Minoxidil and pre-mature face Aging?
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geraldjohannpaul
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Damage done to skin around eyes in 1 week
I used Minoxidil for only one week at the start of December 2015 and picked up a lot of damage to the skin around my eyes up to the cheek area. My right eye got more damage than my left eye, because I sleep mostly on my right side.
The theory that the Minoxidil rubs of on the pillow and then gets transferred to the face is true. The week I started using Minoxidil, happened to be at the time of a heat wave ('lucky me'). I clearly remember one evening the minoxidil not absorbing due to me sweating, and then going to bed, while sweating. The pillow was drenched in my sweat, which must have spread the minoxidil all over my face.
Now, some people I think are more sensitive to minoxidil than others, which I now know I am. I'm 44 years old, and my skin started showing signs of ageing, but the texture of my skin was still as expected for my age. The skin around the eye area is the most delicate, and unfortunately the minoxidil really caused some damage here. The elasticity is still okay, but the skin is extremely thin and actually shows discoloration because of it, with the muscle and veins underneath giving it a darker appearance. The wrinkles are also definitely worse than before. The wrinkles are however not what gets me down... what really depresses me, is seeing these dark rings (up to my cheeks) around my eyes. The dark patch around my left eye is not so noticeable, but the right eye is. It is also not really noticeable in good light, but in shops, underneath fluorescent lighting it is, and really bothers me.
Fortunately, I broke out with an allergy (rash on my scalp and pulses) after a week's use of minoxidil, and consequently immediately stopped using it. Think the damage could have been a lot worse with continued use of the product. It is only after 3 to 4 days of stopping the minoxidil, I noticed my face swelling up, and also the wrinkling and dark lines around my eyes. To my horror I discovered this crippling side-effect by reading these forums.
Once I found out about it, I washed all my bedding with vinegar and warm water. I actually threw my pillows away. Think that even after stopping the minoxidil, I still absorbed some of it onto my face by means of the pillow.
A week later, to add insult to injury, I got a groin hernia by simply reaching for something in the kitchen cupboard. At this stage I was extremely fit and did a lot of rowing. I would even attribute the minoxidil playing a part in this, in that it gets absorbed into the blood stream, and might have even weakened the groin muscle by means of collagen breakdown, which in studies it has been shown to do. You don't have to believe me on this, but this is my theory anyways.
The same collagen breakdown, is what occurs in the skin, causing the dark circles and the increase in wrinkling. There is also a bit of sagginess in the skin up to the cheeks.
A few days after my face was all swollen, the swollenness subsided, however, the damage had been done in terms of collagen loss. I went for one RF treatment, which had a little bit of a lifting effect, but didn't go for more treatments, being scared that I might just cause more damage.
I read up a lot about treatments that could build collagen up again, but was distraught that there were no quick fixes. I'm still not sure in what time frame collagen build-up occurs. Many people on the forum reckon that collagen rebuilds in the dermis in 1 year. Other places I've read that the half-life of collagen in the dermis is 15 years. In other words 50% of the dermis thickness gets replenished in 15 years. As one ages this even slows down and collagen breakdown increases. If this is true, then there is no hope of getting my skin back to what it used to be.
There are however means to try and accelerate collagen growth as well as try and slow collagen breakdown. Collagen growth can be sped up by means of anti-ageing serums, containing growth factors and peptides, and eating correctly. Collagen breakdown can be slowed down by using serums and supplements with a lot of anti-oxidants. Since February, I've been applying CE Ferrulic every morning, and have also gone for 3 PRP treatments since then.
I have seen a slight improvement.. . probably 25%. About 5 to 6 weeks after the first PRP treatment, the skin tightened up a little bit, but no change to the dark circles. Then about a few weeks now after the 3rd PRP treatment, the dark circles may have lightened up a fraction of a degree, but are still noticeable. Could also just be a bit of additional skin-tightening that makes the dark circle become a little less apparent.
The next step for me would be, to go for 3 or so treatments with PRP combined with adipose derived stem cells. A study revealed that tests done on mice showed marked improvement in collagen growth and dermal thickening. I'm hoping that by adding maybe just 0.2 to 0.4 mm to the dermis, the dark circles would disappear? The wrinkling doesn't even bother me that much, it is this bit of a Frankenstein look that is most devastating.
Please people, pay attention to the skin ageing side effects. I can promise you, these reports are not made up. Believe me, it is devastating to suddenly see your skin age 15 years in a matter of a week. If you really have to use minoxidil, please make sure it doesn't somehow get onto your face. And if you have to apply it at night, rinse your hair after it has absorbed to be safe. I'm not even noticing my lack of hair anymore, it is only my face that I'm concerned about now.
I used Minoxidil for only one week at the start of December 2015 and picked up a lot of damage to the skin around my eyes up to the cheek area. My right eye got more damage than my left eye, because I sleep mostly on my right side.
