Angie #7
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Hi My name is Angie: My son started losing his hair right after he completed a round of accutane. He was 14 when he started it and was on a 40mg once daily round for 4 months. He was just finnishing up grade 8 and entering high school when he told me he was loosing hair in the shower, even my daughter complained of all the hair in the shower. Tyler always had very thick hair with a straight hairline and at this point he was wearing it long and curly, the skater boy look. I was not aware of the side effects of accutane on the hair since my family doctor and not a dermatoligist put him on it, he told me everything a dermatoligist would do, he could do for him and since he had been my family doctor for so long, I trusted him. When Tyler started complaining of the hair loss, I read the side effects page the pharmacy provided and at the very bottom of the page it said a temporary hair loss may occur. Since I am a hair stylist (25 years) and have seen hair thinning when people had been on medication I told Tyler that this was just a temporary thing and that once his body was rid of the toxin the hair loss should stop.
Tyler wore his hair thick and bushy and barely let me cut it so now we go to grade 10 2005, he is 15 and its just before Christmas, I notice how dry and brittle the front of his hair is and that it is growing in a pronounced point in the front , I make Tyler have a hair cut. I noticed that the middle top section and the front hairline is not as long as the rest of his hair and that he has alot of dry skin at the scalp. My reaction at first was he was not washing his hair well enough and not taking care of it so I made him start alternating with head and shoulders and Nioxin. Now we get to March and Tyler is just about to turn 16. He comes up miserable from his shower before school and I ask him what the problem was? He broke my heart at that moment, he started to cry and said mom I am going bald, I am going to be 16 and I'm loosing my hair and at this point, because I have knowledge of hair I could not deny it. I told him I would do everything that I could do to help him. I made an appointment with my family doctor, and at this point had been all over the internet and had read all the terrible reports about accutane and hair loss and I was pissed. I knew that there is hair loss on both sides of the family and that maybe in future years Tyler would face hair loss, but if I had all the facts about what this drug could do, I would have never agreed to the accutane.We go to the family doctor and he is very surprised that Tyler is loosing hair and that accutane is the cause, he's never heard of that side effect,(even though now it the packaging states that it can cause hair loss and thinning and in some cases the effect can be permanent), so he orders some tests for thyroid, white and red blood counts, liver function, and sugar, to see if there is any other culprits and makes him an appointment with the dermatoligist. When we see the dermatoligist and tell her what was happening, she pulled on the top of my son's hair said it was dry asked me what me husband looked like in the hair department and said it was male pattern baldness, that her son lost his hair at an early age and that in all the 18years she had been prescribing accutane she has only seen 2 cases of Alopecia. She then preceded to say, since I was so upset that she would give Tyler Minoxidol or propecia if all his test came back normal.
Since Tyler just turned 16 2 days after that appointment and he and I am well aware of the side effects of the propecia, no offense guys but comming from a girls prospective, I was not about to send my son out into the world bald and limp. I just did not want to give him something else that would give him yet another side effect.
So now all the test result according to the family doctor are normal and I decide to do the natural route.
We see a naturopath who does a food sensitivity test on him and a hormone saliva test. It comes back with a food sensitivity to sugar, fructose, and potatoes, and he was low his salt tissues for phosphorus and magnesium, and the male hormone panel showed that he had elevated levels of testoterone. If anyone knows or is interested I will post the results of the levels. Maybe someone understands them better.
So now we start, Tyler takes 2 tablespoons of flax oil, I b complex , 1 silica concentrate, 3digest plus,3biotin, 3 energen M(complex of saw palmetto, zinc, bee pollen and other dht blockers), 6 phos-mag tissue salt tablets, alternates to other taraxacam, and Naturium every other day and takes 2 tablespoons of either pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds depending on the chart she set up.
This has been going on since the end of March, and in July I went to a tricholigist (a hair specialist in hair loss and diseases of the scalp) He felt that the accutane triggered the male pattern baldness early but felt that he could feel hair under the scalp at the temples where Tyler has really receeded. He felt that he had a chance to regrow this hair depending on how damaged the hair follicles were and he was also encouraged that although the recession in temples was substancial that there was no apparent hair loss in the crown.
His treatment, again the diet. My son was 153 pounds, he is 5foot 9. He said to keep down the dht levels on the scalp a low sugar diet that did not peak insulin levels and small meals and snacks was the answer, along with a strong herbal lotion that Tyler was to apply to the affected areas twice a day.That was July 1st, Tyler now weighs 142 pounds because of the small meals, he does not get to eat french fries, or potato chips, or chocolate, or cookies not that I let him eat a ton of this stuff before, but come on he is 16!!!!!!!! The herbal product consists of alchol, nettle, burdock, and parsnip and if you expose this formal to the sun you can burn your scalp so he wears a hat or a dew rag when he goes out. He is still loosing hair but I think there is some regrowth in the temple areas,but sometimes I think it is just wishful thinking or what I want to see. We don't go back to this guy until the end of September.
