ovencheckin
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Hello everyone,
I wanted to post this thread to help other people out and possibly avoid the same mistake I have made. I have had some pretty severe acne in the past and it got to the point that I needed to see a dermatologist to get my face cleared up. I saw the dermatologist in June '14, and he prescribed me Retin-A (tretinoin) .05% and Benzoyl Peroxide 5%. I've been on Benzoyl Peroxide for about 5 years now with no problems, so that is not the main story here. I was on the Retin-A gel for about 4 months without too much problem, although it made my face really red and burn like a b**ch. The doctor switched me over to the Retin-A cream in September '14. That week I started the cream I started to notice shedding, I had not shed in my entire life. I had a full head of hair, thick as can be and never saw more than one hair in the shower. The next couple of weeks I would see 10 hairs, 15 hairs, 20 hairs, up until the point where it was regular to see up to 50+ hairs. Throughout these past few months I have tried to narrow it down, I've seen 2 dermatologists and 2 regular doctors and they have all told me it is either stress or that it is just temporary and will go back. I have had my thyroid checked, and hormones checked, both were completely fine. Both dermatologists told me that it is not male pattern baldness and that there are no signs of it.
I knew it had to be something else, I have tried pretty much everything up until this point and nothing has seemed to help. The shedding has gotten to the point where I wanted to just buzz my hair and not worry about seeing hairs in the shower anymore. I've connected my hair loss problem to the only thing left that I am doing, the Retin-A, this medicine is not known to cause hair loss, but there are people on other forums that talk about hair loss from this medication and how it has almost thinned their hair out completely. I have hair loss in all parts of my body as of today, not to go into graphic detail but this is all over now, it's on my eyebrows, eye-lashes, scalp, and other personal areas. It is now January '15 and I am done with this medication, I'm not going to completely rule out other reasons why my hair is falling out, but I have come to the conclusion that this might be it. If anyone is interested I will keep you guys updated and post pictures of my hair how it looks now and how it looks once I have been off of it for a while.
This is just a warning to anyone else taking this medication or thinking about taking it for their acne, I would probably recommend staying away from it. At 18 years old this has been a pretty big deal for me, and I'm honestly hoping that by getting off of this medication my hair can grow back to the way it was. Hopefully this has been helpful to some, I will keep this thread updated throughout my journey and hope to see some progress within the next few months.
I wanted to post this thread to help other people out and possibly avoid the same mistake I have made. I have had some pretty severe acne in the past and it got to the point that I needed to see a dermatologist to get my face cleared up. I saw the dermatologist in June '14, and he prescribed me Retin-A (tretinoin) .05% and Benzoyl Peroxide 5%. I've been on Benzoyl Peroxide for about 5 years now with no problems, so that is not the main story here. I was on the Retin-A gel for about 4 months without too much problem, although it made my face really red and burn like a b**ch. The doctor switched me over to the Retin-A cream in September '14. That week I started the cream I started to notice shedding, I had not shed in my entire life. I had a full head of hair, thick as can be and never saw more than one hair in the shower. The next couple of weeks I would see 10 hairs, 15 hairs, 20 hairs, up until the point where it was regular to see up to 50+ hairs. Throughout these past few months I have tried to narrow it down, I've seen 2 dermatologists and 2 regular doctors and they have all told me it is either stress or that it is just temporary and will go back. I have had my thyroid checked, and hormones checked, both were completely fine. Both dermatologists told me that it is not male pattern baldness and that there are no signs of it.
I knew it had to be something else, I have tried pretty much everything up until this point and nothing has seemed to help. The shedding has gotten to the point where I wanted to just buzz my hair and not worry about seeing hairs in the shower anymore. I've connected my hair loss problem to the only thing left that I am doing, the Retin-A, this medicine is not known to cause hair loss, but there are people on other forums that talk about hair loss from this medication and how it has almost thinned their hair out completely. I have hair loss in all parts of my body as of today, not to go into graphic detail but this is all over now, it's on my eyebrows, eye-lashes, scalp, and other personal areas. It is now January '15 and I am done with this medication, I'm not going to completely rule out other reasons why my hair is falling out, but I have come to the conclusion that this might be it. If anyone is interested I will keep you guys updated and post pictures of my hair how it looks now and how it looks once I have been off of it for a while.
This is just a warning to anyone else taking this medication or thinking about taking it for their acne, I would probably recommend staying away from it. At 18 years old this has been a pretty big deal for me, and I'm honestly hoping that by getting off of this medication my hair can grow back to the way it was. Hopefully this has been helpful to some, I will keep this thread updated throughout my journey and hope to see some progress within the next few months.
