Is Viibryd more likely to accelerate MPB than other SSRIs? Thanks Drs
Vilazodone (also known as Viibryd) is an antidepressant medication and I have seen in my research that there has been hair loss reported with its use. I have no way to compare one medication to the other concerning hair loss.
Hi,
I am a 25 year old male. I got my first transplant when I was 22years old. At that time my hair grew out well but I experienced side-effects from Propecia so decided against the drug. As a result I wasn’t able to maintain the results I got from the first HT. Fast forward 3 years and I am at a worse stage than I was when I was 22.For the last 8 months I have been taking .5mg of Propecia, the side effects are still prevalent but on far rarer basis which I can handle. The problem is during the first 2-3months I saw significant benefits from 0.5mg of Propceia with regards to hairloss, but for the last 6-8 weeks the effectiveness of the drug has died down and I am losing hair hand over fist. Do you have any advise/suggestions?
I suspect the short term benefits you noticed in the first 2-3 months since restarting the lower dose Propecia are related to stopping active hair loss, not reversing much. I can’t explain what you’re seeing, unfortunately. Have you talked to your prescribing doctor about his/her thoughts?
I would get a bulk measurement of your scalp hair and then follow-up with another measurement in 12 months. You want to know what is really happening to your hair and this measurement will tell you once you compare the results from the two measurements one year apart.
dear doctor.
I am 29 yrs old, I took steroids about 10 years back because I was heavily into bodybuilding and competing. I noticed I started to lose hair so I stopped and went on finasteride which my doctor gave me. I have been on the drug for about 10 years with moderate success, other people cannot see the balding but I can. As I was going bald I would take pictures of my scalp when my head was shaved and I noticed I was thinning in the classic horse shoe pattern with sort of like a thick bridge of hair in the middle of my scalp going from ear to ear but minor thinning in the crown and front part. Since I know my pattern already from taking steroids, would I benefit from a transplant or since I know my final pattern at my age its not worth it?Thank you, I do hope to hear from you, please.
As you are now off the steroids and have been for some time, you will be treated as any other balding patient. Of course, you took some steps backward with hair loss that may never return, but that does not mean it is hopeless.
A visit to a doctor’s office who cares about you and has the requisite skills in the hair restoration filed would be your best option. What you need is a good Master Plan for short and long term hair loss management.
I just started the Hep B vaccine and am experiencing hair loss at 54. Will it grow back?? I’m very concerned because of my age.
All health care workers receive hepatitis B vaccine, yet health care workers are not at any increased risk for hair loss. What you may be experiencing may be coincidental or very rare.
I did find this quote from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: “There have been rare reports of hair loss after hepatitis B vaccination, with the majority of individuals regrowing their hair (Wise, 1997). Studies are in progress to better quantify the possible slight risk of hair loss.”
I have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and I have started eltroxin. I have also been suffering from FPB since the last 8-9 years. Is eltroxin likely to cause a TE to people who is predisposed, like me? When is this hair loss noticed, and can it be prolonged? Can anything be done to contain it?
There is an association between taking Eltroxin (levothyroxine) and hair loss, particularly in the first few months of taking it. You need to take this complication up with your doctor. It’s worth noting that hypothyroidism itself can cause hair loss, too.
Dr.Rassman
Although I started noticing small vellus hairs growing at my hairline when I started taking minoxidil. I thought everything was working out perfectly, but then I also started noticing hair loss a couple months after I started taking minoxidil. Is this normal, I thought most of the shedding would happen earlier on like within the first month not after that?
I’m surprised you saw hairline regrowth from using minoxidil. There are some reports that the short term use of minoxidil will cause shedding of hair and that this is a reversible process once you get out 3 months from the time you started it. If you are not seeing this, go to a specialist on this.
Hi Doctor. I am slightly confused. I have visited several balding forums looking for information about rogaine. Some members seem to be under the impression that rogaine accelerates hairloss by increasing blood circulation and therefore the amount of DHT that can reach hair follicles to miniaturize them. This seems rather counterproductive for a FDA approved product that is suppose to regrow hair…
can you please provide some knowledge and insight on this conundrum? Would taking Propecia for a couple months beforehand prevent this problem?
You’re not alone in being confused about this. I have rarely heard of this complication and have learned that it exists by my extensive reading on the internet. I see more reports online about minoxidil/Rogaine shedding than I’ve seen in my own patients.
Some say that it accelerates the anagen stage in the hair loss cycle, which means that it first has to go through telogen (hair loss phase). I really don’t have confirmation of this, though.
Dr Rassman,
minoxidil is the worst product ever in the world. I started using it 1 and half month ago and then my hair loss reached a shocking amount .I quit minoxidil 15 days ago. My hair loss reduced but still there is some shedding. Now I am look like really bald. I am really worried about it. My social life also is affected. I dont wanna go outside or do something with people. I am really depressed. At the same time I am using propecia but as I said I am bald right now.My questions are, will my lost hairs be replaced? If it will,how long it will take? I am 20 years old and my hair is really important to me. please help me.
Hair is really important to a lot of men, so you’re not alone. I am sorry you are experiencing hair loss. Unfortunately, hair loss is mainly due to genetic causes and many men in their late teens or 20s will go through what you are going through.
There have been cases of initial shedding from minoxidil use, but this is usually temporary. I can’t say for sure how long it’ll persist or if those shed hairs will regrow. I do not know anything about you (e.g. age and family history). Please follow up with the doctor who prescribed you Propecia and discuss further options.
