Alopecia and Associated Toxic Agents: A Systematic Review

January 2018 in “ Skin appendage disorders ”

Vicky Yu, Margit Juhász, Audris Chiang, Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovska

thallium mercury selenium colchicine boric acid arsenic vitamin A botulinum toxin Podostroma cornu-damae synthetic opioids MT-45 Botox

TLDR Thallium, mercury, selenium, and colchicine strongly cause hair loss.

The systematic review "Alopecia and Associated Toxic Agents" examined the relationship between various toxic agents and alopecia, identifying 47 relevant studies from an initial pool of 856 articles. It found strong evidence linking thallium, mercury, selenium, and colchicine to hair loss, with other agents like boric acid, arsenic, vitamin A, botulinum toxin, Podostroma cornu-damae, and synthetic opioids like MT-45 also implicated but with less robust evidence. The review highlighted the importance of recognizing these toxic agents in clinical settings to aid in differential diagnosis and emphasized the need for further research into less well-documented toxins.

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Research cited in this study

17 / 17 results

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Thallium poisoning from contaminated cake caused severe health issues in Baghdad, highlighting the need to ban thallium as a rodenticide.

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Eyebrow loss has many causes and requires accurate diagnosis for proper treatment.

research Madarosis and Facial Alopecia Presumed Secondary to Botulinum A Toxin Injections

26 citations , July 2005 in “Optometry and vision science”

Botulinum A toxin injections may cause hair loss on the face and loss of eyelashes.

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