A Q&A with a dermatologist on everything you want to know about Spironolactone for hair loss, acne, pores, oily skin, hidradenitis, and facial hair.
Well hey guys happy vlog tober day 6 welcome back to the qa as per usual today i’m going to be talking about spironolactone as i mentioned in my last q&a this is sort of a continuum and a follow-up to my q&a is on hair loss and hair care which i have listed in a playlist in the playlist section of my video under hair care q&a so if you want to see all
Of them there there there likewise in another playlist entitled skin care q&a so that’s where you can find them and if you’re new here welcome my name is andrea i’m a dermatologist i filmed a in the life of the dermatologist vlogs as well as fun sit-down videos talking about skin care skin care product reviews as well as a weekly skin care q&a dedicated to a
Skin health topic that is commonly asked about in the comments section of my channel so if this is of interest to you i encourage you to stick around and subscribe for more so in today’s q&a i’m going to be addressing those most frequently asked questions with regards to spironolactone medication that is frequently prescribed to women perhaps by their treating
Dermatologists or other health care provider for either female pattern hair loss or female baldness as well as acne and you guys ask a lot of fantastic questions about it so let’s delve into spironolactone so spironolactone is a pill that falls into the class of medications that are considered antiandrogens and antiandrogens refer to a class of medications that
Are taken by women to counteract the effects of male hormones that we all have or androgens in the skin examples of androgens include testosterone and one question i get frequently is are is spironolactone likewise a good treatment for male pattern baldness and the answer is no spironolactone is not appropriate for male pattern hair loss or male skin conditions
Exclusively it is appropriate for dermatological and women so what types of dermatological skin conditions are antiandrogens like spironolactone frequently recommended and as i alluded to of course female pattern hair loss is one condition but also acne in in addition to acne some other conditions like seborrhea or excessive oiliness and shininess i wanted hair
Growth on the face or body this is a condition known as hirsutism and a skin condition known as hydra a tinnitus appear at eva so how exactly do antiandrogens like spironolactone work well they can work by a variety of potential mechanisms one being blocking the androgen receptors many of which are specifically located in the skin and drive a lot of skin conditions
Like acne and hair loss in women so today’s video i’m going to be talking specifically about the drug spironolactone but there are a few other antiandrogens each with their own unique profile of information that you might want to know about but another classic example used in treating many similar female dermalogica conditions are oral birth control pills so when
Starting an oral anti-androgen like spironolactone what might i expect in the skin well in the case of acne spironolactone can decrease sebum or oil production and can likewise reduce the formation of komi domes or blackheads and whiteheads those those annoying little bumps that contribute to poor visibility and by poor i mean p o re in the case of unwanted hair
On the face or body and women otherwise known as hirsutism anti-androgen therapy can slow the rate of hair growth on the body now spironolactone is a drug that is a diuretic actually initially used to treat blood pressure however spironolactone also possesses quite a bit of anti-androgen activity and therefore it has sequinned to be highly useful in treating and
Treating unwanted hair growth on the face and body otherwise known as hirsutism acne oiliness and female pattern baldness it appears that spironolactone predominantly works as an anti-androgen by blocking androgen receptors in the skin and for dermatological conditions spironolactone is typically started at a low dose ranging in the ballpark of 25 milligrams to
Perhaps 100 milligrams daily and it is advised that this medication be taken at night and like all things in dermatology it’s slow moving so you can expect to wait about six months before seeing much of a market improvement however in conditions like acne you can start to see an improvement in spironolactone after after a few months of consistent use so another
Question that i get is what side effects can be expected with spironolactone well the most common side effects include a little bit of nausea maybe some drowsiness or fatigue headache dizziness menstrual irregularities and breast pain bear in mind that it is a diuretic so one other potential side effect is that if you wake up too quickly in the night you may find
Yourself a little bit lightheaded but so that’s something to be aware of don’t go jumping out of bed in the middle of the night you know rise up a little bit slowly particularly in the beginnings of taking taking the medication likewise because it’s a diuretic you may find yourself visiting the ladies room a few more times a day but these side effects tend to be
Dose dependent and in the dose range typically used in dermatology for the skin conditions that i mentioned it’s rare to experience these side effects to significantly and for the most part after a few months of continuing use these side effects subside and people get used to it basically is there any blood work or specific monitoring that needs to go on while
Taking spironolactone this is something very important to discuss with the prescribing healthcare provider so health care providers elect to a measure the potassium levels before during spironolactone to make sure they’re okay since potentially and theoretically the spironolactone could impact your potassium however do you know that a recent large-scale study looking
At all of the medical literature really couldn’t find much evidence to support that otherwise healthy women with normal renal function had any potassium problems and while using dermatological spironolactone now one of the things that i mentioned in my prior q&a with regards to female pattern hair loss in spironolactone is that it appears that spironolactone
Efficacy is maximized when calm when combined with an oral birth control pill so that may be something else to discuss with your treating physician likewise in the case of acne spironolactone in combination with a oral birth control pill can likewise results in better overall clearance of your skin condition and what we’ve come to learn is that oral birth control
Pills can impact hormone signaling in the skin that drives conditions like hair loss and acne and that when combined with spironolactone they work very well synergistically meaning they work very well together and that the oral birth control pills target different parts of the process than the spironolactone pill so together you’re kind of putting more brakes
In place if you will on the overall disease pathophysiology okay acne female pattern hair loss hirsutism or unwanted hair on the face and body and his rad night at security but they are all diseases that require evaluation and management their medical conditions with a disease pathophysiology and so i underscore that because it’s important for you to know that
These conditions are not merely cosmetic there is a disease process that occurs and it’s and it’s most prudent you follow along very carefully with your treating physician for evaluation and management and not trying diy these things on your own okay i would definitely discourage anybody from just trying these medications that they get from some online pharmacy
Or retailer it can be very very dangerous and the intention of this video and my content here is to provide you with general information on healthcare topics and skincare topics but the treatment the evaluation and management of your disease should be left up to your treating physician okay and another reason why it’s important to see a treating physician in
The case of these diseases is that there can in some instances though not not always there can be an underlying medical condition driving driving the process so it’s very important to not diy this okay but the types of acne that tend to be most responsive to spironolactone we’re sort of your adult women who with acne in their 30s 40s into their later years this
Type of acne tends to best be served by spironolactone and likewise that tends to be the demographic in which female pattern hair loss can have on set and this medication can be efficacious and so one thing that i will point out is that i mentioned the side effects most commonly encountered with spironolactone but you should also know that it is not safe to take
This medication during pregnancy as it can cause birth defects now don’t be alarmed by that you can imagine that hormone signaling is very important in the development of the baby so blocking that’s probably not a good idea and this medication therefore is known to cause birth defects in the developing baby so it’s not safe during pregnancy and so discuss with
Your treating physician if you plan to become pregnant while you’re taking this medication so they can help you stop it properly alright guys so i hope that answers all of your questions about spironolactone typically with regards to female pattern hair loss and acne and women but also touching a little bit on the fact this medication can oftentimes be helpful in
Conditions such as unwanted body hair or hirsutism and hidradenitis suppurativa stay tuned for next week’s video i’m going to be helping the men out again and talking all about your questions about finasteride or the brand name propecia so stick around for that i hope you enjoyed the q&a today give this video a thumbs up share it with your friends and as always
Don’t forget sunscreen and subscribe i’ll talk to you guys tomorrow bye
Transcribed from video
Spironolactone Q&A with a dermatologist| Dr Dray By Dr Dray
