Hair Loss Induced By Medications for Parkinson’s Disease Can Be Hampered




hair fall

Baldness can be a side effect of a number of modern medications. Hair loss is especially pronounced in Parkinson’s disease patients who are treated with dopamine drugs Pramipexole or Ropinirole. In a recent study, conducted by a group of researchers from New York and published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, two women, who were treated for Parkinson’s disease with the dopamine agonists and who suffered from medication-related hair loss, showed a successful regression in baldness after the drugs were replaced with another type of medication.

In the reported cases, both women were initially treated with Pramipexole and later - with Ropinirole. They both lost they hair as a result of the treatment. In the first woman, hair loss was hampered with the change in medication, and she experienced a partial regrowth of hair several months after the drugs were switched. She was able to continue Ropinirole treatment for a year without a recurrence of baldness.

In the second case, though, massive hair loss was triggered by a year-long treatment with Pramipexole, and continued even after the drug dose was substantially reduced. Unfortunately, after the patient switched to Ropinirole, hair loss did not stop. Baldness was hampered only after the woman discontinued the dopamine medication and was put on carbidopa and levodopa drugs instead. Her hair stopped falling within just one week, and partially regrew within the following half a year.

Parkinson’s disease is caused by a gradual destruction of the subtantia nigra - the brain cells that are responsible for the production of dopamine, a chemical that controls nerve cells responsible for body motions. As a result, this progressive degenerative disease leads to the patient’s inability to control his or her body movements. The dopamine agonists can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease, but one of their unpleasant side effects is a pronounced hair loss.

For many Parkinson’s patients, especially women, a possibility of getting bald as a side effect of their medication is totally unacceptable. Since hair loss can further detract their quality of everyday life, some patients can even refuse to continue treatment. Most Parkinson’s patients would prefer to take safer drugs with fewer side effects, without running a risk of developing baldness and other unpleasant consequences of pharmaceutical treatment.

Robin Makris

Related Posts


Posted on April 12, 2008 
Filed Under Hair Loss, Hair Loss News and Statistics, Hair Loss Reasons

Comments

Leave a Reply