If i could go back to the beginning of it falling out I'd do a detox straight away! Liver and Bowel. I believe it really helped me the most out of anything.

What does a liver and bowel detox entail?

There is no question that Accutane can cause hair loss, I had quite a bit in month 5 on 80 mg a day but was fine after getting off of it. Plus my hair is thick and I didn't miss the hair.

 

But to the person saying that a mere 9 pills caused this massive hair loss, I have a very hard time believing it was Accutane. 9 pills is simply not enough to build up in your body to do much of anything.

 

Let's remember, many people are predisposed genetically to baldness or hair loss and in probably "some" or a "few" of the cases, Accutane simply exacerbated what was going to happen anyway.

You are completely off base. I took accutane for 9 days back in november 09 and have been shedding hundreds of hairs every day since them. The shedding started probably on day 6-7 and I quit on day 9. My hair has lost at least 50-60% of its density and i have pics to prove it. I am also losing eyebrow hair, pubic hair, chest hair, and armpit hair It has completely ruined my appearance and in a lot of ways, my life. I was no predisposed to hair loss before my treatment and the accutane is the reason for my massive shedding. It also shows no signs of subsiding, so I figure it is permanent and I will have to live with this regret for the rest of my life

Have you consulted with a specialist? You obviously have auto-immune modulated hair loss.

Have you had a scalp biopsy performed and bloodwork examined?

Consult with the dermatology clinic at a large hospital in your area, they are likely to have a specialist that works with auto-immune modulated diseases that cause hair loss.

I can recommend one in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Jeff Donavon. He is internationally recognized for his work, so you could email him and he may know of a specialist in your area.

It is worth seeing a specialist, a GP or general dermatologist or a hair "specialist" will waste your time and your money.

Good luck!

Matt

There is no question that Accutane can cause hair loss, I had quite a bit in month 5 on 80 mg a day but was fine after getting off of it. Plus my hair is thick and I didn't miss the hair.

 

But to the person saying that a mere 9 pills caused this massive hair loss, I have a very hard time believing it was Accutane. 9 pills is simply not enough to build up in your body to do much of anything.

 

Let's remember, many people are predisposed genetically to baldness or hair loss and in probably "some" or a "few" of the cases, Accutane simply exacerbated what was going to happen anyway.

You are completely off base. I took accutane for 9 days back in november 09 and have been shedding hundreds of hairs every day since them. The shedding started probably on day 6-7 and I quit on day 9. My hair has lost at least 50-60% of its density and i have pics to prove it. I am also losing eyebrow hair, pubic hair, chest hair, and armpit hair It has completely ruined my appearance and in a lot of ways, my life. I was no predisposed to hair loss before my treatment and the accutane is the reason for my massive shedding. It also shows no signs of subsiding, so I figure it is permanent and I will have to live with this regret for the rest of my life

 

It entails spending a bunch of money on something you don't need.

The human body does a fantastic job of excreting toxins normally, as long as you don't overload it, and even if you do, eventually it will void itself of the things that it does not want or need.

Accutane is out of your system within a month or so of your last pill, but it effects can last much longer.

If i could go back to the beginning of it falling out I'd do a detox straight away! Liver and Bowel. I believe it really helped me the most out of anything.

 

What does a liver and bowel detox entail?

 

Hi everyone,

I'm not on roaccutane but I have experienced hair loss from Yasmin. I've done a lot of reading about prevention of massive hair shedding:

I take hair and nail supplements

I eat a few carrots a day (vitamin A)

I wash my hair in luke warm water to avoid stressing the follicles too much

I never scrub shampoo through my hair, I gently massage my scalp to encourage blood flow.

After I've washed I turn the shower onto freezing cold and rinse off for a few minutes - this supposedly closes the follicles like toning your pores.

I never brush my hair when it's wet because I read that it is more likely to tug your hair out

I only wash my hair once every two-three days to avoid stressing it

I bought silk pillow cases (cotton supposedly tears the shaft) and french plait my hair all the time.

I eat tofu every day because I heard that it encourages growth

I never blow dry or straighten it. I use Moroccan oil to stop it from being so mental.

It's a frickin ball ache but I went from having to empty my hair brush every day to only every week. I don't feel that panic any more when I run my hand through my hair and pull a clump away.

