A Case Report of Biotin Treatment for Valproate-Induced Hair Loss
August 2017
in “The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry”
TLDR Biotin may effectively treat hair loss caused by valproate medication.
The document is a case report of a patient with bipolar disorder who experienced excessive hair loss (telogen effluvium) as a side effect of valproate treatment. The patient was treated with 10,000 µg of biotin daily, which resulted in the complete disappearance of her hair loss after three months. The patient remained on valproate treatment and experienced no recurrence of hair loss seven years later. The authors caution that this is a single observation and that hair loss can have various causes. However, they suggest that adding biotin can be a simple, safe, and effective treatment option for a subgroup of patients with valproate-induced hair loss.
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