Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here who is on Valtrex/Acyclovir suppressively have noticed any hair loss? I am not on either one at the moment, but have read that prolonged use of the drug can cause hair loss and was wondering if this has happened to anyone? Thanks.

I see you've gotten no replies yet to your question. I'm curious to know that answer too, since I've never heard of that link before. If you learn anything I'd love to know. Where did you originally hear about the link?

Thanks and good luck. I hope to hear from you.

YES!! YES YES YES!! This is happening to me right now. As a matter of fact, I was checking on here to see if perhaps my Valtrex might be causing my hair to thin. I hadn't heard this before, and I'm devastated! This is just awful. My hair has gotten very thin so now I'm going to have to go off of Valtrex, which has worked wonderfully at supressing my H. Could this possibly get any worse?

Has anybody heard if the hairloss is temporary? Will my hair come back when I go off of Valtrex? AAHHH!!!!!

<<YES!! YES YES YES!! This is happening to me right now. As a matter of fact, I was checking on here to see if perhaps my Valtrex might be causing my hair to thin. I hadn't heard this before, and I'm devastated! This is just awful. My hair has gotten very thin so now I'm going to have to go off of Valtrex, which has worked wonderfully at supressing my H. Could this possibly get any worse?

Has anybody heard if the hairloss is temporary? Will my hair come back when I go off of Valtrex? AAHHH!!!!!>>

The reason I ended up looking this up was because I started to notice my hair thinning a little after I started on anti-viral suppressive therapy. Sure enough, I found people on other medical message boards complaining of hair loss from Valtrex/Acyclovir, so apparently we aren't the only ones. I ended up stopping suppressive therapy, and it looks like my hair has stopped thinning at least. But so far, its been about 2 months since I quit and mine hasn't grown back yet, but I'm still hoping. On the other boards, some people said their hair came back after they stopped using it, while others said it didn't. So it looks like the verdict is still out :confused:. Let us know how you do!

YES!! YES YES YES!! This is happening to me right now. As a matter of fact, I was checking on here to see if perhaps my Valtrex might be causing my hair to thin. I hadn't heard this before, and I'm devastated! This is just awful. My hair has gotten very thin so now I'm going to have to go off of Valtrex, which has worked wonderfully at supressing my H. Could this possibly get any worse?

Has anybody heard if the hairloss is temporary? Will my hair come back when I go off of Valtrex? AAHHH!!!!!

Just wondering if you are male or female...and how long you'd been on suppressive therapy before you noticed the hair loss?? Thanks.

I'm a 29 year old woman. I was diagnosed about a year ago, and really started supressive therapy in November or December. I noticed some hairloss shortly thereafter, but I've had temporary cycles of hairloss for the last couple of years, so I dismissed it as "normal" for a while, but not it's just gotten out of hand. I've lost about half my hair. Luckily for me, I have very curly hair, and had some to spare to begin with, but I was really starting to panic about it when I read this. I've been a vegetarian for a while, and started making myself eat meat again to see if that would help...thinking maybe I wasn't getting enough protien or iron or something. I'm praying that I'll get some regrowth at least, but more than that, that I won't start getting outbreaks. Is there no hope of having a normal life?? Still, I'm so glad you posted this.

Thanks,
Fran

I notice my hair thinned as well but I stopped taking the acyclovir in December 03. I still have a lot of shedding. ((note: this could also be due to my Accutane)).

Im losing my hair on its own....damn genetics. Kinda sucks that Valtrex may speed that process up :p

26 year old female was on 400mg daily accyclovir for 2 years- stopped Jan01 this year. Have lost about half my hair and waiting to see if any of it comes back.


if anyone has links to other boards or stats regarding this please let me know!!!

This is alarming. My doctor wants me to switch from acyclovir to valtrex, as the former has not been effective of late, and I've been concerned about the possible side effects of valtrex (acyclovir has never produced any side effects for me at all and i've been taking it for years, lately over 1000mg/day).

Has the hair loss only occurred while taking valtrex, or acyclovir as well?

I would greatly appreciate input from anyone with first hand knowledge.

I was taking 800mg of accyclovir a day for 2 years. Never took valtrex.

I took acyclovir suppressively several years ago and after maybe 4 or 5 months of this, my hair definitely started thinning. I stopped suppressive therarpy immediately. I called Glaxo Wellcome (the pharmacutical company that makes Zovirax (acyclovir) and they said that they had had a very small number of these cases. They also said that Valtrex is something like a simple extension of the acyclovir formula so it is unlikely that Valtrex would not produce the same results.

years later, I'm fairly sure that some or most of the hair has come back, but it didn't happen quickly.

