Hair Loss Associated with Sertraline: Two Case Reports and Review

In 2016, a case study involving two patients found that the use of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) sertraline could cause hair loss, a rare but significant side effect. The first patient, a 47-year-old man, experienced hair loss 8 weeks after starting sertraline, which resolved within 6 weeks after reducing his medication dosage. The second patient, a woman with major depressive disorder, reported hair loss within 2 months of starting a low dose of sertraline, which ceased 6 weeks after stopping sertraline and starting fluoxetine. The study also reported 27 cases of alopecia in the SWEDIS drug database, with a significantly higher rate associated with sertraline compared to citalopram. The exact cause of this hair loss was not fully understood, but it was suggested that it could be due to the direct toxic effects of the drugs on the hair follicle matrix. The study concluded that further research was needed to fully understand the cause.