This interesting because I have felt for awhile that my use of Vit. A derivative acne medications induced my hair loss. In August of 2003 I began a course of minocycline and Differin (Adapalene Gel). Starting in October or so of that year I began to notice that my hair was creeping back in the rounded regions where your hairline meets your temples. Not really sure what to think, I tried to pass it off as poor diet possibly. In mid-December I was prescriped Tretinoin gel in addition to the Differin, and by February I noticed a noticeable difference in thickness in my hair all over the top, with the recession I had noticed before.
Hoping that it wasn't male pattern baldness I did a lot of reading online and came across many stories of people with thinning hair as a result of accutane. Knowing that Tretinoin and Differin were somewhat related topicals, I went to my dermatologist. He didn't think it was possible that topicals could absorb enough to induce any form of teffluvium, so he labeled me as an '80% chance of having male pattern baldness'. He hypothesized that if anything, the antibiotics may have caused hair thinning (note, my hair was definitely thinner, not just falling out). It was then that I decided to stop the topicals, shave my head and just give it sixth months before deciding if I wanted to look into other hair loss treatments like propecia.
It has been almost a year and a half and I can say that my hair is of better quality now than it was when I visited the derm. About 9 months after stopping the topicals I had let my hair grow back out, and I began to notice a large amount of new hairs with tapered ends growing in all over the top of my scalp. Furthermore, my hairline has definitely moved back a bit, although the temporal area remains a bit thin. My hope is that it is the follicles are just cycling back slowly. I am able to style my hair again with gel and hold it in place, which I was definitely unable to do 1.5 years ago. I am still a bit thin in the crown area, and I lose a lot of unhealthy looking hairs from back there which makes me not want to completely rule out male pattern baldness. Compared to where I was when I stopped the topicals though, I will gladly take it.
Do I think the topicals caused my hair thinning? I think it's very possible as I had some form of topical on my face basically 24/7 for 6 months. If you search some other forums on the internet you will find a handful of people that also believe their hair thinning was triggered by Vitamin A topicals, namely Differin. I do believe that I had created a very poor 'growing environment' for my hair for a period months (ie. poor diet, heavy antiobiotic use), which may have contributed to my particular thinning.
All in all, I am thankful for every day that my hair has an acceptable appearance, and I hold out hope that it will slowly and surely return to its original state (not that I am dissatisfied with where it stands now). Sorry for the book, I've been hesitant to post my story for fear of 'jinxing' myself, but I hope that gives some of you another opinion to consider.
nfire: .... I have xanadrox 12.5, so with retin-a that's only xanadrox 37.5... Its working on the temples though : )