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Metformin and Alopecia/Receding Hairline

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Has anyone else experienced this? It's getting really noticeable now and I found a couple of accounts of it on google, but my GP wouldn't switch my metformin to something else the last time I asked him to because he said it's probably a different medication I take (an antipsychotic). However, I've been taking the other kind of drug for years without a receding hairline and bald patches like this and I'm afraid that I'm going to go bald.
 
Hi
I've found this too.. I had a full thick head of hair before.. Now it's really thinning.. and comes out in handfuls in the shower..
I've put mine down to the Metformin ..
What we have to put up with hey..
 
Funny that, I had a full head of hair a year or so ago, but mine's been thinning to the point I can now see my scalp shining through at the front. I put it down to my age.

Is it reversible, I wonder? I'd be more inclined to come off the meds and rely on diet if I thought it was.
 
Yeah i wondered the same and did some research:

First its different to distinguish between diffuse thing all over the head, male pattern baldness and female hairloss:

Here is what i found:

Diffuse thinning:

Vitamin b12: metformin lowers vitamin b12 which could lead to hairloss. In general it takes month/years until you reach a lack of vitamin b12 tho. So if you experience hairloss a few weeks after u start with metformin its unlikely its due vitamin b12

Female hairloss:

Metformin decreases estrogen in women which can lead to hairloss:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24267731/


Aromatase inhibitor: metformin inhibits aromatase.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2749730/

Its well known that aromatase inhibitor are leading to hairloss in women

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4864803/


Male pattern baldness:

Aromatase inhibitor: see above. Aromatase can also play a role in male pattern baldness

Pge2: prostaglandins are suspected to play a key role in male pattern baldness

https://www.nicehair.org/increase-scalp-pge2-decrease-pgd2-cure-hair-loss/

Metformin decreases pge2 level:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2017.00243/full

Dht: metformin increases sghb which probably leads to a decrease of dht which is actually good news bc dht is suspected to play a key role in male pattern baldness

https://www.realself.com/question/l...-effects-dihydrotestosterone-dht-male-pattern

However it may doesnt outweight the above mentioned affects.


Long story short: there are evidences that metformin can lead to hairloss and enhance male pattern baldness. However as long as they dont make any studies on that subject noone can tell for sure
 
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