Drug-Associated Alopecia (Hair Loss) in Men

CONTENTS
Three types of alopecia caused by medicine
Importance of the diagnosis
Drugs that present a risk for your hair

Three types of alopecia caused by medicine

1. Tellogen effluvium, the most common
In medical terms, telogen effluvium means that more hair than usual goes into its renewal phase. In other words, the hair’s life will be shortened by the medicine’s negative impact. The hair will start to fall within 2 to 4 months following the beginning of the treatment. The hair loss will be diffuse, throughout the scalp, and reversible when the treatment ends, but will return if the treatment is resumed.

2. Anagen efflivium
It leads to a usually faster and more serious alopecia. Here, the medical substance suddenly stops the hair’s development in the middle of its growing phase. Anagen effluvium mainly occurs with treatments prescribed for anti-cancer chemotherapy (FAQ Chemotherapy and Hair Loss). As in the pervious case, the loss is reversible when the treatment ends, and reoccurs if it is resumed.

3. Androgenetic hair loss
A third category is ‘androgenising’ substances, contained in some hormonal treatments or corticoids. In those with a predisposition, such substances can trigger or worsen androgenetic alopecia. As a reminder, the alopecia is characterised by a shrinking of the hair follicles sensitive to androgens, thinning, and localised and very gradual hair loss. 

Importance of the diagnosis

Before ‘accusing’ the drugs, it is necessary to make sure that:

- The hair loss does indeed coincide, time-wise, with the intake of medicine.

- That is not the illness itself, or the stress that it causes, which have led to the hair loss, but rather the treatment itself. In that case, you should ask your physician if it is possible to replace the treatment (it sometimes is) with another molecule that does not cause hair loss.

 - That the substance in cause is officially registered as being negative for the hair. Some molecules indeed have an undeniable negative and almost systematic impact on the hair, and others have a definite but less systematic effect, in terms of the number of cases counted. Others, finally, are controversial, with only some marginal cases. An In-Depth Hair Diagnosis is recommended in the case of a doubt.

Drugs that present a risk for your hair

The chart below shows the main groups of drugs among which some molecules are likely to trigger alopecia.

IMPORTANT

To know if the specific medicine you are taking can cause a drug-associated alopecia, check, on your drug's package or leaflet, whether one of the molecules it is made of belongs to those that present a risk for your hair.

The list is not exhaustive but it does contain most medical molecules available in pharmacies and susceptible of causing alopecia (it does not contain treatments exclusively used in hospitals).

Other types of drugs where some molecules favouring alopecia can be found: antibiotic, antigonadotropic, antihelminthic, antimigraine, antineoplastic, antimalarian, antiparkinsonian, antirheumatism, antiviral, immunomodulators, immunosupressors, conversion enzyme inhibitors, neuroleptic…


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Men's Telogen Effluvium ((Diffuse Hair Loss)
Chemotherapy and the Hair
Cholesterol and Hair Loss
Hypertension and Androgenetic Alopecia
Thyroid Problems and Hair Loss
Thinner and Fewer Regrowing Hair (with sketches). What To Do

FOR TREATMENT:
Hair Growth and Regrowing: Where Exactly to Act ?
Hair Loss Treatments FAQ
CLAUDERER Anti-Hair Loss Treatments
Clauderer in-Depth Hair Diagnosis

Diagnosis In-depth Clauderer Diagnosis: Have a complete hair checkup