| Author | Message | ||
     adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 1 Registered: 12-2008 |
I developed seborheic dermatitis randomly approximately 2.5 years ago. I went on accutane approximately 1.5 years ago. I too it heavy for 6 months, then for 6 months kept up with a "maintenance dosage," which was discontinued 4 months ago. The maintenance dose was small, 5 mlg a day opposed to the 40 I was taking for the initial 6 months. It wasn't until I was on the maintenance doses of accutane that I noticed hair loss, it spanned the course of 6 months and it only stopped entirely shedding less than a month ago. The shedding had decreased for the last 4 months and barely any was happening, but about a month or two ago like I said it entirely stopped. My hair has become extremely thin, and I always had VERY thick hair, the hair dressers would always make comment on how unruly and dense it was. No one in my family has any type of baldness, and although it's thin everywhere, my temples are extremely thin, like the part where it recedes with age, and on my crown where I've got a double crown, it's so thin it looks as though I have a large bald spot. Also all the hair on the very top is extremely thin and you can see right through it to my scalp. Now I understand this is mainly due to the accutane use, but I read that Seborheic dermatitis also causes hair loss, and it's gotten pretty bad. I have to constantly apply creams to my head to keep redness away. Now my question is, does the hair come back and when? I have become incredibly depressed because I have to wear a hat all the time due to being self conscious because it's so thin at the crown I look bald. I've shaved my head several times to try to hide it, but I look awful with a shaved head. Girls keep telling me how "cute" i was with hair and it seems like everyone is just rubbing it in and my confidence has just dropped. Any kind of hope anyone can offer me that this is temporary would be great! | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 2 Registered: 12-2008 |
Well, no one has responded to me at all. So I will Update with hope someone replies! I managed to get rid of most of the Seborheic by taking a vitamin called Efimol (not sure how it's spelled) everyday. However with it gone, i still have the hair loss that was caused by accutane. No new hairs have shed in a few months, and it still looks the same as 2-3 months ago. No new growth, and no new shedding. IS this a good sign? Does it mean that soon the hair will grow back since it's stopped shedding, or do people mean it takes 6 months to a year AFTER the shedding has stopped till hair grows back? Please respond, I've been searching the net for these answers and I can't seem to find them, thank you! | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 29 Registered: 01-2009 |
"No new hairs have shed in a few months, and it still looks the same as 2-3 months ago. No new growth, and no new shedding." You lucky bastard. Yeah, it takes a few months after the shedding stops for your cycle to right itself and for you to notice any new growth. From my understanding of how all this works, the longer your hair spent shedding, the longer it will take for you to notice it thickening back up. Still, I'd give a testicle to be able to say my hair wasn't still falling out without lying. | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 30 Registered: 01-2009 |
Also, how long did your shedding last before it started to reveal your scalp? I'm going on seven months now of what I pray is at least part TE, and I'm starting to notice a bit of my scalp showing through, especially when my hair's wet. You said your shedding lasted for 6 months in total, and that it wasn't so bad during the last four months? So you only had 2 months of genuinely bad shedding, right? Must've been a lot. | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2008 |
Hmm, I'll try to think back and clarify it. I went on Accutane June of 2007. I took accutane at a high dose for 5-6 months, then I went on a small small dose they called "maintenance." My friends and family noticed my hair getting thin around May of 08, and i stopped taking it entirely the next month (a whole year after I had first started) I didn't notice anything personally, I was too happy with my new clear skin at the time. It wasn't until late June when watching my self on video that I saw a small thin spot on the back of my head, but nothing to be worried about. But then from that day on till November of 08, it shed like a beast! So it most likely started to shed without me really noticing around Late April, or early May. And it probably stopped shedding entirely early December 08, because when I made my first post here Dec 20th my hair looked the same as it does now. So it's been the same for I'd say a little over 2 months with no shedding. And the most intense shedding did happened the last 2-3 months, the middle of August till the middle of November, and then it just stopped almost suddenly hitting a stand still. There's no real way for me to measure how much was coming out in those two-three months, I would sit here and run my hand through my hair for hours and each time get new hairs, it was like it didn't stop no matter what. I had to force my self to stop touching my hair because it'd just fall out on contact. In fact my key board was getting packed with hairs from me just sitting in front of it for a few hours each day. that's when I got frustrated and shaved my head so I wouldn't notice it as much. I hope this helps you man, but from what your'e saying, when it stops falling out it actually does mean it's going to start coming back? Because I've noticed nothing coming back in these two months at all. Literally just looking the same. And now since I'm growing it and not keeping ti shaved, man does it grow slow! It's like in slow motion compared to how fast it'd grow before. | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 34 Registered: 01-2009 |
There's a disgraceful lack of information available on this subject, but from what I can gather, what you had sounds exactly like TE, which means it will grow back eventually. It's just going to take a little while. My suggestion would be to try out the scalp exercises (couldn't hurt), and if you start getting really impatient, I hear that Rogaine can jumpstart the recovery process. Where you taking or using anything for the hair loss as it was happening? And did you happen to lose any eyebrows/lashes? Did you note any of the hairs that were falling out as being thinner in diameter or less colorful than the older ones? | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 4 Registered: 12-2008 |