I have no idea if what I have done will help people on roaccutane but thought I'd post anyway

PS for eyelash loss.. I lost all of mine because some idiot beautician did my eyelash extensions wrong (OK I was the idiot for having them done in the first place). I used Urban Decay eyelash enhancer serum... I was told that my eyelashes would come back in 8-10 weeks but the serum made them return in only 2

It entails spending a bunch of money on something you don't need.

Really? I assumed it was something like "drink only apple cider vinegar three times a day for a week" or something to that effect.

electroshock, obviously i have diffuse alopecia areata (the auto-immune disorder), so there is really nothing that can be done but pray that the body corrects itself, but after 21 months of shedding that is unlikely to happen

electroshock-

Please keep us all posted on how your appointments go with Dr. Donavon. Any findings or recommendations from him would be very valuable information for all of us. Thanks!

electroshock, obviously i have diffuse alopecia areata (the auto-immune disorder), so there is really nothing that can be done but pray that the body corrects itself, but after 21 months of shedding that is unlikely to happen

You should be doing something for your hair loss instead of praying which is an even worse option to take.

There are options like laser helmet, minoxidil, nizoral shampoo and laser treatment in scalp speciallist's clinic.

My derm gave me prescription clobetasol which i apply to my scalp every night for about two weeks and it's supposed to get rid of sebhorric dermatitis. So far the itchiness in my scalp has subsided a lot.

 

I used clobetasol propinate for 6 months (.5%) until it thinned my scalp out and made it uber sensitive. Be mindful that topical steroids will thin your skin, thin skin affects the ability of a folicle to hold a hair.

 

I also tried Betamethason Valtorate .1% which is a milder steroid, it helped with the itchieness and made me feel like I was doing something to combat my hair loss, but both topicals proved ineffective.

 

I am at 2 and a half years of consistent shedding with about 30% hair density on the top of my head, still losing about 200-300 hairs per day and not getting better.

 

I have an appointment with a specialist in auto-immune related hair loss on Monday, hopefully he will have some answers. I will update if he can "shed" some light on the situation. Sorry that was a bad joke.

 

Good luck to all!

 

Cheers,

 

Matt

 

 

How often were you using the clobetasol? 2x per day? Also what makes you think it thinned the skin and in which areas do you believe it did this?

 

 

Hi Lamarr,

 

Its a known side effect of topical steroids that they thin skin. When your skin gets thinner its brittle and even light scratching can cause bleeding.

 

I was using clob 2 x per day, morning and night.

 

It thins the scalp wherever you apply it.

 

I've stopped all topicals until I get the results of my scalp biopsy and blood work in 2 weeks.

 

I will update the results of the tests and what treatment I begin, but the good thing is I finally found a doctor that specializes in auto-immune hair-affecting disorders and he has assured me that it is an auto-immune disease brought on by Accutane. He doesn't see signs of miniturization, and has assured me there are treatment options and is confident he can either reverse the hair loss or at least stop it.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

 

Hi Matt,

 

I have been using topical steroids for many years now....My skin doesn't seem in bad shape and my derm advises that with once daily application, especially on the top of the scalp where the skin is rather thick, skin thinning is very rare.

 

I don't LIKE topical steroids, but if you let the hair miniturize to a certain point you will likely never get it back. I use it with low level laser therapy as this has the oposite affect of steroids in that they thicken the skin. That could be why I don't seem to of had any issues with them.

 

I am very interested to see what your doctor suggests as a treatment. I don't know of many treatments for auto immune that aren't somewhat destructive to the skin, other than protopic/elidel and cyclosporin.

 

Low level laser therapy is one, and there are a number of others, but none of which garuntee results unfortunately.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

So I got the results of my scalp biopsies and bloodwork, and have seen 3 specialists in the past month (2 derms specializing in auto-immune modulated hair loss and one rheumotologist.)

They originally thought I had dermatamyositis, which would really suck, but subsequent blood tests show that I do not (I had very high levels of creatine kinase in my blood, but turns out it is just from working out.)

I do not have any anti-nuclear anti-bodies in my blood, and my scalp biopsies show that I do not have miniturization nor a scarring alopecia (nor diffuse alopecia areata.) The specialist says I have Chronic Telogen Effluvium (for almost 3 years now) and the specialist put me back on topical Clobestosol Propinate 0.1% but only once a day, at night (previously I applied it 2x per day.)

