9 Medications That Can Lead To Hair Loss

Losing a bit of hair daily is a normal thing. However, if you experience excessive hair loss or even balding, this might be caused by certain medications. 

In most situations, drugs cause temporary hair loss, and after you change the dose or stop taking the prescription, your hair will regrow. However, in some situations, medicines might cause male or female pattern baldness, which leads to irreversible hair loss that requires hair transplant.

If you're concerned that a medicine you're taking is causing your hair loss, ask your pharmacist for a complete list of the medication's manufacturer's cautions. It's possible that your medicine is causing hair loss as a side effect.

Why do some medications cause hair loss? This could be due to the fact that these meds are toxic to the hair follicles. Follicles are the cells that are involved in hair growth. When hair follicles get damaged, this disrupts the normal cycle of hair growth that eventually contributes to hair loss. Here are some medications that can potentially lead to hair loss:

1. Vitamin A

Vitamin A can cause telogen effluvium if taken in large doses. Vitamin A is used to make the acne medicine isotretinoin (Accutane).

2. Male hormones 

Hair loss can also be caused by male hormones. Male pattern baldness can occur in men who use testosterone or anabolic drugs.

3. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors

Another type of blood pressure medication is angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or ACE inhibitors. Captopril (Capoten), Lisinopril (Zestril, Prinivil), and Enalapril (Vasotec) are all ACE medications that can cause telogen effluvium.

4. Antidepressants 

Some medications that are known to treat depression and anxiety can lead to hair loss as well. These include Amitriptyline (Elavil, Endep), Amoxapine (Asendin), Clomipramine (Anafranil), Desipramine (Norpramin, Pertofrane), Doxepin (Adapin, Sinequan), Fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac), Haloperidol (Haldol), Imipramine (Janimine, Tofranil, Tofranil PM), Nortriptyline (Pamelor, Aventyl), Paroxetine (Paxil), Protriptyline hydrochloride (Vivactil), Sertraline hydrochloride (Zoloft), and Trimipramine (Surmontil).

5. Blood thinners 

Anticoagulant drugs, which can help people with certain conditions, including heart disease, avoiding blood clots and the consequences that come with them, also lead to hair loss. 

Anticoagulant-induced hair loss is characterized as telogen effluvium, which refers to hair loss that affects the entire scalp rather than just a small area. Hair loss typically starts after around 12 weeks of drug use. Warfarin sodium (Panwarfarin, Sofarin, Coumadin) and heparin injections are two anticoagulants that can cause hair loss.

6. Anticonvulsants 

Anticonvulsants, generally known as anti-seizure drugs, can cause diffuse hair loss. Trimethadione (Tridione) and valproic acid are two of these drugs (Depakote).

7. Female hormones 

Hair loss can be caused by using female hormones. Hormone changes caused by oral contraceptives (birth control pills) and hormone replacement treatment can cause hair loss. Birth control pills, estrogen, and progesterone are among the hormones that have been linked to telogen effluvium and female pattern baldness.

8. Gout medications 

Allopurinol is a medication that’s used to treat a type of arthritis called gout. It can actually lead to a type of hair loss known as telogen effluvium. Brand names include Lopurin and Zyloprim.

9. Beta-blockers 

Beta-blockers are drugs that help to control blood pressure by reducing the workload of your heart. Beta blockers such as Atenolol (Tenormin), Metoprolol (Lopressor), Nadolol (Corgord), Propranolol (Inderal, Inderal LA), and Timolol (Blocadren) are known to cause telogen effluvium.

Despite the fact that many drugs can lead to hair loss, the good news is that this type of hair loss is typically just reversible. Consult your doctor to see if a prescription is causing your hair loss. If this is the case, your doctor may be able to prescribe a different medicine or suggest a treatment to help you stop losing hair.