The theory that the Minoxidil rubs of on the pillow and then gets transferred to the face is true. The week I started using Minoxidil, happened to be at the time of a heat wave ('lucky me'). I clearly remember one evening the minoxidil not absorbing due to me sweating, and then going to bed, while sweating. The pillow was drenched in my sweat, which must have spread the minoxidil all over my face.
Now, some people I think are more sensitive to minoxidil than others, which I now know I am. I'm 44 years old, and my skin started showing signs of ageing, but the texture of my skin was still as expected for my age. The skin around the eye area is the most delicate, and unfortunately the minoxidil really caused some damage here. The elasticity is still okay, but the skin is extremely thin and actually shows discoloration because of it, with the muscle and veins underneath giving it a darker appearance. The wrinkles are also definitely worse than before. The wrinkles are however not what gets me down... what really depresses me, is seeing these dark rings (up to my cheeks) around my eyes. The dark patch around my left eye is not so noticeable, but the right eye is. It is also not really noticeable in good light, but in shops, underneath fluorescent lighting it is, and really bothers me.
Fortunately, I broke out with an allergy (rash on my scalp and pulses) after a week's use of minoxidil, and consequently immediately stopped using it. Think the damage could have been a lot worse with continued use of the product. It is only after 3 to 4 days of stopping the minoxidil, I noticed my face swelling up, and also the wrinkling and dark lines around my eyes. To my horror I discovered this crippling side-effect by reading these forums.
Once I found out about it, I washed all my bedding with vinegar and warm water. I actually threw my pillows away. Think that even after stopping the minoxidil, I still absorbed some of it onto my face by means of the pillow.
A week later, to add insult to injury, I got a groin hernia by simply reaching for something in the kitchen cupboard. At this stage I was extremely fit and did a lot of rowing. I would even attribute the minoxidil playing a part in this, in that it gets absorbed into the blood stream, and might have even weakened the groin muscle by means of collagen breakdown, which in studies it has been shown to do. You don't have to believe me on this, but this is my theory anyways.
The same collagen breakdown, is what occurs in the skin, causing the dark circles and the increase in wrinkling. There is also a bit of sagginess in the skin up to the cheeks.
A few days after my face was all swollen, the swollenness subsided, however, the damage had been done in terms of collagen loss. I went for one RF treatment, which had a little bit of a lifting effect, but didn't go for more treatments, being scared that I might just cause more damage.
I read up a lot about treatments that could build collagen up again, but was distraught that there were no quick fixes. I'm still not sure in what time frame collagen build-up occurs. Many people on the forum reckon that collagen rebuilds in the dermis in 1 year. Other places I've read that the half-life of collagen in the dermis is 15 years. In other words 50% of the dermis thickness gets replenished in 15 years. As one ages this even slows down and collagen breakdown increases. If this is true, then there is no hope of getting my skin back to what it used to be.
There are however means to try and accelerate collagen growth as well as try and slow collagen breakdown. Collagen growth can be sped up by means of anti-ageing serums, containing growth factors and peptides, and eating correctly. Collagen breakdown can be slowed down by using serums and supplements with a lot of anti-oxidants. Since February, I've been applying CE Ferrulic every morning, and have also gone for 3 PRP treatments since then.
I have seen a slight improvement.. . probably 25%. About 5 to 6 weeks after the first PRP treatment, the skin tightened up a little bit, but no change to the dark circles. Then about a few weeks now after the 3rd PRP treatment, the dark circles may have lightened up a fraction of a degree, but are still noticeable. Could also just be a bit of additional skin-tightening that makes the dark circle become a little less apparent.
The next step for me would be, to go for 3 or so treatments with PRP combined with adipose derived stem cells. A study revealed that tests done on mice showed marked improvement in collagen growth and dermal thickening. I'm hoping that by adding maybe just 0.2 to 0.4 mm to the dermis, the dark circles would disappear? The wrinkling doesn't even bother me that much, it is this bit of a Frankenstein look that is most devastating.
Please people, pay attention to the skin ageing side effects. I can promise you, these reports are not made up. Believe me, it is devastating to suddenly see your skin age 15 years in a matter of a week. If you really have to use minoxidil, please make sure it doesn't somehow get onto your face. And if you have to apply it at night, rinse your hair after it has absorbed to be safe. I'm not even noticing my lack of hair anymore, it is only my face that I'm concerned about now.
Funkymonk1
Experienced Member
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I've even heard that finasteride can also have a similar effect on your face.
razelscnhaps
Member
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I have read a comment from someone who had read a study saying that reducing DHT may have a skin anti-aging effect...
minoxidil is used by woman for years. If there was chance that it speeds up skin aging, induce dark circles under eyes or wrinkles, women would be first to notice, blow the whistle and scream loud as hell: NO MORE minoxidil LADIES! Snowball effect for sure. Yet I read only posts of men scarred that they dont look like Cristiano Ronaldo because of minoxidil. Very strange...
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Women typically only use the ~2% formulation.
Funkymonk1
Experienced Member
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Good point........
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If you're worried about this and you want to use minoxidil, I would recommend using tretinoin/retin a at night and sunscreen every morning...pretty much the current gold standard for skin anti-aging. I'm pretty sure it will be difficult, if not impossible for any potential age-acceleration effects of minoxidil to counteract the collagen production and cell turnover produced by tretinoin.
