Minoxidil side effect - collagen synthesis reduction?

leprous

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minoxidill side effects

just read this man this made me not want to start minoxidill...but im not sure yet.. most of them complain about sexuall side effects from minoxidill....even a guy on Youtube that talked about rogaine and showed Before and after Pictures and stuff he told me the reason he quit rogaine was because he got sexuall side effects...his libido Went down... I dont know what to Believe but many report this it seems
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20834&name=ROGAINE+EXTRA+STRENGTH+(FOR+MEN)
I don't think there's any link between Minoxidil and Erectile Dysfunction. If any, it should help you dick getting more blood. It's finasteride what can mess up your dick tissues.
 

tomJ

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I don't think there's any link between Minoxidil and Erectile Dysfunction. If any, it should help you dick getting more blood. It's finasteride what can mess up your dick tissues.
I had erectile issues on minoxidil fyi..lowers blood pressure for SOME people. Penis needs strong blood flow.
 

leprous

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I had erectile issues on minoxidil fyi..lowers blood pressure for SOME people. Penis needs strong blood flow.
I didn't know Minoxidil was capable of doing that. Thank you for proving me wrong and I'm sorry you experienced that side effect. I'm considering getting off finasteride... don't tell me minoxidil can also mess up my dick...
 

tomJ

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I didn't know Minoxidil was capable of doing that. Thank you for proving me wrong and I'm sorry you experienced that side effect. I'm considering getting off finasteride... don't tell me minoxidil can also mess up my dick...
If you are having sexual sides on finasteride then you may need to wait to clear that up before going on the minoxidil. Your body may need to reset itself before you introduce it. To each his own. Everyone different.
 

leprous

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If you are having sexual sides on finasteride then you may need to wait to clear that up before going on the minoxidil. Your body may need to reset itself before you introduce it. To each his own. Everyone different.
I'm on both plus nizoral and I haven't noticed any side effects but after reading on finasteride last studies I'm quite concerned about permanent damage to the penis so I may quit.
 

tomJ

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I'm on both plus nizoral and I haven't noticed any side effects but after reading on finasteride last studies I'm quite concerned about permanent damage to the penis so I may quit.
That's a tough call. I understand where your coming from. Wish I had the best answer for you.
 

Cactusman

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Hey y’all just want to share my story:

I support the thesis that minoxidil ages your face. I started minoxidil at the age of 22 for beard growth. I was on it for 5 months, stopped for 2 months because I’m bad at keeping regiments, and started up again. After about 2 months into my second dose, I read some of these forums and asked my dermatologist about these side effects. He laughed and said the people lie on the internet, and this is the general consensus among dermatologists, as I have asked 3 different dermatologists in total and they all had the same reaction.

The reason I had asked in the first place was because I was noticing increased dark circles on minoxidil. It should be noted that I’m genetically predisposed to dark circles to begin with. After 4 months into my second dose, I noticed forehead wrinkles and freaked out and stopped. These wrinkles were minor, but nonetheless premature, and not there before minoxidil

I made the mistake of hesitating about three weeks before starting minoxidil a third time. Minoxidil has truly helped hair growth on my face, but it is definitely true, regardless of what doctors or others say, that it can age your face. Part of the reason I was experiencing side effects is because I was (stupidly) using twice the regular dosage. I have now started a third term on minoxidil, using the regular half cap dosage only in the mornings. I’m being very careful to take days off when I notice dark circles start to form under my eyes, but not more than 1-2 days off so that my progress is in vein. I will keep y’all updated

Take aways so far-
-minoxidil is effective for hair growth, I no longe have facial patch spots and I look like a man
- It will age your face if you use too much
- it will not be as effective if you start and stop
- it remains to be seen if I can see the same positive effects with a much lower dosage of the drug, and if this lower dose can mitigate the side effects. After a week on this low dose, I noticed dark circles this morning. I’m taking today off and playing it from there

Hope this helps, I will post again


Hey yall just updating this, I restarted minoxidil for 2.5 weeks, using it at first 1x per day in the mornings, then just to be careful, 1x every other day. My forehead fine lines noticeably became worse in only 2.5 weeks, and now I am off the minoxidil for good. It Should be noted that I regularly moisturized, used Retin A(.025) nightly, and on oral hydrolyzed collagen supplements daily + Biotin every other day.

