Is it safe to take Propecia and Accutane at the same time?

Hi there,

I’m a 34 y/o male currently taking Propecia (have been taking it for over 2 years) for hair loss. It’s working great, and I have experienced no sexual side effects since first taking it. My concern is that I’m looking into taking accutane to combat some Seborrheic Dermatitis, and I’m worried that taking the 2 medications together could result in sexual side effects, mainly reduced libido.

I took Accutane about 6 years ago for 6 months and I experienced no sexual side effects. However, I was not taking Propecia during that time. I’m worried that if I take Accutane now, while on Propecia, the interaction of the drugs could cause sexual side effects to happen. I just came off the anti-depressant Anafranil because it resulted in very low sex drive, and my psychiatrist believes this was a result of its interaction with the Propecia. So, despite the fact that the accutane did not give me problems before, I’m worried that it will now due to the Propecia.

What are your thoughts on this? Is the fact that Accutane did not negatively affect me before a good indicator that it will not if taken a second time? Or does the fact that I’m taking Propecia now make that difficult to say? I’m particularly worried about permanent sexual side effects, as I’ve read quite a few stories about this happening. Or do you think once the accutane is stopped, everything will return to normal? The fact that the Propecia interacted negatively with the anafranil to produce low libido worries me that this may happen with the accutane. If I could be confident that any sides would go away once the accutane was stopped, then I’d be ok with going on the second round. It’s just the Propecia that worries me now—will this interact with the accutane and create permanent sexual side effects? Any feedback is much appreciated!

You’re not going to get anyone here telling you to take either propecia or accutane, much less both at the same time.

Seb derm is gut microbiome related and you’re doing yourself a disservice as is on propecia. I’d suggest you don’t aggravate it further with accutane and would recommend you slowly ease off of propecia ASAP.

I personally had a horrible bout of seb derm AFTER accutane and it took over a year of on and off keto and probiotic supplements to get rid of it for good.

I know it’s not what you want to hear but try a low carb diet with no alcohol and wash the affected area with sea salt (dead sea salt works great) every day and really let the saline solution soak on the area instead.

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