How much hair have you lost overall since your tane course? Also, I would really like to go to a hair specialist, or scalp disorder specialist as you described. How do you go about finding someone like this in your area? I have searched for a trichologist but it seems like they are mainly located in the UK. Let me know, thanks!
Darkpeep- I don't think I have any after I fell extremely ill from Accutane. I lost a whole year or so of my life. I have current ones, but I am a girl and though my hair is not as thick and goes through cycles of shedding it is not as bad when I had the temp alopecia and chronic TE. Plus a lupus drug I have to take to combat most of my side effects helped my hair stop shedding, but I have many other issues from Accutane.
Lamarr do you have any pics??? I thought you had some on here???
I would really appreciate anything .. I know that I may sound a lil pushy asking from people pictures :] .. but I am planned to start Accutane in November and I am currently researching the "posibilities" for the future. My acne is really bothering me lately and I just cant stand it anymore .. but it seems to me rather pointless to just replace one problem with another.
Can any1 of the hair-loss experiencing people (texasboy, SClippers, oli girl etc.) actually post a pic with before/after Accutane comparison ?
I'm feeling really depressed atm (I can't even explain why), maybe when I'm feeling a little better I'll PM you a pic.
So is it the Accutane that induces Alopecia Areta or w/e it's called? What's the difference between MPB and Alopecia?
I saw a dermatologist a couple years back and after examining my hair I recall him diagnosing me with Alopecia Areta I think.
I feel so depressed.
I don't bother with pics anymore, I did have some on here though yes.
No I won't post any either.
Sclippers, don't be depressed....use your desperation for something productive. Do lots of research and look into potential treatments, make a UV led comb.
There are things out there which will help everyone. Maybe it is minoxidil, maybe it is essential oils, maybe it is some sort of topical steroid, Maybe it is UV light.
You just have to go and do some research and find what works for you. Maybe you need a combination of things and a transplant in order to get the look you want.
Just educate yourself. There is no point in being depressed.
The hair on the sides of my head (just above my ears) is getting very bad these days. Currently my laser device doesn't cover this area, so soon I will have to expand the device to cover my entire scalp. I know it will help fill in the bald areas though!
If I'm losing hair in a MPB-less fashion a hair transplant would be completely useless.
I'm having problems with the quality/density of my hair above my ears as well, specifically my left. I don't even understand why I'm having issues on the side of my hair when they're suppose to be 'hair loss' resistant hairs.
I understand going bald but going bald in the fashion I am? Folks like George Costanza and Bruce Willis exhibit regular hair loss whereas I'm showing something that's totally unexplainable.
Have you made a thread outlining how one would make a UV led comb? I'm afraid Minodoxil/Propecia will trigger even greater hair loss.
Thanks for the pep talk.
[Edited link out] <-- this is lamarr (please take no personal offence from posting the picture, I took it from your profile, if you desire I shall remove it).. riiiight .. and you say you have hairloss + acne ? This is supposed to be a post accutane pic .. DUDE .. you have beautiful skin + MORE HAIR than i do ! And I have barely taken any meds in my whole life (I am 21) let alone Accutane. If you aint in a wheelchair I would say you made a fair trade for the clear skin. I read your story ..
.. I just don't understand why are you trying to scare the shit out of people ? You should be posting in the "Positive Accutane Experience". Yes .. Accutane is a type of chemo therapy, yes Accutane can and will make your hair thinner for the period of treatment and potentially an year later .. but if you are 20+ and have acne .. this IS a disease with far greater psychological side effects than Accutane.
Can you explain the UV LED Comb for me?
I'm from Austria, so I searched at amazon.at and found the following lamp:
h**p://www.amazon.de/Licht-Taschenlampe-Leuchte-Modell-ELECSA/dp/B000NN7KMU
Is this the right type of lamp?
Thank you!!
Darkpeep said:[Edited link out] <-- this is lamarr (please take no personal offence from posting the picture, I took it from your profile, if you desire I shall remove it).. riiiight .. and you say you have hairloss + acne ? This is supposed to be a post accutane pic .. DUDE .. you have beautiful skin + MORE HAIR than i do ! And I have barely taken any meds in my whole life (I am 21) let alone Accutane. If you aint in a wheelchair I would say you made a fair trade for the clear skin. I read your story .. .. I just don't understand why are you trying to scare the shit out of people ? You should be posting in the "Positive Accutane Experience". Yes .. Accutane is a type of chemo therapy, yes Accutane can and will make your hair thinner for the period of treatment and potentially an year later .. but if you are 20+ and have acne .. this IS a disease with far greater psychological side effects than Accutane.
Please don't come on here w/ that crap! This is thread to help thoose suffering from hairloss and any other aliment they may have. I take it you didn't read all of Lamarr's post to find what acutal gave him better skin and hair as it was not Accutane my friend.
If you think for one moment that any of us made a fair trade for clear skin, by now having to take a lupus drug, AMCV scarring, alopecia, massive flushing and roseca, bone and joint problems etc,then you have issues my friend. I gladly take back the acne vs what I deal w/ today and I am sure Lamarr feels the same. Not to mention the money and time I spend everyday just to keep my hair and other issues stable.
Piece of advice my friend maybe look into light threapy vs starting accutane. I will pray that you don't suffer any horrible problems from accutane, but if you do you will then understand my friend.
Hang in there SCClippers!
lupus drug, AMCV scarring, alopecia, massive flushing and roseca, bone and joint problems etc
etc ? ETC ?! oO .. peope rarely get even one of these severe side effects, and you have all of them ? not only that ... there is etc ?! whats that supposed to mean ? Dear, I am deeply sorry if you are trully experiencing these side effects and in that case I prolly look like an ass .. but step in my shoes as well .. 4 different dermatologists are saying to me that Accutane is ok, .. say I dont believe them .. I go to the net to check things out for myself .. bunch of positive feedback, bunch of negative .. bunch of spooky articles .. but those are only empty words for me.(all the scary house articles begin with .. Accutane has been linked with .. yada yada .. linked by who on what data ? I ask for some kind of proof that can actually throw me off of Accutane .. and all i get is a picture of some dude who claims to be suffering from hairloss, but actually has more hair than 2/3 of the people I know and has beautiful clear skin ? Without some proof you are just a faceless person on the Interner who can very well be suffering from a mental rathan than a physical disability. I understand that sharing such kind of privacy data might not be for everyone and I have no right really to request such information .. but when you so passionatly advice people to stay away from Accutane (and possibly preventing them from having a normal life) it seems to me rather fair to bavk up you rclaims ? seriously .. any kind of serious research data and real PROOF for the side effects of Accutane would be appreciated .. so long I found none .. And for the light therapy ? oO .. please .. been there .. done that .. no good. Clears up acne(for a month or two) oily skin remains and acne eventually returns.