The scalp inflammation/itchy/burning/tingling thread

[Not giving up]

I took serious dosages of accutane when I was 18. Cleared my skin wonderfully, but stopped me growing facial hair and made my hair brittle. Once I came off it thickened back up until I took steroids.
Anyway, It could be something to look into maybe

[TeloS]

Accutane.. Hmm, the only thing I've ever read about that is how it causes telogen effluvium or just further loss. I do have sebum on some of the hairs I shed, right around the root bulb. Maybe it would work? Idk.. A doc prescribed it for you?

Yes, and the dosage is very low, it is like 5 mg a day. A daily dosis for me on a normal treatment should be about 80 mg/day. I have no secondary effects, and in one month, everything was gone. I don't shed anymore, i don't scratch anymore... Just a sensitivity under sun (resolved by putting a day cream incorporating UV protection). I don't even have dry lips. My skin is not oily anymore, and my forehead was damn oily by the middle of the day. The most impressive was probably the amount of hair i regrew on my hairline. not saying that my V shape became a straight line, but just that it strenghtened, and demultiplicated the existing hairs. Now i am waiting also for the same on my left side, even though i have nothing visible in terms of hairloss, my hair became thinner on this side.

like you before accutane, i had white bulb, and that was precisely what was killing the hair. nowadays, when i am lucky (lol) to see one hair on my office, there is no white bulb anymore. Just a normal hair finishing its cycle.

[TeloS]

I took serious dosages of accutane when I was 18. Cleared my skin wonderfully, but stopped me growing facial hair and made my hair brittle. Once I came off it thickened back up until I took steroids.
Anyway, It could be something to look into maybe

It is true though, that for some persons it did the contrary, my guess is these people, when they took accutane for their oily skin, did NOT have an oily scalp. Therefore, the skin scalp was so dry that it was killing the retention of hair, causing the telogen effluvium or just a shedding...

in the end it is all a question of dosing : dry the sebum of the scalp, but not too much. With such a low dose, my skin is not even dry : just normal... No more itching, no more oily hair by the end of the day, giving me the possibility to shampoo only 2 times a day, the less you shampoo, the thicker become my hair etc... Virtuous circle, that i would like to preserve, following the advices of herbaliser, it looks great on him at least.

[Ziggyz123]

TeloS, one more question if you don't mind.. Are you using finasteride or dutasteride at all?

[TeloS]

TeloS, one more question if you don't mind.. Are you using finasteride or dutasteride at all?

Nothing, ahem no, i mean, i am very interested by the subject but i am not really really close to be bald ... In ANY case, you should really take me seriously, unfortunately i don't have before picture, but it was terrible before : the itching, the oilyness etc... I believe it can totally be the solution for some people suffering from alopecia related to sebum excess ! Talk about this to your doctor ! If your hair is greasy, you are itching constantly and NOTHING work (i had all the shampoo for dermatitis like nizoral, regenepure etc... NOTHING WORKED AND I WAS SHEDDING SO MUCH)

Finally, be very careful about the daily dose. I mean, the heavier you are, the better you are able to modulate a small dose. For instance someone who weight 100 kgs, will have less effect in his body than me, being 80 kgs, taking 10 mg one day on two. I know that accutane has a bad reputation, but at the maximum dose ! here we are talking about some dose sooo small than you CANNOT have secondary effects. Nothing to compare with propecia i guess.

Remember that i am talking about alopecia related to the EXCESS of sebum. Those who are itching because of a DHT excess, i am sorry, but i have no clue.

[Ziggyz123]

I'll definitely think about it, but you don't look that probe to hairloss my dude. I got real bad on finasteride.. Accutane could put me over the edge because it's a very potent drug. A lot of people lose hair on it, in fact I read stories about people telling their doctors that they dont car about hairloss they just want clear skin.. It's one of the most common sides of accutane..

[TeloS]

I'll definitely think about it, but you don't look that probe to hairloss my dude. I got real bad on finasteride.. Accutane could put me over the edge because it's a very potent drug. A lot of people lose hair on it, in fact I read stories about people telling their doctors that they dont car about hairloss they just want clear skin.. It's one of the most common sides of accutane..

I did 3 cures of accutane... 6 month each to the max dose... I am now 26 and well... I have the v shape hairline but that's all and I have it since as long as I remember, 15 yo maybe. I believe that if I hadnt been under this drug sebum would have destroyed my hair

I mean, its a fact for me: I unfortunately am part of these people having a relapse after roaccutane. My skin becomes oily again. That probably explains why I didn't loose my hair. My scalp isn't dry, then I can modulate the sebum, and find a sort of equilibrium. That said, I have one friend that did one cure, he is totally bald by 24. So I don't know I guess I am a special case.

It's all about a good talk with a good doctor! 5mg each day is NOTHING and won't hell of a dry your body. I believe that here the dosage CAN be a possible key.

PS : when I think about my friend his dad was totally bald by 25 something like this so this isn't even probably related to accutane!!

[Dench57]

I've considered Accutane before but got scared off after reading about serious sides (it was withdrawn from US market for a reason!) and of course the most common side: accelerated hairloss .

TeLoS from your picture it doesn't look like you have MPB. You obviously had a very oily scalp though which caused the itch and was kept in check by Accutane. Not sure if that would work for the vast majority of us MPB sufferers.

[jamesst11]

I am getting scared, because I am five months now, have increased shed and am experiencing some burning, tingling and occasional itchiness... man, this drug is confusing the F*CK OUT OF ME!

I don't understand why, but I randomly came across one thing that has helped me - When I am just sitting, watching t.v. or something, I notice the sensations more... I take my hand and firmly place it on my crown, apply pressure and and like rotate my entire scalp around, in circular motions, stretching the skin. THE SENSATIONS IMMEDIATELY STOP!! They most often return 3-4 minutes later... but the completely stop. It makes me think that the itchy/tingly/ burning definitely has something to do with blood flow, and perhaps stagnant blood being "trapped" in the tiny capillaries in the scalp. It makes sense that this would occur, especially if the scalp is inflamed... the blood needs to move. This is why we itch when we have a scab or other dermal tissue injury.

[TeloS]

I've considered Accutane before but got scared off after reading about serious sides (it was withdrawn from US market for a reason!) and of course the most common side: accelerated hairloss .

TeLoS from your picture it doesn't look like you have MPB. You obviously had a very oily scalp though which caused the itch and was kept in check by Accutane. Not sure if that would work for the vast majority of us MPB sufferers.

I believe the accelerated hairloss come when people have only an oily face and not an oily scalp. Then the scalp become so dry that he cannot retain anymore the hair. In my case I had also an oily scalp.
But that's not all! I believe also that you cannot dry all the sebum of your scalp, you have to modulate the quantity of sebum: then come the low dose of accutane, and not a maximal one.
Since I came back on it with such a low dose, my skin in general is not even dry : a bit oily but it's very normal. I mean, I don't have the dry skin people usually have when they take it, I just have a normal skin with a slight tendency to end oily at the end of the day. Then my hair follows the same path: now when I see some hair falls, and trust me it's very hard nowadays (I feel so good with it when I had something like 50 hairs falling daily before) it does not have anymore the white bulb it had.