diff --git a/lisp/mail/mail-utils.el b/lisp/mail/mail-utils.el
index 870f4ba1001..8af7e0a0f32 100644
--- a/lisp/mail/mail-utils.el
+++ b/lisp/mail/mail-utils.el
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ Usenet paths ending in an element that matches are removed also."
     (if (setq pos (string-match "[ ,\t\n]*\\'" userids))
 	(setq userids (substring userids 0 pos)))
     ;; remove leading spaces. they bother me.
-    (if (string-match "\\s *" userids)
+    (if (string-match "\\(\\s \\|,\\)*" userids)
 	(substring userids (match-end 0))
       userids)))