Takeaway-- If you find minoxidil is messing up your face, STOP. For me, even cutting down the dosage and supplementing my collagen was not enough to mitigate effects.
 

Japanfour

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I used to frequent these forums many years ago - just wanted to add my 2 cents.

About 5 years ago, I tried both generic liquid rogaine and rogaine foam for a total of 2 months.

I can 100% confirm that both of these products have led to premature skin aging.

How do I know this for a fact?

I have warped skin on the same exact parts of my forehead (on the left and right corner) where the liquid and foam was applied..and the skin warping is only noticeable where it was applied.

My forehead lines became much more pronounced and I had sunken eyes.

The good news - 5 years later, the sunken eyes are pretty much gone and the forehead lines are much less noticeable.

Bad news?

The warped skin is still there, but only noticeable if you look really close in a mirror.

But the fact that doctors laugh about this and say it isn't possible made me realize that you can't always trust what they tell you.

Because they're only going by the side effects they're informed of by drug trials.

It isn't just "your mind playing tricks on you" when you see the side effects occur literally overnight, and then slowly fade with time (and some that unfortunately still stick around).

I can tell you right now...no amount of hair is worth aging your face.

You can always get a hair transplant..or if not that - a hair system.

And while that solution sucks, having to repair your face is a lot more difficult (and in some cases, not possible).

I remember Gordon Ramsey talking about using minoxidil for a long period of time..and then seeing him in the news for needing botox to fix his massive forehead wrinkles.

Does make you wonder...
 

Derelict

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A proper skincare routine should mitigate any collagen inhibitng effects of minoxidil, dermarolling/stamping, retin-a, vitamin c serum...all things to promote collagen, i had a pretty deep wrinkle under my right eye, i dermastamped it once a month and within 6 months it was gone, i also had forehead lines, same result. The effects last for years too, but i still do it every month. The only reason i stopped minoxidil was bloated face, but i switch to oral at night and have not had any side-effects.
 

nathael

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I was on Minoxidil liquid for a few years and it never really did anything to me. I was using 1 ml only at night though initially I started at 2ml per day. Eventually the store I bought liquid minoxidil stopped selling it so I had to switch to Foam.

When I switched to foam I thought I was really going to nip the problem in the bud and be very strict with applying it twice a day. The problem was foam required a full cap for me to get across my entire problem area. So I took it this way for about 8 months. I was so worried about my hair that i focused on it and ignored everything else. What I did not realize is what had happened to my face! I looked OLD! I'm only 30 and I would say I look about 45. Now I'm looking at pics from 7 months ago that are high quality and close up and I look 24-25. I've always been told I look younger than my age. My parents are in their 60s and my mom doesn't even have wrinkles. My dad does a bit. My brother is 3 years older and he looks way younger than me. Someone actually insinuated that they thought I have cancer. This stuff is destructive. I also have tiny hairs under my eye lids which I can see in the right lighting. So I thought maybe it's because I was using 4ml (2 capfuls). I started using only 1 capful for a while but it was still 2 ml but I saw some improvement. I then went down to 1ml by melting the rogaine and putting it in a dropper. But this stuff is so bad and has ruined my face so badly that 5 days ago I just decided to completely quit it. I noticed since the time I moved to 1ml using a dropper till now, with being off for 5 days, my wrinkles have greatly reduced. I don't have much under my eyes and my forehead wrinkles are less prominent. I can't say the same for the dark circles. I know that skin cells regenerate usually every 30-40 days for adults. So it's probably going to be a while before it fixes. But I will be doing at home facial peels to try to speed that process up. The black circles under my eyes are the worst. My right eye looks like I got punched. Even my brother said it looks like a black eye. He's usually very open/honest to me. The black circles are caused by leaky capillaries due to the vasidolating action of minoxidil. This stuff may not be fixable just like spider veins are impossible to get rid of. I never even had bad hair when I started minoxidil and all I had was a bit of a receded hair line. My hair got pretty messed up on it. And in the last 5 days it's like I magically saw a bunch of vellous hairs turn dark near the root. I'm not even kidding because I have been observing these hairs daily due to my obsession. I have also been extremely under weight and all of a sudden i'm putting on some weight. I have been working out extremely well and my nutrition intake is insanely high. I went up to 7200 calories/day at one point and still couldn't gain weight. People were amazed at how much I ate and still remained skinny. I was stick and bones and all of a sudden I notice some muscular tone in the mirror. I have also been sleeping a tonne the last 5 days. It's like my body is in repair mode. I even noticed I had really bad memory the last months where I can't really remember my past. Now I'm experiencing weird dreams where I dream about things from the past and I wake up with my memories coming back. I'm still pretty bad with the memories but I'm slowly getting them back. It's a really weird experience.

