Vicodin, OxyContin, and Hair Loss

This was a comment posted in response to this old post about hydrocodone and oxycodone:

It’s not very inspiring that Dr. William Rassman, Medical Director and Founder of the New Hair Institute has no idea that this med causes hair loss. Whether it’s temp or not, rare or not, it obvious DOES have the potential to cause hair loss.. I find ‘user reviews’ on websites way more helpful than doctors these days. Doctors always say i’ts not a problem. I had a doc tell me that about Prozac – said it didn’t cause hair loss. Well, within 8 days, my hair went into resting phase (telogen effluvium) hair loss & i’ve been losing hair steadily for 2 months,.. even though I stopped the med after 8 days.

Be careful folks with medications. It may be ‘rare’ side effect, but it still affects some people, and it can be devasting – (especially if your female)

Inspiring or not, I do what I can with the information available in the medical literature. If you’re concerned, always discuss these issues with your prescribing doctor! Look at it this way — if you’re the 1 person out of 100 that sees an odd side effect, then you’re going to be obviously angry or upset about something you might not have been informed off. While I love the internet for many reasons, reports of drug side effects can appear skewed because you don’t see the other 99 people posting comments about how they didn’t see those same unusual sides.

Testimonials by anonymous internet users might be helpful to know you’re not alone in what you’re experiencing, but the doesn’t mean the alarm should be sounded over a side effect that isn’t necessarily the norm. Its unfortunate if it occurs, but each person reacts differently to medication and for the great, great majority they will see no such effect.