Medications that cause hair loss, and what to do about it
Diffuse shedding two to four months after a new prescription is rarely genetic. It usually reverses on its own, which is exactly why we will not operate on it.
It sheds differently from pattern loss
Drug-induced shedding is usually telogen effluvium: hair across the whole scalp, including the back and sides, moves into the resting phase and falls out two to four months after a drug is started or a dose changed. It comes out in handfuls in the shower instead of thinning quietly at the temples. Chemotherapy causes a different and much faster process, with loss appearing within one to three weeks.
The medicines that most often do it
The recurring names are isotretinoin for acne, beta-blockers, anticoagulants, lithium and valproate, some antidepressants, interferon, high-dose vitamin A and hormonal contraceptives when they are started or stopped. Chemotherapy agents sit in a category of their own. None of this means the drug is wrong for you. It means the shedding has an explanation, and an explanation changes what you should do next.
Why we will not operate on this
A transplant moves hair from one part of the scalp to another. If the entire scalp is shedding because of a medication, there is nothing stable to move and nothing stable to move it into. Drug-induced effluvium usually reverses within three to six months of stopping or switching the drug, and the hair returns without help. Operating in the middle of that spends irreplaceable grafts on a problem that was going to resolve.
What to do instead, and what never to do
Never stop a prescribed medicine because of your hair; speak to whoever prescribed it about alternatives. Have ferritin, a thyroid panel, vitamin B12 and vitamin D checked, because deficiency and drug effects frequently travel together. Photograph the same three views every month and reassess at nine to twelve months. If genuine pattern loss is underneath, it will still be there, and surgery becomes a real conversation.
The Ones People Actually Ask.
How do I know if it is the drug or genetics?
Pattern loss follows a pattern: temples and crown, with the back and sides untouched. If the sides are shedding too and it began a few months after a new medication, that points somewhere else.
Will the hair grow back exactly as it was?
Usually, though it can take six to twelve months and the new growth may differ in texture for a while. Any underlying pattern loss continues on its own timetable regardless.
More On Hair.
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Why you are losing hair: six causes and how they differTransplantation only solves one of them. Diagnosing the other five first is what separates a clinic from a shop.
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What Stands Behind The Plan.