I have been taking minoxil for roughly 8 months and have had decent results in the hairline area, especially the corners. I’m going to start finasteride soon however I have a question about shedding. As I understand it, the shedding that can happen on finasteride is due to the follicles that are DHT damaged shedding the hair to grow back stronger.
My question is: is hair grown back solely with minoxidil more likely to be shed when starting finasteride?
The initial shedding is noted with the use of Rogaine (minoxidil) way more often than Propecia (finasteride). I’ve only rarely seen this problem in patients after starting finasteride, but I am seeing growing concerns from readers about it. It’s interesting how various claims can be given so much acceptance when it’s not something widely noted in large scale studies or amongst doctors with patients on the drug.
So unfortunately I don’t have an answer to your question, since I don’t have enough of a patient history that have experienced it.
Does Eltroxin used for hypothyroidism cause hair loss. I am 47 yrs old and have menopause. Does low estrogen level cause hair loss. Will I need to take some preparation of Estrogen to prevent hair loss?
Eltroxin (levothyroxine) is known to cause hair loss in some, though it is usually temporary (see side effects).
Low estrogen can also cause hair loss. You should talk to your doctor about these issues.
I have been taking generic finasteride for almost 5 months. The first 2 months I didn’t see much of anything then almost on que at the beginning of the third month hairs began to sprout throughout my hairline and continued to grow throughout the month. Then again almost exactly at the beginning of the fourth month i started to feel as though i was starting to shed throughout my entire head. The shed has continued as i am approaching 5 months. Is this a good or bad sign?
I can not tell you that this is good or bad, since I really do not understand it. If I measured your hair bulk and mapped your miniaturization prior to starting the finasteride, I might be able to give you an idea on what was happening. Did you get such baselines? Regrowth at the hairline is quite rare to begin with, but diffuse shedding after 4 months of taking it is unusual.
Finasteride is a prescription medication, so I’d book an appointment with your prescribing doctor immediately and try to get to the bottom of what is happening.
Dear Dr Rassman,
I am a 21 year old male and have been aggressively losing my hair for just over 2 years. Since February, I have been taking Propecia daily to combat the loss. However, after about 1 month on propecia I have been heavily shedding my hair and this has been confirmed by a dermatologist who said I had a strongly positive pull test and a very high amount of telegon hairs. He stated that I may have finasteride induced telegon effluvium as well as accelerated phase male pattern balding considering my very heavy hair loss (have gone from a norwood 2 to norwood 4 in about 9 months).
Do you believe this could explain this heavy loss and is there anything else I can do to combat such such aggresive balding at such a young age? After 6 months on the drug, Propecia appears to make me lose more hair, minoxidil causes an inflammatory response on my scalp and a transplant is out of the question given my loss and age. I am at a loss as to what to do and it is severely impacting upon my life.
Many Thanks for your time
I would have to see and examine your scalp to understand what you are reporting. This could be just rapid hair loss from your genetic pattern and have little to do with the drug. Or it could be a shedding process that some people have reported after starting Propecia. It is a rare occurrence, but we’ve written about it before.
Dr Rassman
My doctor is talking to me about putting me on Tegretol for anxiety. I asked him if this med causes hair loss and he told me he does not no any one had this from Tegratol but i think i read that it does. Can you tell me if you saw any people that came into you office that while taking this drug had any hair loss from it.
Thanks
I have no memory of treating anyone that lost hair as a result of taking Tegretol (also known as carbamazepine, a seizure medication), but I’ve read claims online that it could be a rare side effect. It isn’t officially known as a side effect, however.
Hi I was put on Prestiq after losing my Dad suddenly in January 2010. In April 2010 I noticed hair loss. I have had 2 biopsy’s and tons of blood work and have been told I have chronic telegen effluvium caused by the stress of losing my Dad – however I am wondering if Prestiq may be the cause. It seems all the SSRI’s have hair loss listed as a possible side effect but Prestiq does not – yet there seems to be many people who report it when I search on the net. Have you heard of Prestiq causing hair loss. Thanks
We know that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications can cause hair loss. Although hair loss isn’t listed in the list of known side effects of Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), I wouldn’t be surprised if it caused it in rare cases.
You might get a baseline bulk assessment of your hair to determine just how bad the loss is. If/when you see a difference either from changing the medications (talk with your doctor) or hopefully just getting better over time, the hair bulk test will help you know for sure where you are in the process.
hello, I am a 25 year old male. At the age of 18 I underwent treatment for acne with the drug accutane. After the six months of treatment I had diffuse hair shedding, literally pouring on to the pillow and sink. Since then I underwent two more treatments with accutane each about two years apart. once again the intense hair shedding began both during and after the treatment. Now a couple years later I still suffer from the shedding.
My hairline has not suffered any recession, my only concern is the crown area where I have a very pronounced cowlick which twists and turns revealing scalp. In this area i lose alot of strong healthy hair bulbed on the bottom like a telogen hair the area becomes red, ithcy, and very suceptable to sun burn even with long hair. In the 8 years I have been suffering this I have not noticed any significant pattern of baldness.
What my question is, is can this be male pattern baldness, a skin disorder, or a following result if the use of the horrible accutane? I have an appointment with a dermatologist for this matter but I would also like your educated opinion. thank you
Accutane (isotretinoin) is known to cause hair loss. Or you could also have male pattern baldness (genetics) unrelated to the Accutane use. Or even a combination of the two — in other words, Accutane may have accelerated your genetic loss. There’s really no way for me to know for sure via the Internet without an exam.
A visit to your dermatologist is the correct next step.