July 10, 2022
Unexplained Hair Loss? Check Your Prescription Medications
The reasons people lose their hair can range from genetics to hormonal changes and a number of factors in between. It’s commonly known drugs to treat cancer can cause hair loss, but it’s being discovered that several prescription medications can trigger temporary hair loss as a side effect.
Centers Health Care has a look at common prescription drugs that can cause hair loss.
Blood Pressure Medications
These are popular culprits since so many people are on medication to control blood pressure. These include ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers.
Cholesterol-Lowering Medications
Another common form of medication that’s prescribed, atorvastin (Lipitor) and gemfibrozil (Lopid) can cause hair loss.
Arthritis, Inflammation Drugs
Among drugs used to treat and manage arthritis and inflammation, etanercept (Enbrel), leflunomide (Arava), and methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall) fall into this category.
Antidepressants and Other Mood Medication
Mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and bipolar disorder medications are routinely prescribed, and divalproex sodium (Depakote), sertraline (Zoloft), lithium, and fluoxetine (Prozac) can all bring on hair loss.
Epilepsy and Ant-Convulsant Medications
These can include divalproex sodium (Depkotet), lamotrigine (Lamictal), trimethadione (Tridione), and valproic acid.
Acne and Psoriasis
Medications to control skin conditions but can affect hair loss include acitretin (Soriatane) and isotretinoin (Accutane and Absorica).
As you can see, that’s a lot of medications covering a wide variety of conditions. Complicating matters, hair loss can sometimes come from a combination of certain types of medication, so if you’re on any of these medications listed above and are dealing with this issue and it’s concerning, talk to your doctor to see what options you may have.
