Severely dry skin help me!

Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.

Where are you from (country)? Korea

How did you find this forum (Google search – if so, what search terms? Via link from a forum or website – if so, what page? Other?)

What is your current age, height, weight? 23, 175, 70

What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Finasteride, dutasteride

What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 1mg, 0.5mg

What condition was being treated with the drug? Hairloss

For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? Fin 18month, dut 6month

Date when you started the drug? 2019

Date when you quit the drug? 2021

Age when you quit? 23

How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey

How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Right away

What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?

Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.

Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility

Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ ] Confusion
[ ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[ ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[ ] Slurring of Speech
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ ] Suicidal Thoughts

Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[ ] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes

Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[ ] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature

[ ] Other (please explain)

What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?

If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?

Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?

Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.

Self-reporting template - ONLY USE FOR FUTURE POSTS TO REPORT ANY TRIALS OF TREATMENTS, NOT YOUR INITIAL MEMBER STORY

  1. Name of the therapy/substance:
    • Dosage:
    • How often you took it:
  2. Status
    • Still using [ ]
    • Stopped with no lasting change to initial symptoms [ ]
    • Stopped with persistent change to symptoms [ ]
  3. Duration of use: Days [ ] Months [ ] Years [ ]
  4. Response when you started:
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  5. Current response (if you’re still using the therapy/substance) OR Response in the time before you stopped the treatment
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]
  6. Lasting changes to initial symptoms after cessation (if you have stopped for more than 3 weeks)
    • Greatly improved [ ]
    • Slightly improved [ ]
    • Stayed the same [ ]
    • Slightly worsened [ ]
    • Greatly worsened [ ]

Here’s my story. Sorry for my bad english. I took fin and dut each for 18month and 6month. i had severe acne while taking these drugs. And my body hair was removed. I used to have a lot of body hair on my arm and leg. And i had diffuse hair loss too. It seems like these symptoms are due to severy dry skin. Now i am off the drug for 14month and i still suffer from severely dry skin. Has anyone recovered from dry skin. It seems like my body is not producing any oil anymore. I am having really hard time. I feel like dry dead body.

Do you suffer from any other symptoms besides dry skin?

I do have some low libido and not 100% erection. But my main problem is dryskin. I just want my skin back

As you probably know there isn’t any solution to PFS currently. Your options are to either accept what this condition has done to you or get involved in supporting research and raising awareness

I just want to know if there is anyone who suffered from dry skin and get better with time. That kind of experience will give me hope.

Hello! Sorry for your condition. I’m also experiencing PFS-like condition due to high dose of Isotretinoin. One of the most common side effects for that drug is extremely dry skin. I’ve also started experiencing hair loss after developing my condition. I used to have horribly dry skin on my hands (with fissures and peeling), but my problems greatly improved after some short period of using hand creme with vitamine F and later almost recovered with time. My hair loss also seems to decrease with time (although it hasn’t stopped completely).
I’m pretty sure you’ll see at least some improvement with time.