Does Lexapro Cause Hair Loss? Case Reports and What to Do

You finally found a medication that’s helping, and now there’s more hair in the shower drain than there used to be. It’s a scary combination. The last thing you want is to choose between feeling better and feeling like yourself in the mirror.

Each hair on your head cycles through growth, rest, and shedding on its own schedule. When something jolts that cycle, such as illness, stress, or a new medication, more hairs can shift into the resting phase at once and fall out together weeks later. Figuring out what caused the jolt takes precision, because the trigger often happened well before the shedding started.

Lexapro, the brand name for escitalopram, is one of the most studied antidepressants available. In a 2018 Lancet network meta-analysis of 522 trials, escitalopram was among the more effective antidepressants in head-to-head comparisons and among the more tolerable. The results are real, and the science is well established.

But a medication that works well for most people can still cause a rare side effect in you, and at Siggy we’d rather take that seriously than tell you it’s probably nothing.

That means looking at the timing, ruling out other causes, and knowing what the evidence says about reversibility and switching. In a 2011 case report, a woman’s hair loss began about 3 weeks after starting escitalopram, stopped 2 weeks after she stopped it, and came back when she restarted it. That on, off, and on again pattern is the strongest clue a single case can offer.

What This Page Covers

• Does Lexapro Cause Hair Loss?
• What Do the Case Reports Show?
• Why Would an Antidepressant Affect Your Hair?
• Could Something Else Be Causing Your Hair Loss?
• Is Lexapro Hair Loss Permanent?
• What Should You Do If You Notice Hair Loss?
• What Are Your Options If Lexapro Is the Cause?
• How Siggy Fits In
• The Bottom Line on Lexapro and Hair Loss
• Start Your Anonymous Intake

Does Lexapro Cause Hair Loss?

It can, but it appears to be rare. Lexapro’s FDA label lists alopecia, the medical term for hair loss, among reactions reported after the drug was marketed. The label notes that because those reports are voluntary, it isn’t possible to reliably estimate how often they happen or prove the drug caused them. Hair loss doesn’t appear among the common side effects seen in Lexapro’s clinical trials.

Larger datasets point the same way. A Swedish pharmacovigilance study of adverse reaction reports concluded that alopecia appears to be a rare reaction to SSRIs, that risk seems to vary between SSRIs, and that it might be higher in women. In that analysis, 88.9% of the hair loss reports involved women.

And in a U.S. claims study of more than 1 million new antidepressant users, every SSRI studied, including escitalopram, had a lower hair loss risk than bupropion. Fluoxetine and paroxetine had the lowest risk of all. Our guide to Wellbutrin and hair loss covers bupropion in more detail.

What Do the Case Reports Show?

Case reports can’t tell you how common a side effect is, but they can show what it looks like when it happens. A few have been published for escitalopram.

The 2011 case above is the most detailed. A 40-year-old woman had no hair loss during 12 weeks on venlafaxine, then noticed shedding about 3 weeks after switching to escitalopram, which her hairdresser confirmed. She stopped escitalopram on her own after about 3 months, and the shedding stopped 2 weeks later. When depression returned and she restarted it, hair loss came back within 2 weeks and continued while she stayed on it.

Other reports describe similar patterns. A 2020 case report described escitalopram-induced hair loss, and a 2016 eyelash case described eyelash loss linked to escitalopram that didn’t occur with sertraline. For citalopram, a closely related drug, a 2019 case report described a 76-year-old woman whose hair thinned 3.5 months after starting it and who regained most of her hair within a few months of stopping.

These are individual stories, so they can’t predict what will happen to you. They do show that when hair loss is tied to the medication, it has generally improved after the drug was stopped.

Why Would an Antidepressant Affect Your Hair?

Most medication-related hair loss follows a pattern called telogen effluvium. A telogen effluvium review describes it as excessive, diffuse shedding that can be triggered by drugs, emotional or physical stress, illness, and other factors that push more hairs into the resting phase at once.

Exactly why an SSRI would do this isn’t known. One 2021 case discussion raised the possibility that SSRIs affect melatonin signaling at the hair follicle, but that idea is still a hypothesis.

Could Something Else Be Causing Your Hair Loss?

Often, yes. The same review found that in about a third of telogen effluvium cases, the cause is never identified, and many common triggers have nothing to do with medication. Here’s how some possible causes compare.

