Accutane induced male pattern baldness.

[g31]

Hello guys. I'm new to this forum. Sorry for my english, it's not my native lenguage.

I'm 31 years old. The thing is that I never, EVER had any sing of male pattern baldness before Accutane. In fact I was always sure that I was never going to be bald.

I took Accutane in 2013 and from one day to another (around the four day of treatment), I woke up with a receding hairline . That fast, and that aggressive, believe it or not. I couldn't believe it in the mirror. The hair loss was on the temples and thinning in the top of the head, I lost about 40% of my density in the top area. I went from nw1 to nw3 in one day!!

Prior to this, I also took Accutane in 2009 and I had a little, small recession of hairline. But when it happened this time, I wasn't 100% sure if it was my imagination, or what... Unfortunately, I came to find it out the hard way in 2013, when I took it again.

I also took Accutane, in 2001, but that time it didn't triggered any male pattern baldness problem

I tried rogaine, and some small hair comes back to the temples area. Then I tried again a low dose of Accutane (At the end, I had to stop it due to others side effects) and I lost all that small hair again, and in the same way, from one day to another. Now I'm using rogaine again now, and those little follicles are growing again, but are just some miniaturized follicles.

How can a genetic process be triggered this way? male pattern baldness is supposed to be a gradual process. I still wonder what the hell happened. It wouldn't be that weird if it wasn't because it is actually male pattern baldness! This challenges the common sense for me. My male pattern baldness is 100% related to Accutane. If I stay away from Accutane, my male pattern baldness doesn't progress at all and maybe it would have never progresses (or maybe in 40 years... I don't know, but I'm not sure obviously) Looks like some of my hair are destined to die from Accutane while I'm aging.

How I wish to get my hair back.... I haven't tried Propecia, because it scares me. But what I know for sure is that if I ever go back to Accutane again, I will take Propecia previously and during the treatment.

 

[eenrak]

Sorry but I think you are in denial. Norwood 1 to 3 in one day...? Probably it's a coincidence, that you discovered your hair loss while taking Accutane, and now you are in the well known denial phase.
Don't deny it for too long. Get on meds before it's too late, of you care about your hair.

Good luck

 

[g31]

May be hard to believe, I know, but 100% real.
I don't deny it at all. That's why I'm saying that I have a Norwood 3. It was triggered by Accutane. And after that, male pattern baldness hasn't progressed any more. That's it.

 

[kpat]

Have you seen a doctor about this?

 

[maher]

male pattern baldness usually shifts to higher gear when you're approaching 30s. It could be coincidence... Or the acutane could intensify male pattern baldness.

 

[g31]

I didn't even bother telling this story to a doctor. I already know the answer that I'm going to get.
It was not coincidence. It may not be very common, but weird things can happens, for sure.
Probably male pattern baldness was in my genetic. But Accutane triggered male pattern baldness earlier. There's no way to know when would have happened without Accutane.

 

[BeardedOne]

Well, for safety purposes you should just presume it is in fact male pattern baldness unless told otherwise by a physician who has monitored your case. That way you are likely to devise the best defence for yourself.

The reason is - the conventional wisdom is that hair loss caused by medication, societal factors and / or stress can in many cases be reversed (even if by heavy duty chemo drugs). If that is the case with your accutane problem then talk to a physician and see what can be done to reverse the effect.

However, if it is male pattern baldness, then you need to take another set of decisions because at best male pattern baldness can only ever be managed, never cured per se. In short, it is a harder nut to crack.

I believe you should err on the side of caution here because usually the first sign of male pattern baldness is when the sufferer denies it and claims a societal factor.

 

[g31]

Ok, Thanks guys.
But that's what happened in my case. Why would someone denies it? The truth is that I'm not aware of that phenomeno and I'm not doing that. I'm just saying that my case was induced by Accutane. Does that makes any difference? I don't think so, because is male pattern baldness after all! I wish there was any difference!

 

[Vlatch]

A treatment takes several weeks or even months before affecting hair loss. Even if it was possible to lose that much hair in 4 days without any regrowth, which I really doubt, it wouldn't be due to Accutane.
No offence, I wish I could believe you but you must have been receding before that without being aware of it, or this story would be suited for a Dr House episode ^^"

 

[g31]

It is understandable. I wans't even sure if I should write my story here, because I know it's hard to believe.
What happened was almost an instant reacion between Accutane and my body. Accutane is a powerfull drug. It is also said that Accutane can alters gene expression.

 

[saja2148]

Are you losing hair on the back of head or just on the top and front?

 

[g31]

Just on the top and front. But I'm not losing hair right now. It just happened with Accutane and since then, my hair stays the same. That's one of the reason why I'm not sure if I should take Propecia. If I stay away from Accutane, I'm almost sure that my male pattern baldness will progress when I get older (50 years old by example), but of course I may be wrong. So the thing is that I would love to recover the hair that I lost, but on the other hand, I don't need to stop the male pattern baldness process urgently, because is not progressing anymore. And I also have the impression that the hair created by minoxidil is kind of "fake" hair.

 

[SayifDoit]

I don't know but maybe you should seek help, this sounds totally ridiculous.

 

[g31]

I'm not the first case. Use google and look at this same forum. There's a few others who got male pattern baldness by taking Accutane.

 

[saja2148]

Accutane's possible side effect is hairloss so if hairloss has stopped then its good news. But keep a close eye on your hair line and density and if you changes you should seek treatment.

 

[g31]

Yes, that's what I'm doing. It hasn't progressed any more by this moment. But the density is like **** since Accutane and so it is my hairline. I can't style my hair anymore, it's so thin and flat.

 

[Armando Jose]

g31, have you any photo of your hair now and before?

Exist a "window" of moreless 30 months to recover the hair lost, .... are you in time?

- - - Updated - - -

g31, have you any photo of your hair now and before?

Exist a "window" of moreless 30 months to recover the hair lost, .... are you in time?

did you noticed any change with hair fat or sebum in scalp? If yes, what happen at sides of head?

 

[g31]

This is my receding hairline. There are miniaturized hairs growing from minoxidil in the bald areas. I will try to look for some pictures from before Accutane, but it's a little hard because I never took pictures of my hairline before this problem. On the top of the head, the density is very affected, but there is still a decent amount of hair, though it is very few hair compared to before, and it is very thin, flat and hard to style. It is extremely straight, so it looks bad. Of course this is not that bad compared to other cases here. And I don't know if it is psychological or this pictures looks better to what really is.

 

[oggabogg]

It is understandable. I wans't even sure if I should write my story here, because I know it's hard to believe.
What happened was almost an instant reacion between Accutane and my body. Accutane is a powerfull drug. It is also said that Accutane can alters gene expression.

Its not impossible, same happened with me. But with Letro and + stressfull events, went really bad in a matter of days. I belive you.
gl on your recovery, im on minoxidil, nizoral and finasteride now

 

[g31]

Its not impossible, same happened with me. But with Letro and + stressfull events, went really bad in a matter of days. I belive you.
gl on your recovery, im on minoxidil, nizoral and finasteride now

I hope you get better. Have you had side effects from finasteride?
We don't have any reason to invent this kind of things I guess...