Will I get hair loss taking leflunomide: - NRAS
Will I get hair loss taking leflunomide
Hello, I use to take leflunomide but it had to be stopped due to having major hair loss, i lost alot of weight and it affected my eczma. but everyone is different i know other people take it and they are fine.
Good luck Davinia xx
Hi Guppy, I have been taking leflunomide since May & my hair is fine. As Davina says we are all different! I wish you well
Love Alison x
Hi Guppy, everyone is different I had hair loss with mtx and then put on lefluomide with no trouble since.
My hair is definately thinner and seems to have lost the curl too. I don't know if this is due to the Leflunomide or Enbrel or just that I am getting old!
Thanks for all your replies, I have been taking mtx for a few years all was ok but then started to feel sick all time and just wacked out then went on to mtx injection which didn't agree with me at all so stopped it could have coped with the sickness I suppose but not goin bald, all my life I've hid behind my hair and hid most of my body as I have psoriatic arthritis so the last thing I want is to go bald to. I'm not vain in anyway but living with this has been so restricting going bald only makes matters worse, now I have a choice of taking leflunomide or sulfasalazine
Hi Guppy
Unfortunately there is no way to know in advance whether or not you will have this side effect, but generally I think it would be more of a thinning of the hair than losing it in clumps and if it became more than a thinning you should certainly tell your rheumatology team, and they may suggest stopping it and trying something else.
Kind regards
Victoria
(NRAS Helpline)
Hi I have done just that and they recommend another drug that will do the same thing, my hair is naturally fine anyway so I can't afford to lose anymore, I see people staring at my hair and I know there are some that understand but there are others that don't,
Well i thought i was ok ie side affects but it wasnt working at all on ra , didnt realise at all until i stopped just how much hair loss i had.
Thankfully i have lots of hair, not thick just lots of it so even though it was coming out i didnt have bald patches just thinned it out.
Hi Guppy
Another thing that could help is looking at ways to protect the possibility of further thinning of the hair. Macmillan have some good information on this:
macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinfo...
Obviously they tend to be dealing with more extreme hair loss than people with RA, but the information could still help.
My suggestion regarding asking about other medication was more if you tried leflunomide and experienced hair loss, as until you try it you wn't know whether this is going to be a problem for you. If they mentioned another drug that can also cause hair loss this may have been methotrexate. The guidance for this would be the same, in that hair loss does not commonly occur, but when it does will usually be slight.
Kind regards
Victoria
(NRAS Helpline)
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