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imo i wudnt worry about hair loss. Just get transplants and your good to go
hard to get a transplant when you are balding all over your head, the crown is especially bad though. ive had friends tell me that im going bald and that they can see thinning and bald spots. people who havent seen me in a year or 2 have made comments about me losing my hair as well. feels terrible. i used to have a great head of curly, thick hair. now its thin and sparse. hopefully hair cloning is perfected in the next 5-10 years
imo i wudnt worry about hair loss. Just get transplants and your good to go
hard to get a transplant when you are balding all over your head, the crown is especially bad though. ive had friends tell me that im going bald and that they can see thinning and bald spots. people who havent seen me in a year or 2 have made comments about me losing my hair as well. feels terrible. i used to have a great head of curly, thick hair. now its thin and sparse. hopefully hair cloning is perfected in the next 5-10 years
Sorry to hear (and see) man. I feel bad complaining about my hair loss now. I wish you the best of luck in any improvement. I can't remember how old you are, but I imagine you've already been searching for tons of things to help.
I'll try to share some pictures of my hair soon for everyone.
@ivmi - I've also noticed a few of those skin thinning signs as well. Nothing super noticeable, but still something I see now that you mention it. Does ayone know if there is any hope that the signs will fade over the course of a few years?
I've just started taking zinc for my acne and it has made my hair shedding worse. It's been 2 years since I've been on accutane
Should I continue the zinc for a couple of weeks to see if it continues? I really want to keep taking it as my skin has improved heaps in 4 days.
Surely accutane isn't still in my system, this has to be a hormone related issue.
Hey people! I just thought I would update:
Method of treatment- Absolutly nothing!
It has been 4 1/2 months since the excessive shedding began ( 8 months since I took my last Accutane pill) and I am still shedding. Some days worst than others, at worst 150 a day at best 60-100. Head and shoulders helps the dandruff and itchy scalp. The scalp pain and soreness that I was feeling in the beginning has stopped.
My hair looks limp and lifeless. My scalp is not visible but hair is VERY thin. I am growing hair, I can see lots of baby hairs poking through but again... I continue to shed, it's a very strange cycle.
I have learned to style my hair in ways so that it looks fuller then it actually is. I wash it every other day, sometimes every 2 days if I could help it.
My hair is getting pretty long and I want to cut a couple of inches off but I'm sooooo worried about what the hairstylist would think or say when he or she combes it and tons of hair falls out (his or her face
) Ugh!!!
Any advice on what to say or do in this case? Should I warn him or her? What the HECK do I say?
Working on month 6 of hair shedding.
Hey everyone! Its been over a month since my last post (quoted above). I'm still shedding but it has decreased considerably. I loose about 25 hairs when I shower and maybe about another 25 when brushing and styling. I have LOT'S of re-growth poking out all over my scalp (looks kinda funny). I am able to control my dandruff and itchiness with head and shoulders shampoo. Im still experiencing SOME scalp sensitive especially when I brush out knots or if my hair gets caught on a hair clip, leaving my scalp unusually sore! 
(bringing tears to my eyes)
I'm not treating my hair-loss just dealing with it. I stopped all Derm visits (a waste of $$$) My hair is still very thin and limp looking but Im happy to see all those baby hairs.
Side Note:
It's been 9 months since I took my last accutane pill. My skin still SUPER CLEAR but still SUPER DRY!!!!! I get patchy dry rashes all over my body, it comes and goes 
Anyone else still experiencing really dry skin?
I've just started taking zinc for my acne and it has made my hair shedding worse. It's been 2 years since I've been on accutane
Should I continue the zinc for a couple of weeks to see if it continues? I really want to keep taking it as my skin has improved heaps in 4 days.
Surely accutane isn't still in my system, this has to be a hormone related issue.
It may be a hormonal issue, but I will say that zinc aids Vit A and many accutane suffers have not done well taking zinc. Though Accutane may be out of your system it doesn't mean that it hasn't messed up receptors. For me example my Vit A levels are at 83 (tech normal). Abormal lab limits are over 93, yet I have problems ingesting Vit A.
Have you had hormones checked???? I would maybe stop the zinc sorry!
