minoxidil 3 months update.

morphuesX · Mar 1, 2004

just finished month 3 on minoxidil on hairline and the crown..iam experiencing serious shedding since i started..my hairline has been decimatedand have receded quite a bit..and temples have thinned considerably..it seems like it has just accelarated my hair loss..all these days i was taking this shedding to be a good sign but it doesnt seem to be stopping and there is absolutely no sign of any regrowth. iam seriously considering stopping it now before i do some irrepariable damage

i've been on finasteride for almost 15 months now...makes me sad that iam using all the best avaialbe treatment options..yet i continue to bald :x

morphuesX · Mar 1, 2004

i wrote to DR.Lee ..seems like he wants me to stay on minoxidil :roll: ..guess ill give it another month

I have reviewed your file. You started treatment some time in January, that means you have been treating your loss for less than 3 months. It is too early to tell if this shedding is a good sign or not.

Topical minoxidil can cause an initial increase in shedding. However, it's important to realize that the sustained use of topical minoxidil will result in an improvement in the number and quality of the hair on your scalp.

Minoxidil stimulates early shedding of telogen hair rather than at the end of the telogen phase. 10% of normal hair is in the telogen phase. Up to 20% of thinning, miniaturized follicles are in the telogen phase. This is why minoxidil induced shedding appears so dramatic with thinning hair. If you use strong or weak minoxidil, the same amount of telogen hair will shed. Stronger concentrations of minoxidil will just cause more of the hair to shed at the beginning of the 100 day telogen phase rather than throughout the phase. It is easy to confuse this temporary shedding that you are experiencing with hair loss. They are not the same. Thinning hair, if not programmed irreversibly otherwise, will be replaced at the end of the telogen phase with healthier hair. male pattern baldness on the contrary, is the continuing shrinkage (atrophy) of the follicles.

If the follicles can not be recruited to regrow terminal hair with treatment, then you have not done anything to accelerate loss with Xandrox or minoxidil. You have only accelerated shedding of hair that was going to shed anyway.

Continue treatment and please keep me advised of your progress.

Richard Lee, M.D.