Towards the end of my treatment, my hair became really curly, unmanageble, and as you said, very dry. Anyways, I had been losing my hair for probably 3 years before starting medication. However, it has become very thin very quickly, but I cannot say 100% that the accutane did it. My hair is still a different texture than it was though. I've been off of it for almost 3 months, but I have heard that any hair that is lost usually, but not always grows back after you have been off the drug for a while. My hair is still really frizzy too.
I can say that I went to a dermatologist and he informed me that some temporary hair loss can occur, but it's not too common. He also gave me a booklet with all kinds of information (it's now required by the Ipledge program). I also had monthly blood work done and everything was always normal for me. I still seem to be thirsty a lot though. I drink tons of water still and stay away from those sodas.
If you look at my regimen, you will see what I am doing to try to reverse my hairloss. The Avodart (dutasteride) is a great DHT inhibitor, but I'd be a bit weary about taking it at that age.
If you have got money to spend, I would recommend getting Proxiphen from Dr. Proctor. It is $100 a month but Bryan (a poster who I have great respect for on this site, highly recommends it). However, you'd have to get a prescription for it and send it when you order it. Even then, I am not positive that it would help if the loss was due to accutane. In any case, these copper peptides are supposed to repair the follicle, so it may be possible to repair it even if it was due to accutane? I'm getting the AC revitalize spray and serum off ebay. If you go that route, make sure that the ingredients are alanine/histidine/lysine and not copper gluconate since they switched the new formula to copper gluconate. Also, get some spironolactone 5%.
Whenever his junk quits growing, he can get Propecia or Avodart.
You say many symptoms, such as nose bleeds and his fingers still being dry, that's rough. I never had any of those symptoms even while on accutane. I was just dry dry dry so I drank probably a gallon of water a day and used up many bottles of lotion on my face.
I read that article in the paper about the increased risks but I'm not really too worried about it, as my bloodwork was always normal. I think it will mainly hurt people who's bloodwork was not normal, but I could be wrong.
Anyways, Accutane is a Catch-22 for some. For me, it cleared my face up more than it had been in the last five years but the jury is still out on the hair situation.
Let your son know that losing hair at 16 is more common than he thinks. That's the age that I started noticing my receding hairline. I'm transferring to a big university this year and at orientation and at parties, I noticed that many people had thinning and receding hair. So just in case he does go bald, shave it and forget about it. I know it's easier said than done because I, too, struggle with the low self-esteem every single day.
Good luck with it all, we'll have to keep each other posted.