D2hammer- Lamarr has his email on his profile maybe send him a personal email, as I can't remember what laser he uses, though I know he has posted it.
Lesset- What do you use for the dry patches or what have you tried?
I've just started taking zinc for my acne and it has made my hair shedding worse. It's been 2 years since I've been on accutane
Should I continue the zinc for a couple of weeks to see if it continues? I really want to keep taking it as my skin has improved heaps in 4 days.
Surely accutane isn't still in my system, this has to be a hormone related issue.
It may be a hormonal issue, but I will say that zinc aids Vit A and many accutane suffers have not done well taking zinc. Though Accutane may be out of your system it doesn't mean that it hasn't messed up receptors. For me example my Vit A levels are at 83 (tech normal). Abormal lab limits are over 93, yet I have problems ingesting Vit A.
Have you had hormones checked???? I would maybe stop the zinc sorry!
D2hammer- Lamarr has his email on his profile maybe send him a personal email, as I can't remember what laser he uses, though I know he has posted it.
Lesset- What do you use for the dry patches or what have you tried?
i have been taking Accutane 20mg from last 8 months with litrelly no side effect except dry lips and skin.
of late i added zinc and vitamin d capsule to my regime , and within a fortnight my hair has started to turn curly with some hair shedding too!
i will renounce zinc from my shcedule to see if some difference comes forth.
D2Hammer said:Please, can anybody explain me, what type of laser you take? Lamarr wrote, that he tooks a laser and it works fine, but I am not sure which one?I'm so desperate
, tried minox but it didn't work for me...thanks guys!
Mark is using a do-it-yourself laser. You can learn how to make one on this website but it takes some skills, that for sure.
http://www.overmachogrande.com/index.php?/...s/introduction/
You might also want to look into lasermax.
Cheaper alternative (used lasermax)
Laser Max 50 Hair Restoration System [Edited link out]
Lasermax 50 DHT blocker Hair regrowth [Edited link out]
One more thing! I was also experiencing that weird kinky curly flyaway hair but my hair is defiantly "normalizing". It's starting to look and feel like it did before the madness.
Great news! Keep us updated please. Is it easy to notice the little baby hairs? Have you gotten any hair cuts recently that maybe hints at your hair normalizing? For those who don't know or remember, it's been 15 months since I have cut my hair, so obviously it's super long. I've noticed that basically the bottom (oldest part of my hair) is the curliest and dry and pretty much crap. Maybe that's normal, just a thought.
My scalp is always itchy and flaky from sebhoric dermatitis, but admiteddly I don't wash or shampoo my hair every day because it makes me worried. Should I be shampooing/washing at least every other day?
Max- said:D2Hammer said:Please, can anybody explain me, what type of laser you take? Lamarr wrote, that he tooks a laser and it works fine, but I am not sure which one?I'm so desperate
Mark is using a do-it-yourself laser. You can learn how to make one on this website but it takes some skills, that for sure.
http://www.overmachogrande.com/index.php?/...s/introduction/
You might also want to look into lasermax.
Cheaper alternative (used lasermax)
Laser Max 50 Hair Restoration System [Edited link out]
Lasermax 50 DHT blocker Hair regrowth [Edited link out]
Thanks Max-! Hope all is going well
A hair transplant does not make sense to resolve the type of hair loss for Accutane users and shouldn't even be considered as an option.
My hair slowed down shedding considerably for about 2 months under hormone treatment but did not stop entirely, but after the treatment the shedding picked up considerably and now I'm back to losing about 200-300 hairs per day.
I am going to see a dermatologist who specializes in Alopecia Areata, but I imagine I will be waiting several months to see him.
I've been shedding for 25 months since I took Accutane for 12 days.
Although the hormone therapy assisted, I'm not sure that hormones are the solution. Since I have scalp pain, generalized redness and irritation and club hairs, its still very likely Alopecia Areata.
Hopefully I will have good news soon.
Just like everyone posting here, this problem is taxing emotionally and I'm looking forward to a full recovery.
Good luck to everyone.