This time around it seems to be helping a lot, the pain, itchiness, irritation (redness) and hair loss have all subsided drastically and my scalp is not getting sore from the steroid.

I go back to see the original specialist on Monday, and I believe he plans to put me on oral Prednisone, then taper me off onto a less potent oral steroid.

I still do not know the actual underlying factor that is causing my hair shedding, but seeing as the topical steroid is helping and I will likely start an oral steroid, it seems to still be auto-immune related.

Anyways, I will update after my appointment next monday.

I'm happy that after almost 3 years, I'm starting to get a clearer picture and have found a specialist that knows what he is talking about.

Hi all,

Can you combine Nizarol Shampoo with Revivogen Scalp Therapy safely and do you think this will be a good combination alongside the Revivogen Conditioner to slow/prevent hair loss?

Thanks

Greg

Hi all,

 

Can you combine Nizarol Shampoo with Revivogen Scalp Therapy safely and do you think this will be a good combination alongside the Revivogen Conditioner to slow/prevent hair loss?

 

Thanks

 

Greg

Not sure Sheefa, but hopefully Max or Lamarr see your post and answer you here soon. I hope your doing well and getting along with everything elese. -

electroshock, obviously i have diffuse alopecia areata (the auto-immune disorder), so there is really nothing that can be done but pray that the body corrects itself, but after 21 months of shedding that is unlikely to happen

Just a quick update.

I'm still using clobetosol propinate once nightly and its done wonders for the pain, itchiness, irritation and redness. My scalp feels a lot better.

I was given about 20 subcutaneous steroid injections into my scalp last week, and will need about 4 to 6 weeks to see if they encourage hair growth.

The down side is that neither of the above treatments have done anything to slow down or stop my shedding. The shedding still persists.

I'll be returning in 6 weeks to see Dr. Donvavan, and at that time we will likely discuss using Prednisone and tapering off to another milder oral steroid to see if that does the job.

Will report with my results.

Cheers,

Matt

Do those with AA usually pull out patches of head?

I've posted in another thread, but I guess I'll add my information here.

I'm a 26/m who was on 80mg for 24 days. I got a haircut earlier than usual as I was about to start a new job, so my hair wasn't that long when I went. The hairdresser lady made a comment about how my hair was thinner on the sides and my top was really thick, and offered to thin it. Not thinking anything about Accutane, I let her carry about her business.

Now, almost two weeks later, it seems my hair is shedding and I'm pretty petrified. I have stopped the Accutane, but I've read on here about people that stopped after 9 days or 3 weeks and it ruined them forever. I realize that's very rare, but wasn't hair loss supposed to be very rare too?

A couple facts for your consideration:

Thinning started between weeks two and three. Hair is not coming out in clumps, but I can definitely tell that it is falling out. I'd say running my hands through my hair while showering could produce about 10 hairs. I know that's not a ridiculous amount, but I've never really shed before.

I'm hoping this is all just because of stress, starting the Accutane, and the hairdresser thinning my hair, but I was curious what some of your thoughts are. I feel this forum knows more than my derm. She actually told me, "all Accutane side affects are temporary". She also never got my blood tested before my prescription, and I had to call after my "month" to verify the blood test was ok because they never bothered to get them from my GP.

So just a follow up. I'm still thinning. Mostly in my hairline it seems. Pretty much everyone in my family has a receding hairline, so I guess that would bound to happen. They all had pretty full hair other than that though, although my dad's is really thinning out now at 50. Anyways, when I touch my scalp I feel like a field of short hairs all over. From the back of my head, all the way to the front. I really hope that is regrowth.

The shedding was never HORRIBLE to start, but I keep my hair short anyways, so it's hard to notice. If I pull on a group of hairs now, it MAY pull out one.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm going to update regardless of the news because there's nothing more frustrating then reading people in my exact same situation, who left the board and never came back. Seems like it's only the ones with permanent damage that stick around. I hope I'm not one of those...

Ok posted this on another board and got no response. I have not tried a topical steroid so I would like some opinions as well as any other info.

