Dark Circles And Skin Degredation On Minoxidil

[countjulian]

I started minoxidil 5% in late 2013. At the time my hairloss wasn't too bad and I just put it on the vertex as directed, didn't think too much about it. Fastf orward to this year, and my hair loss is getting really bad. I'm not willing to try fina yet, so I start dumping a ton of it on all over my head, more than twice the recommended amount. Suddenly, around May-June, I start getting people telling me I look old. I've gained weight, so I start going to the gym and cutting (I wasn't able to go to the gym for the last 2 years, long story). I get down in weight, but I'm still getting the same comments.....I don't remember when it clicked, but I realized it was the dark circles under my eyes. I brought my minoxidil usage down to once a day, only foam, though I do use a smidge more than recommended to cover all of my loss areas. I also started derma rolling, first .25 mm, then, .5 and now 1 mm all over my face and especially under my eyes. For reference, he's a progression--unfortunately I don't have too many pics from 2012-2014, I was a late smart phone adapter. The pics go from right to left in order of age--the youngest me is the pic on the far right (what a Chad, le sigh--and to think I was a virgin at the time because I really believed in Jeebus lol) from 2010, followed by me again 2011 (having gained a little weight), me about a month and a half ago before starting skin treatment (leaner) and me today on the far left (a bit more plump after Thanksgiving). The progression of the ugliness is apparent, but my question is, do you think my skin treatments are working? For reference, in addition to dermarolling I am using eye balm, retinol cream, and Adapalene, the retinoid acne treatment recommended by my derma.

 

[countjulian]

To focus the question, here is a comparison of me at the beginning of the skin treatment vs me now. The right is before I started the skin treatments (creams, dermarolling on face) and the left is me now.

 

[countjulian]

Between baldness and how bad my face looks I feel like sh*t. I don't know how to go on.

 

[barfacan]

Well you're unshaven in the recent pics, and the lighting is much different too. But you're also looking at 7 years bro, its a long time, at least when you're young. dont overdose on drugs boys and girls

 

[countjulian]

Well you're unshaven in the recent pics, and the lighting is much different too. But you're also looking at 7 years bro, its a long time, at least when you're young. dont overdose on drugs boys and girls

Do you see any improvement in the last two? I know for a fact it has fucked my eyes. It's obvious when I smile (compare to the 2010 pic)

 

[countjulian]

6 days off of minoxidil

 

[IdealForehead]

Minoxidil will eat your face alive if you are susceptible to the side effects. You're not going to see an improvement 6 days off. You'd probably have to give it months. And then who knows how much hair you will lose?

I personally wouldn't stop minoxidil unless you had an aggressive and effective anti-androgenic regimen with some alternative growth promoters (like desloratadine 1%, adenosine 0.25%, caffeine 0.2%, niacinamide 5%, ghk-cu 2%, etc) to make up the difference.

I will be stopping my own minoxidil probably in the next 5 months for the same problem, but I am putting those other pieces into play in the mean time. Sadly there is no direct substitute for minoxidil.

 

[countjulian]

Minoxidil will eat your face alive if you are susceptible to the side effects. You're not going to see an improvement 6 days off. You'd probably have to give it months. And then who knows how much hair you will lose?

I personally wouldn't stop minoxidil unless you had an aggressive and effective anti-androgenic regimen with some alternative growth promoters (like desloratadine 1%, adenosine 0.25%, caffeine 0.2%, niacinamide 5%, ghk-cu 2%, etc) to make up the difference.

I will be stopping my own minoxidil probably in the next 5 months for the same problem, but I am putting those other pieces into play in the mean time. Sadly there is no direct substitute for minoxidil.

The Germans all thought I was being over dramatic, said my face looks OK. I feel like my mind is too warped to even tell.

 

[IdealForehead]

The Germans all thought I was being over dramatic, said my face looks OK. I feel like my mind is too warped to even tell.

You're way better looking than me first off. So I'm not slagging you when I say this. But your hair loss is sh*t, which you know, and as you have said, you were what I'm sure many girls would consider a quite good looking guy before your hair loss. You were never a pretty boy. But you have a robust and masculine face.

You look like the type of guy who always would have ended up looking older than his age (thick facial hair, masculine features, etc.).

But probably minoxidil is aging you faster as well.

