The first male case with fluoxetine induced hair loss and review of the literature

F. Akyüz Karacan, A. Tangılntız, İ. Kırpınar

Bezmiâlem Foundation University Medical Faculty Department of Psychiatry, Adnan Menderes, İstanbul, Turkey. draysetanyildiz@gmail.com

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• Dermatology
• Pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: Fluoxetine is the drug of choice in the treatment of depression. It is widely preferred due to fewer side effects and greater tolerability. Hair loss is a frequent adverse effect that may occur by psychotropic drug use and that can remit by its cessation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We present the diagnosis and treatment of a 26-year-old male patient. He was diagnosed with depression without psychotic features according to the DSM-V criteria and was administered fluoxetine in a dose of 20 mg/day.

RESULTS: Six weeks after the initiation of the fluoxetine treatment, the patient reported hair loss in the frontal area of the skull. These complaints regressed after cessation of drug.

CONCLUSIONS: Hair loss appears to be a rare side effect of fluoxetine-based treatment. Dermatologists and psychiatrists must be informed about this adverse side effect. There might be differences in the risk of hair loss between the various SSRIs and the risk might be higher in female than in male. This male patient was the first case as far as we know in the literature. It should be kept in mind that hair loss may be observed in patients treated with fluoxetine and should be questioned in both male and female.

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