Please give me some info!

[TEHelp]

I have been searching all over for some solid information but can't get any. Even my dermetologist is no help. I took accutane for 5 and a half months (I was supposed to take it for 6 months but stopped because I noticed hairloss/thinning). Well it killed my acne all right, it also killed my hair.

I am 99% sure that it gave me Telogen Effluvium. My question is, can accutane give chronic Telogen Effluvium? I have been off it for about 2 months and my hair just keeps shedding. Nobody except me has noticed a real difference in my hair, but it is extremely evident when it gets wet.

So I just turned 20 years old and am going from acne to hairloss with no in between. That's fucked up. But I am hoping that this is just an acute case of Telogen Effluvium. It is really worrying though and it would be nice to get some solid information instead of waiting for month after agonizing month.

Thanks for any assistance.

edit: I also read that Telogen Effluvium can foreshadow the onset of pattern male baldness. Can this be the case if it was caused by a medication? And one final question: could shaving my head and then letting it regrow possibly help at all?

 

[TEHelp]

bump*

I'm stressing here people, come on.

 

[Cornholio]

shaving your head may make you feel better if it lets you stop thinking about your hair, but it will not change the rate at which each hair grows or regrow new hair.

accutane can cause Telogen Effluvium, and a small minority claim that it can cause persistant hair loss (as shown by lawsuites) but i have a hard time imagining how onset of persistant hairloss is more than coincidence.

accutane does stay in the body for awhile (many months) as its durable effect on acne shows... however for most I would think the innitial Telogen Effluvium should be reversible/regrowable if it is entirely due to accutane. if there is co-existing male pattern baldness as suggested by family history, receeding temples or thinning vertex out of proportion to other areas, then there is probably a reason to start propecia or other male pattern baldness treatments.

i took accutane in my late teens and judging from pictures experienced a frontal recession. it stabilized for about a decade without treatment (male pattern baldness is unpredictable).

all you can do is make a choice if you believe you have the signs (norwood signs) and if so start treatment.

good luck

 

[HairyPotter]

I think they list "hair loss" as one of the side effects for Accutane....