I still take Valtrex when I think I'm getting an outbreak, but I'm reluctant to take it suppressively again.

Well, I've been off of the suppressive therapy for a couple of months now, and my hair is definitely growing back. I've heard that it's more likey for your hair to grow back if you're a woman than if you're a man because of the hormonal differences. I have started getting outbreaks again, though. So I've been trying to balance things out a little bit. I'm going to experiment with different dosages of Valtrex for a while and see if a lower dosage daily or a higher dosage less often will reduce both the outbreaks AND the hairloss.

Can anyone list other sites they have heard people discuss this on? I have been off for 6 months and my hair is still getting thinner. Trying desperately to get a better gauge on how likely it is to stop and if so when. THANKS!

The site below hasn't had an actual discussion on valtrex and hair loss that I can recall, but I'm sure if you start the topic you will get some responses as they have a TON of helpful members. Good luck!

http://www.racoon.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/*******.cgi

Woops, guess you can't post links here... Sorry! You can paste the beginning of the address and navigate from there. If you post on the support or technical forums I would be willing to bet you'll get a few responses!

I have taken acyclovir for years, never ever noticed any hair loss, none more than usual anyway, and i have tons of hair, so i think it would become noticable at some point.

I've been taking Valtrex suppressively for 3 months now. After the first month my hair began to come out. I wasn't alarmed... thought it was just shedding normally, however it's continued. What do we do...choose between outbreaks or hair loss?

Hi just wondering how the Hair loss is going for anyone on Valtrex etc. My hair is starting to thin because of it. Does it grow back after stopping the drug? I saw one post said it did. In addition, has any one tried Famvir as an alternate?
thanks

i have taken valtrex only 1x, and that was after the initial OB. not on it suppressively..... my hair is thinning. i do have a lot of stress in my life though. interesting that it could be linked.

Valtrex hair loss.
Any else can get back to me about this subect please.

i have been on 1g valtrex once a day everyday for 2+ years now and i've had no noticeable hair loss

Thanks for that.

I don't know much about the connection of taking Valtrex and Hairloss, but doesn't it have something to do with DHT and testosterone..etc. What chemical connection is there with Valtrex. Does anyone know the specifics?

YES!! YES YES YES!! This is happening to me right now. As a matter of fact, I was checking on here to see if perhaps my Valtrex might be causing my hair to thin. I hadn't heard this before, and I'm devastated! This is just awful. My hair has gotten very thin so now I'm going to have to go off of Valtrex, which has worked wonderfully at supressing my H. Could this possibly get any worse?

Has anybody heard if the hairloss is temporary? Will my hair come back when I go off of Valtrex? AAHHH!!!!!

I am having the same problem. Initially took Valtrex for 2 weeks. Therapy with Acyclovir. I took it for 2 mo. and 10 days. Stopped because of hair loss. I feel awful. I am female and this is distressing. I too would like to know about hair regrowth. I have taken other med for unrelated condition and had hair loss. It took about a year to show any regrowth. I was on that med for a much longer period of time. Does anyone know how long it takes for this drug to be completely out of your system?

I've been on 1g Valtrex for 6 months and have had no noticeable hair loss. Depends on the person maybe??

I have never been on any drugs for genital herpes as i believe in a lot of cases this virus can be managed successfully without a lifetime of drugs. The dr's i spoke to assured me that you wont lose hair from these drugs, but they would say that i suppose. A lot of side effects on a lot of meds these days will often quote hair loss as a possible side effect.

On the other hand, it could be a coincidence and perhaps you are losing hair due to genetic reasons or due to something else. Anemia or long term low ferretin levels can lead to hair loss in some people and certain thyroid conditions can do it too. Being low in iron for a long time will lower your immune system too, which doesn't help matters as you need a healthy immune system to help your body fight the vira o/b's.

You can always have your iron levels tested, but make certain they do a test for your ferretin level as that's the important one when looking at the figures. They should do a thyroid test at the same time and as well as testing your TSH they should check your T3 and T4 as the TSH on it's own is useless for truly accurate readings.

My doctor always does a hormone test (SHBG) and checks my testosterone, even though i'm female.

If your hair loss is due to the meds then you can always find out by going off the meds and seeing whether your hair goes back to normal. I'd say it would take a few months at least to see results as it's not something which happens within days or weeks.