Lamictal and Hair Loss

by Maria
(New York)

I always had thick hair but recently I was put on Lamictal (600mg) for seizures. I had been on Dilantin and Tegretol for many years but suffered from severe vertigo.

I was told Lamictal had very little side effects. A few months after starting this medicine I noticed my hair got very thin. I took a mirror and examined my hair and realized my scalp was showing on the sides, back and top of my head. I am sick over this. I went to my medical doctor and he ran blood tests which all came back normal.

He said the sudden hair loss is most likely caused by Lamictal. I have to be weaned off this b/c stopping suddenly could trigger a seizure. Once I stop this medicine will my hair grow back or will I go bald completely. Also how long does it take before seeing any results?

Editor Comments,

Dear Maria,

A change in medications can indeed trigger unwanted hair loss due to the fact new medications do bring new side effects and also put your body into different levels of stress. It’s actually pretty common when you take medications like Lamictal.

I am not that familiar with the anti seizure med but I know for a matter of fact that potent medications like Lamictal are known to trigger hair loss and also possibly multiple substantial side effects like vertigo, nausea and anxiety attacks. I am sure a decent percentage of users will suffer hair ‘shocks’ from taking this medication and will face with a period of shedding. This is generally your body’s reaction towards this medication and whether you will or not you will lose all your hair strongly depends on how your body can tolerate this medication and adapt to it. In a great number of cases, the hair loss should reduce and normalized to a decent level after a period of using this medication.

As for the recovery, usually after you stop taking this medication, your hair should be able to grow back after a few months time. Depending on the length of your original hair, it will take 1 month for your hair to grow half an inch, so longer hair will mean longer recovery times. You might want to try a shorter hair cut to reduce the impression of hair loss at the moment.

I can’t stress how important it is to continue to taking anti-seizure medications like Lamictal if there is no other alternatives and your doctor recommends it to prevent unwanted side effects like seizures. The rule of thumb is to always treat the more threatening disease first before handling your hair condition because usually the former often affects the latter but there are ways you can still improve your hair growth. Do talk to your doctor about Minoxidil 2% for women or Viviscal. If you are not allergic to these treatments, they might speed up your recovery.