Stimulants How does meth cause hair loss?

[MrSexypancake]

So a friend of mine had been up on a three day binge, when I told him that it could cause him to lose hair. I had heard meth can lead to hair loss, and always assumed it was due to the stress that comes with losing so much sleep. My buddy tells me that such a thing comes about due to vasoconstriction, which keeps hair follicles from getting nutrients. Honestly, both of these explanations sound feasible to me.

Does anybody know how meth causes hair loss and if there are steps that can be taken to diminish such an effect?

 

[tweex]

Why? Good question. Precise mechanisms don't seem well identified: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7631289

Probably stopping would help.

 

[blinkfeed]

Wow I've never heard that before. Thanks for the link.

 

[littlepenguin]

to answer simply: malnutrition (body is taking in less vitamins than it was prior to using methamphetamine)

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

A lot it times it comes from people tweaking so hard and being unaware of actually pulling at their hair. Seen that a lot.

 

[tweex]

One thing worth noting is I developed a rather severe case of telogen effluvium from severe physical (adrenal) anxiety lasting several months. It cleared up ironically when I started beta blockers, despite them being known for causing hair loss.