Accutane, BCP and hair loss

[Susana]

Hi guys!!
Ok, I went on accutane when I was 18 (I think), it cleared my acne beautifully, but it turned my thick wavy hair, straight, dull and...thin. Then I went on the bcp. My acne did not return, but the hair thinned out even more... I went off of it abruptly (did not finish a cycle) and my skin broke out horribly. This was a year ago, I am still breaking out horribly. The hair has gotten a bit better, more wave, but my crown is still quite thin. When I look closely I can see some new growth (?), well I see baby hair and hope that it is a good sign rather than a bad one. However, I see that some hairs are considerably thinner than others, and lighter too!! Does any one have any experience with this? I have researched it and apparently it is true that accutane adn bcp both can cause hair loss.

[chamogirl]

My son is 20 and on accutane and his hair is thinning a bit but not much. He has really thick ash blonde hair. He thinks it is worth it to get rid of the bad acne. I have no idea if it will reverse.

[PurpleAshes]

Hi there! I did not use accutane but I did use another pill for acne treatment, it was called Isoface. It did thin my hair out a LOT. I lost about 2/3 of my total thickness, but it has come back. Not all of it, but right now my hair isn't as sadly thin as it was. And I really think it will continue to come back, because I have a lot of baby hairs around my temples.
Just hold on, I'm sure your hair will come back too :)

[Darkhorse1]

A good friend of mine went on accutane when it first came out. Her hair pretty much became dry and brittle and years later, she told me she found out it was due to accutane. She ended up cutting it all off (short do), and grew it out. It grew out very nicely. I know she stopped taking accutane. Another person I know used zinc oxide on her cystic acne and it helped her. Perhaps try this before considering going back on accutane.

In regards to your hair, my friend said she just had to 'wait it out'. She did do a lot of deep conditionings and hot oil treatments. But, my guess is that accutane dries out EVERYTHING, and I believe oils are needed for good hair.

Hugs to you and good luck!

[Susana]

Chamogirl: I hope it's worth it for your son and it works out :)

Hi PurpleAshes - I'm glad to hear it is still coming back for your!! I hope it does for me too :) How long has it taken you since?

Hi Darkhorse: I didn't find out it was from accutane at first either, it took me a long time to realize it. I thought it was from blowdrying it :S They never mentioned that when I went on accutane. I would have thought twice about it if they had. I do not think I will be going back on it at all. I had really oily hair but with accutane I could go like a week before seeing oil on my hair. I was happy; I didn't even think twice about it. My hair is getting oilier again, which I think I am going to take as a good sign. I hope it'll get thick and lots again. I am glad it did for your friend. :) Thank you so much everyone for your responses :)

[hennaphile]

:blossom: I'm really sorry to hear this. Everyone has a different experience... I was on accutane years ago, but my hair retained its thickness. However, when I tried different bcps, it fell out in clumps and hasn't grown back (it's been a year) : /. My bf did accutane and lost a lot of hair and it got very dry and brittle, it's been a year and he hasn't recovered at all.

My suggestion is to go to a derm and get some blood work done, and in the mean time do nice treatments. G'luck!!

[Susana]

Thanks for the kind words hennaphile :) That is something I am planning on doing, but I am not sure that my nurse will take me seriously. I am do for a pop test anyways....
I do think my hair got a bit better....until I went on the bcp. By the end people were actually asking me if I was losing hair, it sucked. Even my boyfriend noticed it, but felt too akward to mention it. He says that it is fine now that I am off the pill, but I know it has not returned to what it used to be. I hope it will. Like I said, I see a lot of "fuzz" and baby hairs that I don't remember having, I just really hope they are new and not breakage. I am sorry that it sucked for your bf, but I am glad that it didn't affect you. Your avantar is gorgeously thick :cheese:. Good luck with the birth control pills :) I am officially terrified of drugs :o

[hennaphile]

:grouphug: awwww thanks! And of course, always here to be supportive! Whenever you monkey with hormones, there's always the risk of having hair side effects, and acne. Some people get neither, some people get a mish mosh of other side effects. Find what works for you and be nice to your hair in the mean time :cheese:

And truth be told, my hair is pretty fine, BUT, henna and braid waves do wonders ;)

[Darkhorse1]

I'm pretty sure my friend found out the hair thing after she'd gone off accutane. It was a rare side effect, but again, that was over 20 years ago. I think it's more known now.

Yep, the oils will return and your hair will slowly become less dry. She had very slow growing hair, but I remember how dry it was and lackluster. We just figured it was due to her smoking/diet. I mean, we were teens back then.

[laurachiplock]

I was on accutane several years ago & BCP. Yes, my hair thinned a bit on accutane- it actually because it decraeses the sebum in your scalp & the protective natural oils in your hair are gone. So essentially, it wasnt falling out, it was breaking off-
The accutane was still worth it. A clear face or more hair? Thats a no brainer for me personally

It will grow back.

however, the hormone thing is always such a pain. I lost hair when I went OFF bcp. my crown thinned considerably. Very depressing, but I guess it is what it is.

Good luck, I know how you must be feeling!!