I recently looked into a hair transplant specialist in Toronto. Doctor Jones from the t.v. show skin deep. He wants to see Tyler for a free consultation, and if this is going to be the end result and I'm just chasing rainbows here with all the stuff I've already tried, and the $$$$$$$$$$I've already spent, I just don't know what to do for the kid!!
Sorry for the long post, theres alot of info here, but I would appreciate anyones comments, suggestions, help!!!!!!!!
Tyler wore his hair thick and bushy and barely let me cut it so now we go to grade 10 2005, he is 15 and its just before Christmas, I notice how dry and brittle the front of his hair is and that it is growing in a pronounced point in the front , I make Tyler have a hair cut. I noticed that the middle top section and the front hairline is not as long as the rest of his hair and that he has alot of dry skin at the scalp. My reaction at first was he was not washing his hair well enough and not taking care of it so I made him start alternating with head and shoulders and Nioxin. Now we get to March and Tyler is just about to turn 16. He comes up miserable from his shower before school and I ask him what the problem was? He broke my heart at that moment, he started to cry and said mom I am going bald, I am going to be 16 and I'm loosing my hair and at this point, because I have knowledge of hair I could not deny it. I told him I would do everything that I could do to help him. I made an appointment with my family doctor, and at this point had been all over the internet and had read all the terrible reports about accutane and hair loss and I was pissed. I knew that there is hair loss on both sides of the family and that maybe in future years Tyler would face hair loss, but if I had all the facts about what this drug could do, I would have never agreed to the accutane.We go to the family doctor and he is very surprised that Tyler is loosing hair and that accutane is the cause, he's never heard of that side effect,(even though now it the packaging states that it can cause hair loss and thinning and in some cases the effect can be permanent), so he orders some tests for thyroid, white and red blood counts, liver function, and sugar, to see if there is any other culprits and makes him an appointment with the dermatoligist. When we see the dermatoligist and tell her what was happening, she pulled on the top of my son's hair said it was dry asked me what me husband looked like in the hair department and said it was male pattern baldness, that her son lost his hair at an early age and that in all the 18years she had been prescribing accutane she has only seen 2 cases of Alopecia. She then preceded to say, since I was so upset that she would give Tyler Minoxidol or propecia if all his test came back normal.
Since Tyler just turned 16 2 days after that appointment and he and I am well aware of the side effects of the propecia, no offense guys but comming from a girls prospective, I was not about to send my son out into the world bald and limp. I just did not want to give him something else that would give him yet another side effect.
So now all the test result according to the family doctor are normal and I decide to do the natural route.
We see a naturopath who does a food sensitivity test on him and a hormone saliva test. It comes back with a food sensitivity to sugar, fructose, and potatoes, and he was low his salt tissues for phosphorus and magnesium, and the male hormone panel showed that he had elevated levels of testoterone. If anyone knows or is interested I will post the results of the levels. Maybe someone understands them better.
So now we start, Tyler takes 2 tablespoons of flax oil, I b complex , 1 silica concentrate, 3digest plus,3biotin, 3 energen M(complex of saw palmetto, zinc, bee pollen and other dht blockers), 6 phos-mag tissue salt tablets, alternates to other taraxacam, and Naturium every other day and takes 2 tablespoons of either pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds depending on the chart she set up.
This has been going on since the end of March, and in July I went to a tricholigist (a hair specialist in hair loss and diseases of the scalp) He felt that the accutane triggered the male pattern baldness early but felt that he could feel hair under the scalp at the temples where Tyler has really receeded. He felt that he had a chance to regrow this hair depending on how damaged the hair follicles were and he was also encouraged that although the recession in temples was substancial that there was no apparent hair loss in the crown.
His treatment, again the diet. My son was 153 pounds, he is 5foot 9. He said to keep down the dht levels on the scalp a low sugar diet that did not peak insulin levels and small meals and snacks was the answer, along with a strong herbal lotion that Tyler was to apply to the affected areas twice a day.That was July 1st, Tyler now weighs 142 pounds because of the small meals, he does not get to eat french fries, or potato chips, or chocolate, or cookies not that I let him eat a ton of this stuff before, but come on he is 16!!!!!!!! The herbal product consists of alchol, nettle, burdock, and parsnip and if you expose this formal to the sun you can burn your scalp so he wears a hat or a dew rag when he goes out. He is still loosing hair but I think there is some regrowth in the temple areas,but sometimes I think it is just wishful thinking or what I want to see. We don't go back to this guy until the end of September.
I recently looked into a hair transplant specialist in Toronto. Doctor Jones from the t.v. show skin deep. He wants to see Tyler for a free consultation, and if this is going to be the end result and I'm just chasing rainbows here with all the stuff I've already tried, and the $$$$$$$$$$I've already spent, I just don't know what to do for the kid!!
Sorry for the long post, theres alot of info here, but I would appreciate anyones comments, suggestions, help!!!!!!!!
