Has anyone experienced hair loss on depo provera?

[ShadowCharms]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a bit of a hard time, and I'm hoping that maybe someone will be able to help. I had facial feminization surgery four months ago, which involved a scalp advance. two months after my surgery, I started to notice that my hair seemed to be thinning. My hair had gone completely at the temples four years before my surgery, but I had not noticed it getting worse after that. The thinning I have been seeing for the past two months is all over the top. I can't tell if it's happening elsewhere on my head. I think it looks thinner just above my ears as well, but I'm not completely sure. My surgeon says this kind of thinning happens sometimes with a scalp advance.

The other thing that could be causing my hair loss is that I have been on depo provera for a year now. I get injections every three months. I had my most recent injection about two weeks before I first noticed the thinning. My doctor says that depo provera related thinning tends to be diffuse.

As far as I can tell, I'm seeing thinning at least all over the top. I can't tell so far if it's happening on the crown, but I've noticed it at least from the front to the top of my head. It's very slow and gradual. So far, no one else I've talked to agrees that they see thinning, even though I've been noticing it for two months. I'm not seeing more hair shedding than usual, I'm just noticing that it looks thinner, and like I don't see as many new hairs as usual.

Has anyone lost hair due to depo provera, or do you know anything about what that kind of hair loss is like? Does it tend to be slow? Does it usually involve noticeable shedding? Does anyone know how depo provera related hair loss works? Does it work the same way as DHT related hair loss (follicle miniaturization), or is it a different thing?

My next shot is scheduled for January 8th. If I don't get that shot, my testosterone levels will go from 14 to about 120, even on spiro. Depo provera is the only thing that's completely knocked down my levels so far. If I do get the shot, I'm worried that the thinning could get worse. I'm hoping to find out more before I have to make my decision.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[HughE]

It's not advisable to take Depo Provera as part of transgender HRT, since it's been linked to emotional instability, severe depression and suicides in trans women. It also resulted in doubled mortality in the 2002 WHI study (of postmenopausal women's HRT). Despite what some doctors might try to tell you, it's not progesterone, but rather a synthetic hormone that targets progesterone receptors (but doesn't do any of the other stuff progesterone does, in particular acting as a raw material for the synthesis of other hormones). It could well be the cause of your hair loss, since it cross reacts with androgen receptors.

I hope your doctor isn't giving you Premarin for your estrogen as well!

[KayXo]

It could well be the cause of your hair loss, since it cross reacts with androgen receptors.

That! It is indeed mildly androgenic despite strongly suppressing testicular production of T. For someone who has trouble with hair loss, I would suggest you propose taking finasteride to your doctor as well as perhaps taking E in a way as to suppress T strongly (injections) or increasing dose of spiro or adding another anti-androgen instead such as bicalutamide or a LHRH agonist (like Lupron) much better than Depo-Provera which, being a progestogen also opposes estrogen which you don't want.

Discuss these options with your PCP and hopefully, things will improve. Perhaps, the thinning has nothing to do with Provera, to be fair and objective, but just to be on the safe side, I would personally stay away from it. Has other harmful effects on health according to various scientific studies.