[Susana]

Thanks again guys. I am really hping it'll get back to normal. I think I want to try henna soon hennaphile, but I am so excited about having my natural hair color back that I've been putting it off, maybe in the fall :) I hope yours grows back too laurachiplock :)

[3azza]

Hi Susana, what happened with you is so true because the exact same thing happened with me, i went on accutane, got rid of my acne, my hair got thinner, but because i really have very thick hair it was not dramatic. Then i went on bcp for a year, i did lose hair but i thought it's bacause i moved to a different country with harsh climate, now i have another reason why i lost so much hair. Breakouts returned but not like before, i've learned to live with them now, and my hair is still thick but not as before. The worst thing though is that my skin went from very oily to terribly dry and i'm devloping wrinkles. There's nothing worse than wrinkles or acne other than wrinkles and acne at the same time. I'm helpless about my skin and i try to use hypoallergic non comedogenic expensive skin care :(

[hennaphile]

Hi Susana, what happened with you is so true because the exact same thing happened with me, i went on accutane, got rid of my acne, my hair got thinner, but because i really have very thick hair it was not dramatic. Then i went on bcp for a year, i did lose hair but i thought it's bacause i moved to a different country with harsh climate, now i have another reason why i lost so much hair. Breakouts returned but not like before, i've learned to live with them now, and my hair is still thick but not as before. The worst thing though is that my skin went from very oily to terribly dry and i'm devloping wrinkles. There's nothing worse than wrinkles or acne other than wrinkles and acne at the same time. I'm helpless about my skin and i try to use hypoallergic non comedogenic expensive skin care :(

Geez, that STINKS!! You might want to ask your doc about spironolactone-- I've had severe acne and that's the only thing that really helped-- accutane was only temporary. It's also good for thinning hair, though it never helped mine grow back. I'm sure you've tried everything, but have you tried castor oil? It is SO counterintuitive that it would help skin, but I put it on at night, and literally over night, my skin is brighter, clearer, and less wrinkley!

Best of luck, I think we who suffer acne and used to have thick hair can really understand where you're coming from:wethree:

[Anje]

I just wanted to offer another "hope it comes back." I haven't used accutane, though I've heard that it causes all your oil production to stop, so I imagine the best solution is to supplement the oils on the hair from the moment you start it. No thinning with BC, either, but my body seems to take BC pretty well (even high estrogen doses in OrthoEvra didn't cause trouble). We'll see what happens when I go off the stuff.

[Forever_Sophie]

Funny you should mention this, I've been on Alesse 21 for 10 yrs now and a friend said she experienced awful hair loss going OFF BCPs, and it never recovered. I'm afraid to stop it now (that + potential weight gain...? ).

[Susana]

Hey 3azza, actually, now that you mention it, yeah my skin is flaky!! It's very weird because now I have acne and dry skin. My skin and hair were incredibly oily before accutane. I feel very stupid for not having done enough research before going on accutane or the pill...I trusted the professionals too much I guess. I wish they had informed me better, I was only a teen afterall. My hair too was very thick, so I did not see the thinning right away. It was only when it got very thin that I noticed it, and then everyone else did too. I was also not aware that I should have switched my hair routine. I have read that you should really consider not dying your hair when you are on accutane. I was dying monthly (bleach), blowdrying from dripping wet to dry and flat ironing. That is why it has taken me a while to realize why my hair thinned. Initially I thought that it was all the crap I was doing to it. But then I stopped and the damaged did not. It took me a while to link it. I am going to (hopefully) try this fasting thing for acne, "Acne no more", I have just been delaying it because I love to cook and fasting is not something I have ever desired to do. I'll post when I do it and if it worked. I don't want to go back on accutane or the pill. I mean, my hair thinned and my acne came back with dry skin, I am staying off drugs if I can help it. For the dry skin, I use coconut oil. It works nicely for me. I wash my face with baking soda+water, and I do a honey+sugar scrup to get rid of the flaky skin (which has taken some getting used to since it's weird to scratch my face nad see some flaky skin fly)

Anje- Thanks for the "hope it comes back", I think it has gotten a bit better. I have started oilying my scalp and doing scalp massages. Maybe it'll help. I had always been told to keep all sort of conditioners away from my scalp because it was so oily, but I soaked it in coconut oil today and it doesn't look oily at all.

hennaphile- I have never heard of spironolactone, I will ahve to look into it.: Thanks :) (any dreadful side effects that you know of?)

Forever_Sophie- I hope when you stop it it'll be ok. I was experiencing hair thinning on the pill. Going off I believe has helped. The potential weight gain I did not experience, however, it might help if you go off in the summer instead of the winter ( I gain like 2 dress sizes in the winter) and keep veggies and healthy dips (like hummus) and fruits on hand, go grocery shopping with a list and not when you are hungry, and avoid stocking your house with junk food. If it's not there you can't eat it :) Good Luck.

[hennaphile]

Ya, accutane is a harsh medication... if you can find out why you're having acne it might help you find a good treatment. If you get break outs on those time of the months, and it's around your jaw and chin and you have hirsutism, chances are it's hormonal.. even though you could probably argue that all acne is. For awhile I also had dry skin and acne, but once I stopped using conventional face care stuffs, my skin was no longer dry.

Spironolactone has a few known side effects, nothing too bad, certainly nothing compared to accutane. The reason I didn't go back on accutane was after the research I'd done I found out about side effects I wasn't aware of before, and I'm glad I didn't, because I found a much better treatment that treated the root of the problem. :)

[manvar]

hi ,I have a question about Goldwell Elumen High performance hair color.I have been using
Copper brilliant (6K) of Topchic goldwell for a while , now I would like to switch to Elumen . what should I order and how should I mix itwith what ratio? Thanks