I did not experience any hair thinning on Accutane, but I have read plenty of anecdotes from those who have, I think it's important for people to understand how Accutane induces hair loss.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15955085

This article talks about ATRAthe drug Accutane metabolizes into in the bodycausing hair follicles to prematurely complete the different phases of growth:

"Compared with controls, hair shaft elongation declined significantly already after 2 d in the ATRA-treated group, and 80% of the ATRA-treated HF had prematurely entered catagen-like stage at day 6, compared with 30% in the control group."

Accutane causes hair follicles cycle through the anagen phase and into the catagen phase too quickly, as hairs in the catagen phase are no longer growing and closer to cycle completion. Therefore, the hairs fall out quicker than they usually would. This occurs due to a protein known as TGF-beta2 being upregulated. According to the article (and quite logically), it would take a TGF-beta2 anatagonist to counteract this effect. Regular moisturizers are unlikely to help the baldness specifically, because a complex reaction is taking place at the cellular level. Your other option is to lower your dose of Accutane.

On August 2, 2016 at 0:37 PM, NorthernLights said:

I began my Accutane journey on May 12, 2016 and am almost at the end of my third month. I am a 23 year old female about 138 pounds. My derm prescribed me 40mg/day for 5-6 months depending on progress. I have moderate acne with white heads and cysts and have tried everything under the sun. All creams, antibiotics, proactive, exposed skincare, natural remedies, birth controls. All of which would give me results for a few months but then the acne would return not long after. I am from Canada and the brand I am using Is "Clarus" 40mg. About a month into my treatment i noticed my hair thinning/falling out more than I was used to. My scalp is itchy and dry and the hairs that fall out all have the little white bulb at the end. My derm said this is TE and can happen while on the drug but it won't make me bald and will begin to grow back once I finish treatment. However Since this is happening at just 40mg he is going to have my iron checked to see if this could be contributing to the hair loss. I'll know what's going On with my iron at the next appt in a month. I have just been conditioning my hair and do not use heat on it right now. I try to be gentle when brushing. It does bother me that I can't do anything with my hair because of the dryness and thinning. I also have thin hair already so it does worry me however I am trusting my derm and continuing with the treatment since my acne secret began to effect my self esteem and entire life in general. Has anyone else experienced this hair thinning? Did your hair grow back? How did you cope with dry itchy scalp? Any words of advice or support would be much appreciated.

Hey! I took accutane from December 1st to March 14th. I started shedding a month into treatments and quit early because I was scared of the hair I was losing. My derm told me it would all grow back once i stopped, but to this day i am still losing my hair. I have been off the accutane for 8 months now and my hair has just gotten thinner and thinner. It is devastating, i miss my hair SO much.

get a colon cleanse!!!! The same thing happened to me and it was because the accutane was still stuck in my colon and disrupting everything. Also, take Himalaya liver cleanse vitamins, they are the best to clear out the rest of the accutane still stuck in your liver. Lastly, it is very common to become anemic because of an accutane trial and this can lead to further hair thinning, so try to take some supplements with iron. These steps completely stopped my hair loss and my hair slowly but surely came back to the thickness it was before accutane. Also take some biotin, this will help the hair growth. TRUST ME, do these things and your hair will go back