June 21 2006, 9:35 am PT | Posted in: Drugs (Cause Hair Loss) + Hair Loss Causes
Hello Dr. Rassman last you told me to go to a doctor in ny, I went to see him but he stated that he just didn’t know. I a 3rd round of accutane over 2 years ago, and have experienced hair thinning since.. I am very distraught since I thought the ny doctor could give me more answers and explanations as to how accutane could possibly damage hair follicles forever. I’ve been researching but its all about people like me complaining aobut the accutane induced hair loss, but no reason how it could do this damage. I was told that accutane works by reducing your sebacous gland. I had no idea that sebum would play a role in thinning or damaging hair.. I don’t know why doctors are saying it can be permanent, when in the past they said its only temporary.. and its been over a year, my hair is so thin. I’m taking biotin and I’m not even sure if that will work. I have no one to turn too. Can you explain to me what needs to be done, or how it can damage the hair follicles, if accutane only effects the sebacaus glands. thanks.
Medical clinical science is as much a descriptive science as a biological science. That means we describe what we see, possibly more than we understand what we see. Do not be too hard on the doctor, because I am sure he told you what he knows. As for scholarly doctors, that doctor is as scholarly as they come. We know that Accutane does, at times, cause permanent hair loss (that is what we see) but if we really knew why, then we could surround the cause of it and maybe fix it. I do not have the answers you are looking for, nor do others I have asked. Sorry!
My son took Accutane for only six months when he was 17, yet his hair has started to thin since then. He is now 24. I went to a doctor who said if it was Accutane, when it finally came out of his liver, he would not experience any more loss. However, you say in your blog that it is sometimes permanent.It is thinning along the front, and he is becoming increasingly bald and is extremely distressed. He has been using Rogain for years to no avail. Also, our family does not have MPB, so is there ANY information concerning Accutane baldness that we can count on?
I was Accutane for only a few weeks 11 years ago and I can attest that the hairloss is permanent. I have tried everything(Biotin, Rogaine, Propecia) and nothing has helped. Prior to taking Accutane, I didn’t have any hairloss and has thick hair. My hairloss began (2) weeks after starting Accutane. I stopped taking it shortly after but the hairloss has never stopped. It’s very frustrating talking to doctors about this because everyone plays stupid and says it’s not Accutane but MPB which doesn’t run in my family. I think it’s a big cover-up. For those of you that have bad acne, make a decision if you want zits or want hair on your head.
I can also attest to the hairline recession. Although, at 27 years of age,I still have a good bit of hair, I have noticed over the years a recession in my hair line and also a small bit of thinning in the back “crown”. My father has the crown, so I was expecting that, but I took accutane 10 years ago and started to notice the hairline recession about 2 years after taking the drug… I would choose, hands down, the drug over some thinning because I had severe acne and people now can’t even tell I had it. It was a life-changing drug for me.
Took Accutane when I was 18. Began to lose my hair in diffusion pattern RAPIDLY and am now very bald at 27. Does it sensitize the hair to androgens? Does it damage sebaceous glands? Doctors don’t give straight answers, and my hair is long gone.
I TOOK ACCUTANE 2 YEARS AGO AND I STILL HAVE THINNING HAIR. iT USED TO BE LONG AND BEAUTIFUL, NOW I CAN’T EVEN WEAR IT DOWN ANYMORE…SO SAD! I WISH THERE WERE A CURE
I can attest to the baldness after accutane. Three of our sons who are now in their twenties are going very bald. They literally had a very, very thick “carpet” of hair which everyone always commented on…Extremely thick…Now at ages 26,24 and 19 they have less than half their hair to about 1/3 only. They each started accutane in the 11th grade and within two months of stopping (six months they took it) they lost vast amounts of hair.
they would have rather had the scars and kept their hair at this point…it is very very sad..our oldest wears a cap most of the time and has lost much confidence.
I also can attest to Accutane-related hair loss. I started taking the drug in 1995 when it was still very new. I was a high school senior with very bad skin - nothing else had worked - and I couldn’t imagine going to college with a face that made me not want to look anyone in the eye. I took 3 courses of Accutane, and I started noticing hair loss after 1 year. Mind you, my hair was so long, curly, and thick in high school that I wanted to get it thinned! Makes me so sick now to think about it. My hair has steadily fallen out since, especially in the hairline and crown. I am devastated. I have tried Rogaine and gotten a hair transplant but it seems pretty useless since all the hair around the transplants is falling out now. For all the women out there (we are an underserved market), check out the PK Walsh Salon in Needham, MA - it is a dream come true for me.
Anyway, like Mike said in his comment, make sure you decide whether you want acne or hair — that is the choice you are making when you are thinking about taking Accutane.