Minoxidil side effects (wrinkles, dark circles) and alternative

[gooose]

Are you guys at least using a freshly made vitamin c tonic? Or retin-a?

None whatsoever. Could you recommend something and elaborate on why these would be beneficial?

 

[DFWdesperado]

So after taking a break from the minoxidil and giving my body a chance to recover I started up with minoxidil again last weekend.. doing 1 application per day, but only to my crown in the hopes of it thickening up as opposed to using it around my temples..been monitoring my skin closely and no issues with that so far thankfully. but the fluid retention issue persists..3 pound weight increase from yesterday to today, and i even weighed on an empty stomach today -_-

 

[resu]

None whatsoever. Could you recommend something and elaborate on why these would be beneficial?

Promotes collagen production. Just a freshy made vitamin c tonic would probably be enough to counter any potential minoxidil collagen related side.

 

[Nadester]

@resu
How about just popping some vitamin c 500mg tablets everyday?? Or that cold spoon technique

 

[resu]

Wouldn't work, it needs to be in the ascorbic acid active form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascorbic_acid

 

[gooose]

Ok i'm going to try tOZ Naturals - THE BEST Vitamin C Serum For Your Face what do you think resu?

i wonder if some form of topical vasoconstrictor (haemorrhoid cream?) would work on the eyes to counter the minoxidil?

 

[DFWdesperado]

Anyone know if the 2% minoxidil or womens version minoxidil might lessen the chances/severity of these sides?

 

[resu]

Ok i'm going to try tOZ Naturals - THE BEST Vitamin C Serum For Your Face what do you think resu?

i wonder if some form of topical vasoconstrictor (haemorrhoid cream?) would work on the eyes to counter the minoxidil?

You need to make it fresh, it degrades over time, also you really need it fresh otherwise you'll experience a very bad reaction, be warned! Always research before accepting anything you read online as absolute facts.

 

[Kittycatmamajama]

Hi Benjt!

Your info has been the most helpful I've found, and you're actually the impetus for me creating my first "blogging" account or thread post. (I don't even know if this terminology is accurate. Ha!).

So, I have Alopecia Areata, albeit mildly, and it is quite treatable w/ tiny, intermittent treatments of Clobetasol. I also, for the past three years have been using maximum strength Rogaine with Minoxidil on my eyelashes and eyebrows, and w/ much success I might add. So much so that all of my friends have embraced my technique, and even my dermatologist, and plastic surgeon have all commended me for my inventiveness. Suffice to say I've gotten particularly skilled at the application process.

My question to you has to do w/ my new found discovery in another eyelash serum, who's active ingredient is prostaglandin; between minoxidil and prostoglandin, which one has a higher efficacy, and which the most adverse documented side effects? I should tell you I am scientifically inclined. I am a senior in the biochemistry department at a nationally ranked university, so please feel free to lay the medical/scientific terminology on me. Any information you might share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Kitty

 

[lukedorian]

Hi Benjt!

Your info has been the most helpful I've found, and you're actually the impetus for me creating my first "blogging" account or thread post. (I don't even know if this terminology is accurate. Ha!).

So, I have Alopecia Areata, albeit mildly, and it is quite treatable w/ tiny, intermittent treatments of Clobetasol. I also, for the past three years have been using maximum strength Rogaine with Minoxidil on my eyelashes and eyebrows, and w/ much success I might add. So much so that all of my friends have embraced my technique, and even my dermatologist, and plastic surgeon have all commended me for my inventiveness. Suffice to say I've gotten particularly skilled at the application process.

My question to you has to do w/ my new found discovery in another eyelash serum, who's active ingredient is prostaglandin; between minoxidil and prostoglandin, which one has a higher efficacy, and which the most adverse documented side effects? I should tell you I am scientifically inclined. I am a senior in the biochemistry department at a nationally ranked university, so please feel free to lay the medical/scientific terminology on me. Any information you might share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Kitty

On my own experience i gotta say that prostaglandines like Lumigan, Latisse and Xalatan (bimatoprost and Latanoprost) will destroy your face and periorbital area with dark circles and wrinkles, i was just about to open a new thread on this topic which seems to be forgotten and the thing is i have open angle glaucoma and i have been treating it with Xalatan for almost 2 years now and associating facts it has been giving me dark circles and hollow eyes almost since the first week of usage, friends began to ask if i was dieting that i looked tired and at that moment i wasn´t on minoxidil yet, well after visiting the ophtalmologist and finding my ocular preasure is ok i decided to give it a rest and in only 1 week the skin around my eyes start to look alot thicker hidrated and fuller, there is a name for that condition, is called prostaglandin associated periorbitopathy (PAP)
http://eyewiki.aao.org/Prostaglandin_Associated_Periorbitopathy
Im still on minoxidil, i believe that in my case sunken eyes were caused by Xalatan since the beggining, doctor mentioned to switch latano for bimatoprost and it was even worse (lumigan), red eye almost 1 week with only one day of usage

 

[Deppish]

I think Benjt later managed to balance out the sides by going off minoxidil every 2 to 3 weeks for a couple of days.

Any others doing this..?