Ok so fasha and both grandfathers have mpb but at 51, 76, and 84 they all have full coverage and my dad in particular is in between a norwood 2 and 3, seriously. So I fully expected my mpb to be rather slow going. But then the acne hit and soon came the accutane which ended up being 3 rounds with the third extending until January of 2010 as a small dose maintenance treatment. I had been up to 120 milligrams at different points and as low as 20 for maintenance so I have had a lot of that nasty crap in my system. Around the time I got off the drug I started noticing my hairline receding. Then I really took notice because it became very rapid (used some freckles as markers and I was literally seeing change from week to week in my hairline) so last september I started the big 3 with avodart instead of propecia to really pull out the stops. No dice. I have kept up the regiment as well as tried all the snake oils including flushes and vitamins. You guys should see all the vitamins I have tried, could have had a nice start on cash for a tp if I had not bought everything mentioned on this or any other site. I have eliminated caffeine, alcohol, and any sort of antibiotic or drug including pain relievers because of my sensitivity after tane and the fallout I see. I wish I could even consider a tp but I cannot get this nonsense to even slow the slightest bit and the back donor area has thinned some too, not noticeable to anyone except for me and the gf who runs her fingers through my once very thick hair. Basically I wish every month for the hair I had the previous month and have done everything I expected to be right in order to get this curse to stop. I am 24 with the worst hair in the family.

I say all this wanting to know if anyone has had some success with slowing accutane mpb with the big 3 over time? or slowing it period? I have only been off tane for 1 year and 8 months so does that have something to do with it? Also any clue if histogen or any of that stuff will have an effect on accutane mpb? I realize no one really knows how it will work and all but I am grasping on to anything.

bump bump

Try reading some of Lamarr1986 posts. He didn't have MPB(Alopecia),but I believe he used topical steroids, lasers and such.....

If it truly is MPB then sad to say, but Accutane speeds up this process. Hopefully theres a guy around this thread who can help ya. Good Luck

Hey all, I haven't posted here in a couple years. Eventually my hair stopped falling out and I stopped worrying about it. I'd say my hair returned to normal. However, recently I've been shedding a lot. I didn't think much of it until today when I took a closer look at my scalp in the mirror. When I lift the hairs up on top my scalp is quite visible, my hair has thinned out on top. I'm not sure if this is linked to accutane but nevertheless its quite disconcerting.

I went through a stressful breakup one month ago. I had some pain in my chest which spread to the muscles in the rest of my body, I felt weak. I got a fever the same day. Maybe this is a result of that, "telogen effluvium". Whatever caused this I'm going to start taking biotin again. I took it after accutane but I can't say whether or not its responsible for causing my hair to stop falling out then. My hair did grow very fast while taking it so I know the benefits are real. Going to start eating healthier as well.

Two weeks after stopping a 3 week long course, and I'm still thinning. I keep my hair pretty short, so I don't notice tons or clumps falling out, but I can definitely see a lot of scalp, and now where I would usually be getting a haircut, the back of my head is the only part of my head that looks like it needs a cut.

I feel a lot of stubble or short hairs on my scalp when run my hands through it. Could that be a sign of growing back? I find it hard to get a good look at my scalp in the mirror, so I have no idea. I have a doctor's appointment next Saturday, and am going to ask for a referral to a hair specialist at a big University in my city. I'm sure they won't give me much information in the way of Accutane, but maybe they can atleast give me some general information about the direction of my hair/hair loss.

Most answers that people are looking for is actually in this thread. Just need to put in the effort to read from the first to the last page. That's what I do then.

I have read the whole thread. I think most situations are different though.

hey guys thought i would give an update. its been 1.5 years since i took accutane. took it for around 7day and my hair on my buddy and head started falling out. with my scalp burning like a mofo.

now. the hair sheding on my body has all most stopped. it still sheds a little but grows back

my hair line has not receded. but still sheding all over.

i used to have ulcerative colitis. what i think is going on that i developed another autoimmune disease prob celiac disease. i changed my diet now no more gluten and staying away from fast food its been a week. trying to stick with an anti-imflamatory diet. as well with morning yoga/meditation to correct this shit.

stay strong brothers and sisters.

How much have you lost over the 1.5 years? Is is visible to anyone other than you yet?

Sorry to bump again, but I'm trying to bring this thread back to life...

One incouraging thing I saw while reading a lot of this thread was that it took years seemingly before there was really noticable thinning to other people. Mine seems to be rapidly thinning. I feel like I would be noticable in like two months tops. I'm a bit under month off of a 3 week course, does it slow down a bit once the Accutane has "fully" flushed out. I know it won't just completely stop and I know it's debatable if it even fully leaves your system, but will it slow down at all?