No I wasn't taking anything, and I currently am not either. You think Rogaine helps speed up the process? I'm just afraid to start taking it because I don't want to be stuck taking it forever. I'd imagine though you'd be able to stop once the TE went away. Yeah, lost a lot from my eyebrows. They're still pretty thin. I never looked at the hairs that were falling out actually, not to study them. But the current hairs on my head definitely look/feel different. it's almost like they look very delicate, and they seem to curl easier. I've never had any curl to my hair. Oh, and some of the new hairs have been a different color, I found one totally blonde hair the other day! It was strange. Then i noticed a bunch of totally blond hairs. | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 44 Registered: 01-2009 |
Interesting. The way I hear it, Rogaine can help speed up the recovery process, and if all you had was TE, you can stop once you get the regrowth you want. I'm pretty sure you can use Rogaine on your brows, too (that's what I've been doing for the last couple weeks with no noticeable side-effects, so far). Your story gives me hope, though. Every time I lose a short/thin hair I start spazzing out because I'm convinced that it means the follicle is toast, but I guess that's not the case. If you have the time, I'd like it if you could keep me updated as to your situation. Let me know if/when you start regrowing them locks of yours. | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 12 Registered: 12-2008 |
Sure thing Jacob, you let me know too of your situation! Seems like we're in this together lol. I won't be visiting this forum much anymore though, not till I have something to report. So far I bought some "derm match" which is like a concealer for your hair, and that's keeping my worry off my head till I get all the hair back. It's really amazing how much I've been able to stop worrying in the past week or two since I've been using this stuff, it's like I can finally relax! Even though it's not a real "cure," just the fact that it's giving me freedom to relax and not stress I believe will make the hair come back sooner. Stress seems to be a deterrent when you're waiting for resolution or change in life. That much I have learned so far. Anyway, let's exchange e-mails and keep in touch that way! My e-mail is adam_p@live.ca | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 46 Registered: 01-2009 |
Sounds good. My email is covsauce@gmail.com Are you planning on trying any of the regrowth chemicals/techniques outline on this site, or are you going to wait it out? | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 13 Registered: 12-2008 |
No. I take Essential fish oil, and this other stuff called Efamol which is supposed to help with all kinds of health ailments. I do have an update, however - I haven't had a cut at all, and I've been just letting it grow long. I noticed a few hairs budding through across the hair line that weren't there before. In other words there in the spot hair "used" to be but since vanished since the hair on the top got so thin. I'm going to take this as a good sign and keep my spirits high. | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 14 Registered: 12-2008 |
It's been almost a month since my last update, and I have some news - I recently shaved all my hair off, only leaving about a 1 cm so I could see if there were new hairs underneath the long dead looking hairs that had grown - and sure enough - the hair has slowly been returning! Now the crown area is still VERY thin, but you can tell that new hairs have slowly been sprouting in certain area's. It looks almost patchy. And where there was a definitive thinned out spot directly beneath the crown, has almost filled in to the same thickness as the rest of the back! I used to be able to push the back over to one side, to display an obvious thin spot directly below the crown, now, even though it's still thin, you can't tell no matter how much I move the hairs around by looking at it! So, I'm very excited that new growth has happened. I will only expect more growth to happen in the future, this was definitely a spirit raiser! I have to add, that the new hair growth is very slight. It's not a massive sprout of new hair, but it's enough for me to be able to tell a difference from before, which is enough to give me the hope that all my hair is on it's way to returning back to normal  ! I'll post another update in a month or so, to let you know how things have been going. | ||
| Jacob G New member Username: Vanilla_sauce Post Number: 52 Registered: 01-2009 |
Hey, look at you. Mine's still falling out like a ••••••••••••, and I think I have to accept at this point that I'm probably losing all of it and never getting any of it back. But still, I'm glad to hear you're on the road to great hair. My only regret is that we as a society tolerate an entirely too useless medical industry. | ||
| adam paul New member Username: Adampaul Post Number: 16 Registered: 12-2008 |
Well Jacob, I was definitely wrong lol. If some of it was in fact growing back, I was still being hit with TE. Before I shaved my head the last time, I noticed just by rubbing my hand on my head hairs would fall out and they were very sensitive. I think it's just harder to notice the hair loss when your hair is barely a CM in length. This morning I woke up, looked in the mirror, and noticed a patch on my left lower eye lid missing! So I'm losing eye lash hair. Then I examined my other eye lids, and all of them had at least 35% of the hairs looking as though they were freshly growing in (meaning they looked half the length of the normal eye lashes.) So it's safe to say my eye lashes have been shedding for a while, but I only just noticed this now since there's a whole patch gone. in fact I only noticed the patch was gone because I woke up this morning with 3 eye lash hairs stuck in my eye lol! You'd think I'd be upset about this, but I'm actually quite relieved to know the TE hadn't subsided yet. I was getting scared when I thought the hair loss stopped and it wasn't growing in any quicker, at lest now I know the reason why it wasn't coming back. However! Unless I'm mistaken the hairs have stopped falling out for real on my head this time. I got some tweezers and pulled 5 or so hairs out of different spots, and none of them had the white bulb! So that was a change. I've also begun taking Rogain to help speed up this recovery process. I bought the 2% one, not the 5% one to be safe from side effects. As always, I'll keep you posted. |
