Trazodone-induced alopecia

[DD214_DOC]

I'm curious if anyone else is familiar with this. Obviously I was not aware of it until recently, and so far 3 other psychiatrists I have surveyed weren't either. I have a 12yo female on trazodone 25mg for sleep who lost all of the hair in both of her eyebrows about 3-4 weeks after starting.

I looked it up and it's apparently a rare ADE, and the hair will more than likely grow back (unfortunately I can't find any actual quantification of this probability). I'm not sure why it was only her eyebrows.

Strange.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Gavanshir]

Eyebrows are a popular site for trichotillomania. So there is that.

Sent from my SM-G935F using SDN mobile

 

[Crayola227]

Eyebrows are a popular site for trichotillomania. So there is that.

Sent from my SM-G935F using SDN mobile

Nice point.

I'm assuming the trazodone isn't essential or non-substitutable, so you can try a trial off and give it enough weeks to see if they grow back.

If they don't you still haven't ruled out trichotillomania (even if they do, you still haven't) but it's a good clue if they do.

Hypothyroid can cause thinning of the outer 1/3 of the eyebrow somehow (and I think scalp thinning IIRC) however most pronounced the eyebrow thing.
So, you can preferentially lose eyebrow hair vs other hair. So I think it's possible.

Nice share. If you do rule out trichotillomania to your best effort, will you write this up or report it?

 

[DD214_DOC]

Eyebrows are a popular site for trichotillomania. So there is that.

Sent from my SM-G935F using SDN mobile

Except that she's been my patient for almost two years and that has never been an issue, and already thought of. Good try though.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Armadillos]

Interesting, thanks for the post. I'm too lazy to research, is this somewhat unique to trazadone or something just as likely to happen with other serotonin related meds?

 

[PistolPete]

I've never seen this side effect in Trazodone. It's unfortunate that it's happened in such a young patient, my guess is that it will turn her off all sleep meds?

 

[Shikima]

Changing meds will see if it is the medication or not

 

[hamstergang]

Interesting, thanks for the post. I'm too lazy to research, is this somewhat unique to trazadone or something just as likely to happen with other serotonin related meds?

I believe that some years ago I saw this listed as a possible side effects from Zoloft. So I'm guessing it's a rare possibility from all of them.

 

[DD214_DOC]

I believe that some years ago I saw this listed as a possible side effects from Zoloft. So I'm guessing it's a rare possibility from all of them.

My pubmed search turned up a few articles. It's apparently a possible ADE from almost any psychotropic. This is why I include as part of my informed consent that anything is possible and there's no way to know how any one individual will respond or react to a medication. I have seen some really weird ADE that I would have never believed until there was a definite correlation to the medication. This is also why I'm never dismissive of a reported potential ADE, no matter how absurd it may seem.