Matt
sorry ivmi for not getting back to you. when i had my biopsy in september i was diagnosed with having MPB unfortunately. i dont know how accurate that is because i have read that some derms cant tell the difference between MPB and TE in their early stages. however, the excessive loss around my crown (you've seen the pics) seems to point towards MPB. i do lose a lot of armpit hair and eye lids if i ever pull on them, so yes, i do lose body hair
A scalp biopsy of a patient with alopecia areata can be similar if not the same as a patient with MPB. Inflammation caused by Alopecia Areata can cause miniturization of hair folicles (reversable, unlike MPB.) The important discriminator is the presence of T lymphocytes in the area of the hair folicle. If you get a scalp biopsy, be sure to have a test performed to identify if there is the presence of T lymphocytes.
And even if you have MPB, that does not mean you have no chance of regrowing your hair. Once the underlying problem is resolved you have the potential to regrow your hair.
I wouldn't throw in the towel.
There are treatments out there, it is just that most dermatologists are text-book derms and don't know much about less common disorders. It would be key for you to find a derm that specializes in hair disorders and not one of those that specializes in skin problems and assumes that any case of diffuse or generalized hair loss is the result of mail pattern baldness.
Best wishes!
Matt
TexasBoy,
Are your hairs regrowing finer than they previously were or do they appear to be the same diameter and texture has previous hairs.
If you have MPB, your hairs in the crown and fore area will likely come in softer, finer and whispy. If you just have diffused hair loss and your hairs are regrowing to the same consistency but fall out later on, it is unlikely that you have MPB (or if you do have MPB it may affect you later on in life but not necessarily now.)
cheers
matt
It sounds kinda stupid, but I've been wearing a cap lately and cutting my hair shorter, it seems to make me forget about my hair loss situation for now until I go see my dermatolgist again in 2 weeks
To be honest I'm too scared to cut my hair. For one, I do like it longer, but it's been 14 months since I cut it, and throughout the whole time has been from the start of my Accutane shedding. some days my hair looks incredibly thin, but since it's long and overlaps, it looks ok unless I examine it closely. Would it make sense that my hair loss is going to be like, super magnified since it's happened over this period in which I haven't cut my hair one time? I'm just so afraid of how it might look short again. I hated haircuts before, but if it looks or feels really thin after it could put me in a depressive state for some time (sounds lame I know).
It's pretty frightening to see how thin it is like forming a big receding hairline, but the thing is, it's pretty much that same thickness around the sides and back too (probably top as well), so I imagine it's this universal hair loss on my head. I probably only think of my front being worse because I look at it the most. Granted, my hairline has receded quite a bit since the beginning of treatment I noticed.
I haven't been doing much or taking anything to improve my hair loss. Just doesn't seem like anything has worked, and I haven't seen any little hairs popping up like my derm said as well. Any words of encouragement or perhaps some tips that might assist me would really help right now.
Good luck everyone.
That's what I'm worried about. Not sure whether or not to get a haircut. But I think regardless of noticeable hairloss or not, shorter hair would probably look better.
So I say you should cut it, I'll prob cut mine too
I have been on 3 full length courses of accutane in my life, as I have had extremely persistent acne. Though I am now acne free, I am dealing with problems of hair loss. I finished my 3rd and final course of accutane in the fall of 2007. I am now 24. This past August, I noticed my hair was thinning and since then, I have lost much hair. My hairs are growing in finer and in less abundance over my entire scalp. I have been using nizoral for shampoo and have been using rogaine for the past few months, but I haven't noticed much of an improvement. The thing that scares me most, is that this pattern of hair loss is not just limited to my scalp. My eyebrow hairs are falling out and growing in finer, along with the hairs on my legs, armpits, chest, arms etc. My legs have shed a noticable amount. If I even gently pull on my eyebrow hairs, they'll fall out and the same goes for hair on other parts of my body. If I was to lose the hair on my head AND my eyebrows I would be devastated. I have been applying rogaine to my eyebrows also, in hopes of seeing some regrowth but haven't seen much improvement yet. My dermatologist and GP have said the same as most docs about my hairloss and have chalked it up to "male pattern baldness." Does anyone here have any advice as to what kind of hair loss I could be experiencing? Anything I could use to try and keep my hair ESPECIALLY my eyebrows? And could accutane really be the cause of this seeing as I finished my last course in late 2007 and began to notice hair loss in August of 2010? Any help/answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
(I will also post this as its own thread)
Can anyone help me here regarding my hair loss issues from accutane. I have been battling this for nearly 2 years now, surprisingly have done a ton of research and not read this thread. If anyone can discuss if im screwed, or what i can do, or what it sounds like my issue is, please chime in.
