Look Young Again!

Depression and Hair Loss - Does Depression cause Hair Loss?

Depression may or may not cause hair loss but the treatments for depression are even more of a question.  Some antidepressants can cause hair loss.  Lexapro is an antidepressant. In several clinic trials it was shown to be effective in fighting depression and well tolerated. Side effects do happen with Lexapro but hair loss was not noted. 

The lack of correlation between Lexapro and hair loss may simply mean it has not yet been determined. At this time no direct correlation has yet been proven or disputed.  Since some antidepressants cause hair loss, perhaps Lexapro does too. First, let’s look at how Lexapro works and what it does. Then we can have a better understanding of Lexapro and hair loss or other antidepressants and hair loss.

Lexapro is a prescription medication. It is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).  About 11 million U.S. patients have now taken Lexapro and hair loss was not reported. Lexapro has been shown to decrease depression and anxiety with10 milligrams each day. Results have been observed in many patients as soon as the first or second week of its ingestion. Side effects for Lexapro are mild and less frequent than most other antidepressants. Lexapro and hair loss do not seem to correlate. 

Instead of hair loss from Lexapro, the side effects reported were insomnia, ejaculation difficulties, nausea, sleeping too much, an increase in perspiration, feeling tired, and decrease in libido.  Some patients using Lexapro have suffered an inability to reach orgasm during sex.  Yet none have complained about Lexapro and hair loss.

Many other common antidepressant side effects do not seem to occur when patients take Lexapro. These are nervousness, agitation or increased anxiety. Weight gain is a common antidepressant side effect but with Lexapro it seems to be within normal ranges. In other words, some patients gained weight but no more than people who were not taking Lexapro.  Hair loss was not reported as a side effect from Lexapro.

Lexapro has other good news. It seems to be a good choice for patients who have not responded to other antidepressants. A clinical study of patients being treated for depression determined that patients, who had started unsuccessfully on Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil but had not responded well, did see an effective antidepressant effect when switched to Lexapro. Still there was no correlation reported between Lexapro and hair loss.

Only seven percent of patients taking Lexapro for depression ever reported any side effects from Lexapro and none of these patients reported hair loss.