I think Rogaine foam is definitely absorbed systematically. As I mentioned, I never had these issues with the liquid. I'm not saying everyone will have this problem as thousands of people are fine on it. But it's possible that something in my body doesn't interact well with it and maybe I'm one of the rare people out there but this also means YOU could become one of these rare people. The chance is there, however small it is. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't fly a plane because the chance of it crashing exists. But be very careful with observing your skin in the mirror and quit as soon as you notice any odd effects. Stretch your under eye skin and look for veins, that's a first sign as they begin to appear.
Did your skin ever recover back to normal?
 

Capone

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I used to frequent these forums many years ago - just wanted to add my 2 cents.

About 5 years ago, I tried both generic liquid rogaine and rogaine foam for a total of 2 months.

I can 100% confirm that both of these products have led to premature skin aging.

How do I know this for a fact?

I have warped skin on the same exact parts of my forehead (on the left and right corner) where the liquid and foam was applied..and the skin warping is only noticeable where it was applied.

My forehead lines became much more pronounced and I had sunken eyes.

The good news - 5 years later, the sunken eyes are pretty much gone and the forehead lines are much less noticeable.

Bad news?

The warped skin is still there, but only noticeable if you look really close in a mirror.

But the fact that doctors laugh about this and say it isn't possible made me realize that you can't always trust what they tell you.

Because they're only going by the side effects they're informed of by drug trials.

It isn't just "your mind playing tricks on you" when you see the side effects occur literally overnight, and then slowly fade with time (and some that unfortunately still stick around).

I can tell you right now...no amount of hair is worth aging your face.

You can always get a hair transplant..or if not that - a hair system.

And while that solution sucks, having to repair your face is a lot more difficult (and in some cases, not possible).

I remember Gordon Ramsey talking about using minoxidil for a long period of time..and then seeing him in the news for needing botox to fix his massive forehead wrinkles.

Does make you wonder...
Yes Gordon looked like a nutsack..he said his kids could fit pound coins in his forehead lines :D
 

KNemo

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Yes Gordon looked like a nutsack..he said his kids could fit pound coins in his forehead lines :D
Last seen 3 years ago...

But logically why does he blame minoxidil instead of the balding process which changes skin and removes subcutaneous fat after a while? Also would minoxidil cause that damage in two months and never recover? Must be a very old or very sick individual.
 

nathael

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Last seen 3 years ago...