I am 26.
I have always had non thick hair, and a receding hair line, even as a baby. Although my hair was def thicker as a child it was just not as thick as alot of other children.
Dermatologist (only one in my town) is horrible, he prescribed me accutane like it was candy. On rate my md he has like a 1.8 rating out of 5.
I have been on 3 courses of accutane. I found 4 a week worked fine for me, so i ended up doing 3 courses for around 5 years. 2004 to 2009.
No liver issues.
My hair was generally ok but was gradually thinning. I was not loosing alot of hair really my mom just noticed it was thinning. Although I did develop a bald spot. The most extreme hairloss seemed to happen fairly rapidly before i came off of it.
There is a history of hairloss in my family but usually mid 30's, and i assume its due to poor hair hygeine. My father and grandfather and uncles have hair loss but they also have greasy, oily heads. In this sense i think accutane helped since my hair was typically greasy and felt thin as a teenager. After accutane it felt even thinner but dry.
I should also mention i lost alot of hair on a glaucoma medication possibly (stemming from overuse of tobradex, steroid ointment from dry eyes caused by accutane) anyway took it for awhile instead of opting for surgery. Found out april 2010 one of the beta blocker ingredients is known to cause hair loss. I also used to get my hair colored which did not help. One time near the end of my treatment i could even feel the hot hair dryer almost burning my dry hair.
So that summarizes my hair problem. I stopped accutane but stupidly i continued to use 5000 iu of vitamin A in a multivitamin daily right after i quit accutane, until last summer. Either 5000iu daily in a multivitamin is to much, or i still had high levels of vitamin A from accutane and the vitamin A in the daily multivitamin just kept building on that.
Essentially i believe i hit vitamin A overdose in late june this year. I quit the glaucoma medication for my eyes and had surgery in april.
I also supplimented with biotin for a year (september 2009 to 2010) biotin still kept breaking me out and made my hair to oily and gave me scalp acne so i quit.
As of right now my hair is filling back in, but alot of the hair in front is growing quickly, but thin.
My biggest issue now the past few months was scalp inflamation. I had acne on my scalp. I recently think its from biotin and chi ionic hair thickener recomended to me which is very oily.
I just started using nizoral, scalp acne is good right now.
So with all this information am i screwed? Is it to soon to tell. I did not actually quit vitamin a completely until july 2010. So I have been off it about 5 months. And again hair is growing in, but it was thin. And as mentioned i just recently got scalp acne under control and overly oily hair. All mpb was from oily hair in my family. All men have oily bald scalps which i hate. So only recently i have my scalp acne under control (2 weeks now) can that also cause thinning hair?
At this point scalp is finally good, hair is coming in, but much thinner then its suppose to. Maybe since i only got the scalp inflamation under control 2 weeks ago its to soon to tell. Or is to soon to tell since i have only been off vitamin a for 5 months? Or do i need to say goodbye to my hair?
I've just started taking zinc for my acne and it has made my hair shedding worse. It's been 2 years since I've been on accutane
Should I continue the zinc for a couple of weeks to see if it continues? I really want to keep taking it as my skin has improved heaps in 4 days.
Surely accutane isn't still in my system, this has to be a hormone related issue.
It may be a hormonal issue, but I will say that zinc aids Vit A and many accutane suffers have not done well taking zinc. Though Accutane may be out of your system it doesn't mean that it hasn't messed up receptors. For me example my Vit A levels are at 83 (tech normal). Abormal lab limits are over 93, yet I have problems ingesting Vit A.
Have you had hormones checked???? I would maybe stop the zinc sorry!
D2hammer- Lamarr has his email on his profile maybe send him a personal email, as I can't remember what laser he uses, though I know he has posted it.
