Could Retin-A Gel On My Face Cause Scalp Hair Loss?
Hello doctor. About 3-4 weeks ago, I was prescribed tretinoin gel(Vitamin A acid – mild gel 0.01%) for my facial acne. I haven’t noticed anything, but as I was browsing the balding blog entries, I noticed that someone in the past had brought up a question about acne medication causing hair loss.
My question is: does tretinoin gel(Vitamin A acid)cause hair loss if it is applied to the face/cheek region? My doctor did not go over the side effects and the box doesn’t mention anything about side effects. I was told to take one cream and night and another one at morning.
Thank you very much.
Hair loss is listed as a known common side effect of tretinoin (also known as Retin-A), but it is also used by some people in conjunction with minoxidil to grow hair.
Here’s what I wrote in a blog post a few years back — “Retin-A is applied to the skin and can produce burns to the skin. It is believed that a light burn will make the skin more able to absorb other medications (like minoxidil for hair loss), because increased vasculatiry is induced by the burn.”
So will it make you lose hair even if you apply it only to your face? I can’t say for sure, but it is a possibility.
As far as I have read is that hair loss in only a common side effect when tretinoin is used in the oral capsule form such as Vesanoid, it never mentions hair loss for gel topical form.
I am an african-american woman, and I have been on the retin-a regimen for my facial acne for the past 2 years, and have been having major issues with hairloss during that time. It has gotten so bad that I stopped retin-a altogether about a month ago, buzzed off all my hair, and have started taking steroid injections on the scalp to stimulate growth. Retin-a might be the culprit. Only time will tell.
I have been using retin a for years and only recently noticed how thin my hair has become. I also have thyroid problems, which I blamed it on. Now as I look back, at my thyroid, even at its worse I never lost any hair, not like this anyway. I pulled my hair back the other day and my hairline is so thin and starting to recede even. Lets talk eyebrows and eyelashes also just barely have what I had a couple of years ago, and I never lost those at all with my hypothyroidism. So do you think I have harmed my liver? That makes your hair fall out?
I too have hair loss and think it’s from tetroin gel. After stopping it has anyone had their hair grow? I just recently quit using it.
I have been using tretinoin for 2 years, and the hair on the top of my scalp is thinning, with spots showing complete loss. I am certain it’s the tretitnoin cream, and have completely halted its usage. I’ll wait 2-3months before commenting on whether there are any improvements of regrowth. What an awful side effect of Retinoids. Terribly, and not worth the cream! Ladies, beware. This is so depressing.
My hair started balding on the top around the exact same time I started using Retin A 2 years ago. I just found out today it might be the Retin A. I am freaking balding on the top cap part of my head! I’m crying as I type this, the emotional distress is horrible! I thought it was stress, but who doesn’t feel stress?? I’m even more upset that I have to stop taking it as my skin is looking gorgeous! I will admit I do slather it on every night (1%) I would consider the amount that I uses MUCH more than a pea size amount. 3-4 peas would be more like it. The corners of my mouth are always sore and cracking as well. I read that this is a symptom of Vitamin A toxicity. I’m going to reduce the amount to no more than a pea size for my entire face. I’m also using fresh onion and garlic juice on my scalp with massage 2-3 times a week. Many people have had success with this natural treatment, I hope it works for me too. My sympathies go out to anyone and everyone struggling with hair loss, it’s so painful :-(
I think there is a correlation between the two but not due to the use of the cream,ask you perscriber about the possibility of hormonal issues. Adult acne,female hair loss and age appropriate wrinkle generally coincide with each other AND increase of male hormones that can be brought on from stress, that time of month, or even liver pproblems.A low dose female hormone could be prescribed or if that’s not an option due to heart complications or being a smoker then a male hormone BLOCKER is very safe and commonly used
I started using this product after it was prescribed to me by a dermatologist around 6 months ago. Recently I’ve been noticing the top of my forehead, where it meets my hairline to be thinner looking and it’s been seeming larger too. I’ve always had a good, normal, thick forehead/hairline and now when I look at it, I can see gaps that are about a grain and a half thick and about a grain long, between spots of hair. What really made me realize that my hair was receding was that I examined a little closer and about 3mm below the rest of my (now thin looking) hair was this one spot, which was about a clump of hairs around 7-12. This is located right in the middle of my forehead. I’ve never had a widows peak and I would have noticed those few oddly lower hairs years ago, if they had always been there. I believe it is the cream as it is the only thing other than a mosturizer that I apply to my face. Luckily the cream hasn’t taken too much of a toll to my hairline yet, but I’m very glad to have done my research now to find out what the deal is. I’m a 16 (almost 17) year old male and I used this for my acne, which it worked very well, clearing up around 95% of my acne over the time I’ve been taking it, but I’m going to stop using it now. I’m going to look for other ways to treat my acne now, as effective as it is, it’s rediculous for a 16 y/o who has family members who are 80 y/o without receding hair to be dealing with this issue. I did use decent sized amounts of the cream as I’m just naturally a larger person (6’5), with effort to keep It out of my hair, but that isn’t always possible. I also put my hair up in a small ponytail in the front around 3/4ths of the nights I applied it, to try and keep hair off of my forehead. This might have helped, but it clearly didn’t solve the issue. I thought about just not applying it to my forehead, but I don’t thing it’s worth the risk of losing my hair. So after personally getting shaken, seeing this is a side effect, and that many other people are reporting it, YES IT DOES CAUSE HAIR LOSS.
Could you please give me an update regarding your recovery? I am in a pretty similar situation as I began taking Tretinion about a year ago and quickly realized that my hairline began receding rapidly. I also began developing these wiry black pubic like hairs on my scalp. A few other people have experienced similar symptoms when taking Accutane, yet I never realized the it could be from applying a topical retinoid. I stopped using the tretinoin about three months but have yet to see any improvement. I am hoping that this is not permanent and that my hair will return to normal soon. I look forward to hearing if your hairline has had any regrowth after stopping the medication… Staying hopeful!