At the end of the day, it's better to look old and have hair than look young and be bald though. So my advice for you is the same as always.

Be aggressive and try to save as much hair as you can. You have started finasteride. That's good. Stick with it if you can. If it's intolerable, or inadequate, add or switch to RU. If that's inadequate, feel free to join The Great Experiment. It's working for me so far and at least at the present the dose seems tolerable.

Continue minoxidil. Try better skin creams if you can to compensate.

Whatever you do, I don't think "just giving up" or "just shaving it" is an option for you because you care too much about your hair based on your posts and presence on this site. The people that "just shave it" works for are people who legitimately don't give a sh*t. But you clearly do. You will find progressive baldness far more traumatic in my opinion than the side effects from adequate treatment.

So in my opinion, keep treating it. Be aggressive. And recognize that nothing will make you look older than being a NW7.

 

[michel sapin]

how old are you now?

 

[countjulian]

how old are you now?

29 in 5 days.

 

[mercail]

I suffer from dark circles just as much. I recently bought a random retinol serum bottle for it from some aliexpress supplier.
I just kinda accepted it, I'm not going to stop minoxidil and in fact I'll probably be adding RU to my regime, in hopes that a decent cure just appears out of thin air in a couple years. Hopefully all the damage can be undone.

 

[Dazz_nz]

What exactly is your concern? - because like someone else said, 7 years is quite alot of time. You are over 25, you can expect some volume loss in your face. It doesn't look like you have 'dark circles' as such, its more the fat pad under your eyes has dropped and you end up with what is called tear troughs, also you have lost volume in your malar fat pad.

Although there's alot of controversy over it, minoxidil is said to degrade collagen, not fat. Loss of collagen and elastin will effect the skin quality but it wont effect the fullness of your face. I think is just fat loss because you dont have wrinkles, wrinkles form faster when collagen breaks down.
Also, as you get older the thinner/fitter you are, the more fat you end up losing from your face. Hence why overweight people alot of the time have nice full faces even when they get older. The only way to combat this is to use an HA filler like perlane, juvaderm etc.
But you have to take genetics into account aswell. Some people age better than others.

If you are wanting to improve skin quality then just don't go overkill with things, you could just even stick with the most researched/most effective things which are vit c and Retin A/tretinoin(prescription strength) and SUNSCREEN EVERYDAY REGARDLESS OF WEATHER!!!
But you have to keep in mind that good skin starts with your diet and if you diet is sh*t, no matter what you put on your face then its not going to do jack to your skin. Eat lots of vitamin c rich foods especially. You could also try ingesting things that stop collagen degradation one of which is Aloe Vera. Although the study is small heres one on that: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2883372/ - I eat it myself (I have lots of plants) and it is tasteless.

 

[michel sapin]

@IdealForehead ; honestly man you are very knowledgeable bro !
so according to you the value of minoxidil ,even if it help a little bit worth the cost of dark circle ?
because in my case i got no result with it but quite some worsening of dark circle

 

[IdealForehead]

@IdealForehead ; honestly man you are very knowledgeable bro !
so according to you the value of minoxidil ,even if it help a little bit worth the cost of dark circle ?
because in my case i got no result with it but quite some worsening of dark circle

Thanks. If you get no result then I wouldn't bother. It definitely both gives me nasty side effects and very positive growth stimulation. So for me, when I am trying to maximize my growth, it is beneficial overall. At least for the next 6-12 months or so.

 

[ryan82]

Which vitamin C serum you guys recommend?

 

[justbeconfident]

brutal skin aging ngl

 

[Brenna]

As a last resort you could use foundation and other types of makeup to hide them. I've had dark circled eyes since I was young personally and don't mind them.

 

[kotare]

I totally understand you my friend. I was using minoxidil for 2 years and got bed side effects-dry eyes,black circles. Look tired and old. Now i am off for 3 months, feel and look much better!

 

[Adele Shields]

Minoxidil gave me dark circles. Here is a before and after pic. Before/first pic was taken a couple of weeks off it and after/second pic taken one month off it. Same light, position (well near enough anyway) and camera, you can clearly see a difference. My skin is so much better now I stopped using it (I know there are a few more eye lines visible in the after pic but note that i'm smiling more in it hence. I'll update in another month. Evil stuff, for me anyway and many others by the sounds of it. Try Eclipta Alba and Piroctone olamine 1%.