Lesset- What do you use for the dry patches or what have you tried?
i have been taking Accutane 20mg from last 8 months with litrelly no side effect except dry lips and skin.
of late i added zinc and vitamin d capsule to my regime , and within a fortnight my hair has started to turn curly with some hair shedding too!
i will renounce zinc from my shcedule to see if some difference comes forth.
wow! i left zinc out of my schedule taking it to be the culprit in the hair issues that i had been facing,knew accutane was the main cause but in my case my hair started to get crappy ever since i added zinc ....and so far so good, my hair texture has come back to straight ,not completely straight as it used to be but 90 percent near to the original texture i had. thpught still facing a bit of hair fall but nowhere near to the earlier one,think its about to be resolved.....or may be just some honeymoon period?
Hey guys, it's been about a month since my last post, and I'm sad to say that my hair has shown no signs of recovery yet.
I've always had fine hair, I remember the stylists discussing that with my parents when I was really young getting haircuts. But I've never been able to see scalp through my hair when dry, and even now, 50% of my scalp is visible when my hair is wet. Before Accutane, I would rarely notice hair when it shed, and I don't ever remember seeing hair on my hands when in the shower. I used to be able to style my hair and it looked great, but now any sort of separation of my hair has visible scalp. The hair above my ears and my sideburns in general are wirey and short. Most of the hair that falls out has a very small bulb on the end (or no bulb at all), unlike the way it used to be. A small amount of the hairs look bent or otherwise unhealthy, but they are for the most part a uniform width (granted, I can't really remember if this was how wide they were before Accutane). The lost hairs do not appear to be exclamation point hairs. My hair in general is now very susceptible to wind.
I took my last pill on June 8th of last year, so I'm coming up on 8 months. Should I give up hope?
Always gotta have some hope buddy. Check to see if your whole scalp is thinning. I think a universal thinning might make it more likely that eventually your hair will start to thicken up again in some areas. I took my last pill over a year ago and I'm still experiencing hair loss, but it's really hard to tell what's going on still.
I definitely have a universal thinning. My hair is thinner all over my scalp, and I think the thinner areas (temples, above ear, corners) are going to feel even thinner than maybe the front of your hair or back simply because they were thinner to begin with. Keep watching your hair and the patterns to see if anything changes, improves, or gets worse. Always good to revisit old photos and compare too. Best of luck mate.
I'm confident that the thinning is universal. While on Accutane, I was easily able to pull hairs not just out of my head, but out of my legs and other areas as well, and after shaving my legs (well, leg) the regrowth (bear in mind this was months ago) was pretty sparse compared to the other leg (my control group, if you will.) Sideburns and the area above my ears is thinner as well. Most of the hairs I can easily pull out these days actually come from the sideburn area.
I'm concerned about the lack of bulb/really small bulb on the falling hairs. On one hand, it could be miniaturization, on the other, I feel like my hair might just be too weak to remove from the root and instead it breaks off at the follicle.
I dunno, man. It's nice to hear that I've got an ally in this, though, definitely keep up posting. It's always nice to have some other input.
EDIT: I've talked to my dermatologist now and I will be seeing him to further discuss the issue next Friday. In all likelihood, I'll keep you guys posted with what I find out.
Kirbatha:
I had a bout with TE that started just over a year ago. It was likely brought on my stress for me. I saw a derm in March or April and she had me start on Rogaine for women. I didn't begin to notice growth until 3-4 months on Rogaine which was still 8-9 months into the TE problem. I also immediately starting taking lots of biotin every day. I'm now about 9 months into Rogaine and about 13 months in since my TE started and I feel like I'm just getting things back on track. I have lots of hairs at a variety of lengths that have started growing in. The longest are probably 2" long and the shortest now are probably a half inch long. It's still not back to the old thickness but I'm not giving up hope.
My point is that if you are experiencing TE, it takes a lonnnng time to recover. My derm set me up with realistic expectations regarding that recover. It's still frustrating but I know not to give up hope.
Also, does MPB run on your mother's side? It's a trait you get for your mom's genes, not your dad's so his hairloss doesn't mean anything for you.