But logically why does he blame minoxidil instead of the balding process which changes skin and removes subcutaneous fat after a while? Also would minoxidil cause that damage in two months and never recover? Must be a very old or very sick individual.
Fat cells can expand and shrink (about 50x the volume), but once fat tissue is destroyed it doesn't grow back.
 

michaelle

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I don't think there's any link between Minoxidil and Erectile Dysfunction. If any, it should help you dick getting more blood. It's finasteride what can mess up your dick tissues.
Yea... I heard about it too, and I don't think it is true that there is any connection. If you have any issues with it, I recommend that you check out the Male Enhancement treatment, for example. It is a really cool and trusted medicine which I like a lot, and I think you will find it helpful to you too, good luck!
 
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minispoison

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Fat cells can expand and shrink (about 50x the volume), but once fat tissue is destroyed it doesn't grow back.
is this true? pretty scary if so, my cheeks are completely hollow, so it the area beloew my eyes, above the cheeck bone so dark circles are very noticeable. Even my forehead has lost volume, it is prety creppy looking, my frown rigde now sticks out as tehre is less mass smoothing it out. even my nose is thinner, doesnt look good. I though it was a matter of collagen loss, which I have had symptoms of but maybe minoxidil did kill the fat cells. It has been 6 months since I stpped, was on it for 6 months. I dont htink I have made any progress. I was taking way too much and the changes happened very quickly. Where did you read that it can kill fat cells? Any advice?
Much love.
 

losingbattle88

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is this true? pretty scary if so, my cheeks are completely hollow, so it the area beloew my eyes, above the cheeck bone so dark circles are very noticeable. Even my forehead has lost volume, it is prety creppy looking, my frown rigde now sticks out as tehre is less mass smoothing it out. even my nose is thinner, doesnt look good. I though it was a matter of collagen loss, which I have had symptoms of but maybe minoxidil did kill the fat cells. It has been 6 months since I stpped, was on it for 6 months. I dont htink I have made any progress. I was taking way too much and the changes happened very quickly. Where did you read that it can kill fat cells? Any advice?
Much love.
Its poison.
 

corkmeister

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is this true? pretty scary if so, my cheeks are completely hollow, so it the area beloew my eyes, above the cheeck bone so dark circles are very noticeable. Even my forehead has lost volume, it is prety creppy looking, my frown rigde now sticks out as tehre is less mass smoothing it out. even my nose is thinner, doesnt look good. I though it was a matter of collagen loss, which I have had symptoms of but maybe minoxidil did kill the fat cells. It has been 6 months since I stpped, was on it for 6 months. I dont htink I have made any progress. I was taking way too much and the changes happened very quickly. Where did you read that it can kill fat cells? Any advice?
Much love.

This is what happened to me years ago when I was on it. A lot of people don't believe it's a possible side-effect but I recognize what you're describing to the letter, including the volume loss in the forehead. It was sudden because I remember people commenting that I had gotten so skinny (even though I didn't lose any weight). Anyway, it got somewhat better over time but never fully recovered. I'm in my thirties now too so some volume loss is normal which makes it harder to judge.

A couple of months I bought something called volufiline because apparently it promotes subcutaneous fat. I still can't really believe it but it actually made a difference. Particularly in the cheeks, but my forehead too. I was very aware of the way it used to look in my bathroom mirror (the shadows being cast were very prominent with top down lighting) and it looks better now. I'm convinced my nasolabial folds also got much less pronounced after a couple of weeks.

Not a complete fix, but a definite improvement. I'm not going to give you a link at risk of giving the impression I'm shilling, but if I were you I would google it and try it. It's the only thing that has worked for me.
 

corkmeister

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Yeah, I have the one from Sidmool but it's probably the same. If you think you have volume loss from minoxidil @Pidgeon I would definitely try it

Tretinoin is fantastic for skin, but I've read reports of it diminishing facial fat too. No idea if it's true, but seeing how I got burned by minoxidil I'm careful with it. I currently use retinol (I wanna make the switch to tret at some point, but it's prescription only here) conservatively, avoiding the under eye area.

Aside from retinoids, microneedling is good for collagen synthesis too.
 
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