Possible Cause	Typical Timing	What Helps Sort It Out
Escitalopram or citalopram	Weeks to months after starting	Timing with doses, prescriber review
Stress, illness, or fever	About 2 to 3 months after the trigger	Recent events in your history
Thyroid problems	Variable	Thyroid blood tests
Nutritional deficiencies	About 2 to 4 months for some deficiencies	Diet history, blood tests
Childbirth	About 2 to 5 months after delivery	Recent pregnancy

The medication row reflects the case reports above. The other rows come from the telogen effluvium review, which notes that both overactive and underactive thyroid can cause shedding that reverses once thyroid levels are treated, and that severe protein, fatty acid, or zinc deficiency can trigger it too.

Depression and anxiety can play a role as well. Emotional stress is a recognized trigger of telogen effluvium, so the stretch of time before you started Lexapro may matter as much as the medication itself.

Is Lexapro Hair Loss Permanent?

In the published cases, it generally wasn’t. The 2011 patient’s shedding stopped 2 weeks after she stopped escitalopram, and the 2019 citalopram patient regained most of her hair within a few months. The authors of that case emphasized that reassuring patients that the hair loss is reversible can ease distress and help prevent relapse.

The broader research on telogen effluvium is encouraging too. The review defines acute telogen effluvium as shedding lasting less than 6 months and notes that it goes into remission in about 95% of cases, often with visible short regrowth along the hairline. Shedding that lasts longer than 6 months is considered chronic and deserves a closer look from a clinician.

What Should You Do If You Notice Hair Loss?

First, don’t stop Lexapro on your own. Its label warns that stopping suddenly can cause discontinuation symptoms such as dizziness, irritability, anxiety, and electric shock sensations, and recommends reducing the dose gradually whenever possible. Our guide to tapering off Lexapro explains why that matters.

Then gather some details for your prescriber:

• When the shedding started, and when you started or changed your Lexapro dose
• Whether it’s diffuse thinning or patchy bald spots, which can point to different causes
• Any illness, fever, major stress, weight change, or pregnancy in the past few months
• Other medications and supplements you take

Your prescriber may suggest blood tests, such as thyroid and iron levels, or a referral to a dermatologist, especially if the hair loss is patchy, painful, or long-lasting.

What Are Your Options If Lexapro Is the Cause?

The right move depends on how much the hair loss bothers you and how well Lexapro is working. Common options include:

• Watching and waiting, if the shedding is mild and Lexapro is clearly helping
• Adjusting the dose, under your prescriber’s guidance
• Switching to a different antidepressant, with a planned transition

The research offers some guidance for switching, though it can’t predict your individual response. In the claims study above, fluoxetine and paroxetine had the lowest hair loss risk among the antidepressants studied, and bupropion had the highest. In the individual case reports, one patient had no hair loss on venlafaxine and another had no eyelash loss on sertraline. A dermatologist may also discuss treatments for shedding itself, and the telogen effluvium review lists minoxidil among the options used.

Whatever you decide, keep the goal in view: treating depression or anxiety well matters, and a rare side effect is a reason to adjust the plan, not abandon treatment. Our guide to Lexapro side effects covers the more common ones.

How Siggy Fits In

Siggy’s prescribers focus on anxiety and depression, and SSRIs like Lexapro are a core part of that care. Siggy’s intake gathers structured information and doesn’t diagnose you on its own. A licensed prescriber reviews your full intake, including your current medications and any side effects you’ve noticed, before anything is prescribed or changed.

The anonymous intake asks for no name, email, or account, so you can describe a side effect that feels embarrassing without holding back. You’ll get a downloadable summary to keep or share with any clinician. If someone else prescribes your Lexapro, keep working with them, and bring your summary along.

Siggy isn’t an emergency service. If you’re in crisis, call 911 or call or text 988. This article is for education only and isn’t a substitute for personal medical advice. It reflects sources available as of October 2026.

The Bottom Line on Lexapro and Hair Loss

Lexapro can cause hair loss, but it appears to be rare, and in published cases it has generally improved after the medication was stopped. Because stress, depression, thyroid problems, nutrition, and childbirth can all cause similar shedding, the timing and a few simple tests matter. Never stop Lexapro suddenly. Instead, work with your prescriber to decide whether to wait, adjust, or switch, so your mental health stays on track while your hair recovers. If you’re comparing options, our guide to Lexapro vs. Zoloft is a good next read.

Start Your Anonymous Intake

If you’re in crisis right now, call 911 or call or text 988 first. If a side effect is making you second-guess your treatment, and you want a prescriber to look at the whole picture, start your anonymous intake. It’s free, there’s no name or email required, and a licensed prescriber reviews your intake before anything is prescribed. Your summary is yours to keep and share with whoever helps you next.