I also experienced hair loss while on accutane-the acccutane worked great for 5 years "I didn't lose one hair during that time period nor did I grow any back" I had a lot of hair-but when the accutane wore off, I lost some more hair "plugging up the shower with it". I could never figure that one out. My hair was never oily before I started the accutane, but was very oily after the Tane wore off.

I think people's hair become oily because the hair itself has gotten thin. So the same amount of oil that your head usually produces will make the hair seems a lot more oily.

Michael how long were you taking Accutane and what was your dosage level?

Hey everyone -

I took 18 doses of accutane @ 40 mg a day for a two and a half weeks (I'm 5'10 170 lbs) before stopping because I noticed increased hair shedding. Tomorrow will be one month after I quit and my hair is still shedding as much as ever - I don't know how many but I'd guess around 200 hairs a day. If I run my hand through my hair I'm likely to get at least a few hairs. I'm starting to get worried because I don't have much more hair to lose before it becomes noticeable, and I'm looking for any updates from people who took accutane for only a short period of time like me for insight into my situation. Especially maybe someone who took accutane for only a little while and whose hair stopped shedding/grew back would be nice, all you can find on the internet are people with persistent problems and I know at least some people have to have had regrowth. I wish everyone good luck with their hair, it's a very difficult situation.

cmerski, if you are lucky, you might be going through telogen effluvium which make you lose alot of hair but the good news is, it will definitely regrow after six months. Only time will tell what you are going through now.

I am currently taking 5000mcg of biotin. I'm not sure if it really makes a difference.

I've noticed soem things, though. The hairloss is uneven and all over my head. My eyebrows are getting beat bad. Every now and then, certain areas of my head get itchy, and the clobetasol really seems to calm it down. Anyone else experience something similar?

As far as amount of hairloss, it's been up and down. Somedays I count 30, 80, 60, 200, 40...you get the idea. With so many stressors, it's hard to pin down what the main cause is and what is exacerbating the problem. Right around the time I stopped taking accutane, I was transferred at work, started getting less sleep, and winter came on strong. It wouldn't shock me if they were all having an effect.

Hi skizzer,

It sounds like you are going through what most of us here were going through at the start of the hair loss. Lamarr suspects that we might be suffering from diffuse alopecia areata which the hair speciallist I had seen echoed his view as well. I would like to inform you to maybe try benovate rather than clobetasol (dermovate) since clobetasol is so much potent compare to benovate.

As for biotin, I don't know if it will works but judging by most of the reviews here I highly doubt that it will works and not to mention that biotin can cause acne breakouts as well.

Reading this post it seems almost as if accutane isn't worth it. Why trade in one set of problems for another? Hair loss and male pattern baldness is scary. I don't know if that's worse of if acne is.

Was the irritation constant, or did it come and go in various places?

Does everyone on acctuane experience hair loss?

Hi bubbly_girl,

Not everyone experience hair loss while on accutane but it tends to persists for those who experienced it and victims usually are not even destiny to go bald like people who carry male or female pattern hair loss genes.

Hi skizzer,

For most, the irritation like scalp itchiness tends to go away after a while even though hair loss still persists, but there are some who still experience this even after a while, I just happens to be one of the unlucky one who still experience scalp itchiness now and then even after 8 months post tane.

Thanks, Max.

The itchiness is intermittent and interspersed.

I'm still wondering if there's any significance to the fact that this shedding really kicked in after I stopped taking the medication.

I know it may look bleak, Max, but most dermatologists say to wait 6-12 months.

If you think about the efficacy of Accutane, it could be some time still before its effects wear off, and you hair is able to regrow.

Yeah skizzer, it is wise to give your hair some time to recover and as for me, I hope I will recover completely within 3 years and, that will be 2011.

Anyway, some people experience hair loss while they were on tane while some others experience it only after they stop tane for months. So it is case by case.

My hair still sheds rapidly almost two years post tane. If i stop my steroids and lasers etc my shedding goes up too 400 hairs per day.

It always will unless i find something that addresses it more effectively than topical steroids.

Hey, there is always stem cell research. I have seen researchers grow hair, teeth, nails, and skin from stem cells. If the research is open for embryonic stem cell research, you could theoretically replace any body part by coaxing unprogrammed cells to become what you want.

A few of the users in this thread have reported their hair growing back anywhere from 4 months to a year after stopping accutane:

skizzer said:

A few of the users in this thread have reported their hair growing back anywhere from 4 months to a year after stopping accutane:

Thanks for the post skizzer. Question, weren't those users female though? I believe it's easier for women to regrow hair after accutane damage.

My hair strands are pretty much just all thinner post accutane, I lose some hairs when I shower and run my hand through my hair too. I ended up buying the hairmax lasercomb - ill let you all know how that goes, and am taking a b-complex vitamin. Makes for a pretty wierd look, I ended up just buzzing my hair off (level 1 clippers)

What would be the possible downside to using Rogaine as a proactive safeguard?

Today I had a derm appointment, and she proposed using propecia, then said my hair looks fine, then said it looks like early stage I male pattern baldness, if anything. Oddly, I don't exhibit any of the typical recession patterns of MPB she mentioned. She also did a pull test and said I don't have telogen effluvium, as no hair came out. Two other derms and GP said it was TE, because I'm losing 200+ hairs a day since cessation of Accutane. This was a most frustrating day.

Hi skizzer,

I would like to let you know that I understand what you mean and what you are going through when it comes to visiting and consulting dermatologists for accutane induced hair loss. But you need to know the truth is, most dermatologist doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to accutane induced hair loss and, very often, they will choose the easy way out by diagnosing you with MPB (Even when the fact is, you do not have MPB) and prescribe you with either Propecia or Rogaine (Minoxidil) or both for your hair loss. This makes it a very unpleasant experience for people like us (and people who are suffering from other kinds of accutane induced side effects) when it comes to consulting a doctor or dermatologist.

It doesn't help that they "educate" us on the things we already know.

Yeah, I must admit that, most people on this thread know alot more than those so call doctors, dermatologists or even speciailists.

I'm trying to get in touch with Accutane researchers. I will sure to post anything of use to you guys.

Chins up.

I didn't have any unusual hairloss, but I saw other changes to my hair during the course:

Before my hair was very straight, it didn't curl much or anything.

Now after the course my hair is so curly that my hair does corkscrews near my face. It's pretty cool actually, I like my curly hair more than my straight one haha

I have no idea what caused this, maybe its the dryness accutane caused? Maybe that combined with the dry finnish winter curled my hair up pretty well!

Has anyone else experienced this?

we pretty much all experienced the curly hair at first then the loss of hair. Anyone still using the aloe vera treatment?