I started using minoxidil 3 months ago and since last month I am using it twice a day. It aged my eyes really badly. I am 28Y old so I thought its just a natural aging process and I have to deal with it. I even brought an expensive Kiehls anti aging cream. Didn't realize that is was the affect of minoxidil until I saw this post, now I am glad I did.
Planning to make these changes and see if there will be a difference.
Planning to make these changes and see if there will be a difference.
- Apply early in the evening to give it time to dry out before bed.
- Start using it just once a day.
- Apply only on the top of the head since that's where I have thinning and balding problem and it is very unlikely to touch the top of the head to the pillow.
- Dry the hair with cold air after applying minoxidil since cold air ok.
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Is it possible you guys are getting dehydrated from the minoxidil and that is showing up on your skin?
Dryness or dehydration can make your skin look aged..its a heart medicine drug--any connection?
I have been using minoxidil 5% for 8 weeks and my skin looks great. But i drink a lot of water and eat a lot of veggies so i am wondering if this is something that might be going on with people seeing the aging..the dosage vs hydration? (i Don't know just wondering)
Dryness or dehydration can make your skin look aged..its a heart medicine drug--any connection?
I have been using minoxidil 5% for 8 weeks and my skin looks great. But i drink a lot of water and eat a lot of veggies so i am wondering if this is something that might be going on with people seeing the aging..the dosage vs hydration? (i Don't know just wondering)
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kj6723: tretinoin is good for forehead wrinkle prvention . but never use it aroud eye area of for dark circle , it will really worsen the situation . trust me .
Is this a fact or just your own experience?
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Personally I think it's hogwash.
I believe the effects of Minoxidil are temporary, maybe a few years, if Finasteride or some other anti DHT isn't added, it's
useless.
But I don't believe it causes wrinkles. Actually, I think that's just a bunch of sh*t, to be honest. The dosage is so small.
Some people probably just have allergies to glycol, that's it. For them, foam is the better option.
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iggy, that is my own experience . when i was in first year of college i freak out because of some small lines i could see under one of my eye ( OCD behavior) , i became obsessed with it and strarted to apply some retin a . i ended up way worse . because the under eye skin is way to thin .
it might be could for crown feet and wrinkle on the forehead , but not directly under eye
it might be could for crown feet and wrinkle on the forehead , but not directly under eye
Simply put: "No."
It can cause fluid retention (swelling), dark circles (increased blood flow), etc. but not "aging". There is no strong evidence that demonstrates Minoxidil causes wrinkles and stuff.
What this is, is a placebo effect. You ask people who claim to have been aged by minoxidil if they knew about this "side effect" beforehand and the answer is, 100% of the time, yes. So they start paying attention to their skin more closely and noticing fine lines that they've probably had for years and just didn't notice. "I'm only 24!" yes, most people at that age do have minor degrees of wrinkles, especially if they don't wear sunscreen. I know a girl who lives in Arizona who is only 24 and has full-on crow's feet and she's never used Minoxidil.
The other half of the time, it's people who are like "I started using minoxidil at age 26 and now I'm 31 and have wrinkles!" Yeah no sh*t; you're getting old.
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Wow thats crazy
I'm 45 I just started this year getting fine lines in forehead and around eyes but really only when i smile--they are not there when I don't smile.
24...31??? that's insane.
I use minoxidil no sign of increased aging..Only thing that caused my forehead wrinkles is peering into my stupid magnifying mirror for 6 months looking for new hair growth every day..Huge mistake....Now its been coming in I don't look as much and those lines are already relaxing.
Most mid-late 20s I know do have some fine lines, but you'd have to look to notice it. I have them under my eyes and a couple on my forehead, but I did take a couple nasty sunburns while hiking, horseback riding, rock-climbing, etc. in the mountains these last couple years. I've since taken up religious wearing of sunscreen; rain or shine.
I think to me happened the same......But for me it is the line between the eyebrows, the one you are flexing when you are angry.
f***, it is not only the hairloss which makes me look older, but also the stress hairloss causes.....
What are you doing against your new lines apart from not observing your hair that much?
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for now nothing It's not that bad i feel like i am way ahead of the aging game for now..My parents both have great skin so does my older sister.
I am supposed to do a silk peel and laser Genesis combo soon and i think this probably will help one is a microdermabrasion and the other is a laser that stimulates collagen production.
If they deepen by Summer i will probably do a little botox.
I do use a lot of serums on face it think this helps a lot.
Drunken Elephant Vitamin C
Phillip Thomas Roth Retinoid 1.5% at night
korres greek yogurt facial once in a while
Resist Line minimizer serum once in a while
Phillip Tomas roth pumpkin mask 3 x a week
Resist eye cream once in a while.
SkII eye masks once in a while (work fantastic but temporary)
You guys don't need 'all' this stuff you are young
Eating avocado and veggies fruits etc also i notice helps skin look good.
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