Would this not affect the hair..?



-----------------------------

(Note: This is one of my "New registrations must have at least 4 posts in order to create a new thread"-posts, so I hope people won't mind me digging up old threads or asking questions already answered... at least I'm not looking for answers I know already. I'll post the whole story at "Tell Your Story" once I can.)

 

[resu]

From my experience it eventually builds up and the sides resume.

 

[lukedorian]

Sup everyone,

my situation in short: Recent college grad, male pattern baldness startet manifesting at 18. Now 23, startet treatment exactly 1 year ago.
status: NW3 (yeah, it's going quick)
regimen: 5% minoxidil twice daily, dropped three weeks ago

Symptoms: Massive face wrinkles, massive dark circles around my eyes.

When the minoxidil sides first kicked in, I was really not sure what was going on. My diet and lifestyle are very healthy (non-smoker, usually lots of sleep, moderate alcohol consumption, workout twice a week). Initally, I only started getting these dark eye rings approx 5 months into minoxidil treatment. Did not suspect minoxidil being the reason, as such circles can be caused by a lot of things. Approx two months later (i.e., 7 months into minoxidil), I first noticed huge wrinkles forming around my eyes. Note: I am not only talking about color here. The wrinkles I got below and around my eyes are extreme by now. Forehead wrinkles also showed up, and the skin right below my eyes got porous and quite saggy.
Then I startet to wonder. Did my research online, and many people complain about these sides. My derm basically made fun of me for being "paranoid" and "imagining things", telling me I should get a good night's sleep. When explaining to her that I sleep 9 hours every night, she told me straight in the face that I'm lying. Foto lab guys documented my status, and even they told me they had never seen such bad dark circles around eyes before.
Dropped minoxidil altogether three weeks go. Guess what? Dark circles around my eyes slowly going away, as are the wrinkles. Very slowly, but it's visible.
I am 23. Three weeks ago, I was looking like a 30 year old drug addict. Right now it's still pretty bad, but at least people are no longer openly commenting on it. One month ago, I was told by my supervisor at work to call in sick and go get some sleep. I had slept 10 hours the night before. That should give you an idea about my facial looks right now.

Why am I posting this?
The primary reason is that most people on these forums and on Hair Loss Help (where I'll also post this) are not taken serious. These issues are played down and people with those sides are called paranoid or, to my surprise, even attacked. Often, "sceptical" (or downright aggressive, for whatever reason) posters say "you're imagining things, it's just natural aging, deal with it, don't spread lies".
With this post I want to confirm that this is not natural aging. While many posters are in their late 20s, I am in my early 20s and started treatment even earlier. My whole family is wrinkle-free till a very high age. Wrinkle count around my eyes is 5 or 6 very deep ones around each eye, and the color of the circles is still pretty bad. As mentioned before, dropping minoxidil immeditaley but slowly improved the situation.

So, minoxidil users out there: No, you're not just imagining things. One year of minoxidil 5% twice daily gave me massive black circles around my eyes that hadn't been there before, gave me wrinkles which hadn't been there before, made my skin look saggy, and made the single pores show real bad. Given my age and the improvement after dropping minoxidil, these side effects are not natural aging related.

Anything else noteworthy?
Obviously (or not?), not everybody is affected by these side effects. The most relevant part to be mentioned here is that even though I did not overdose, I had other side effects that are officially listed, i.e., brain fog/dizziness. This hints at larger amounts of minoxidil being absorbed systemically. On the other hand, the side effects only showed around my face, hinting at the minoxidil not being distributed system-wide. Either way, if the minoxidil did hit the blood stream (as indicated by the dizziness and inability to concentrate right after application), who knows what other ways it might travel?

What can I do now? I don't want to take minoxidil nor finasteride.
I started using Adenogen a couple of days ago. Right now I cannot say if it works. However, there are some indications:
- Recent research turned up pretty good evidence that the way minoxidil works is likely through up-regulating adenosine in the scalp. Please recall that it is not understood why or how minoxidil works. However, adenosine supply to scalp seems to be the best bet. (cp. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11886528 )
- Overdosing on Adenogen gave me minoxidil-like side effects (i.e., in this case only dizziness/brain fog), though to a much lower extent. Adenogen works as a vasodilator, as does minoxidil. The side effects on skin did not show.
- Placebo-controlled (!) studies have shown improvements in hair thickness, which is also pretty much the only thing minoxidil does
The great thing about adenosine, adenogen's active ingredient, is its half life. In the human blood, it is metabolised (or collapses) within 10 seconds. This greatly reduces side effects, as minoxidil stays in your blood for more than 12 hours and does its negative workings. While there has been some criticism regarding adenosine's half life: This applies only to blood. In the scalp, its half time is much higher. Placebo-controlled studies have shown that it works, though there are no comparisons to minoxidil regarding effectiveness.

If you really want to experiment, you can use prostaglandin D2 inhibitors, through you will probably need a chemistry or med student for that. Also, it might become dangerous. However, PGD2 seems to be the substance effectively harming the folicles, NOT DHT. (cp http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/126/126ra34 ) I will not do this, but it might be an option for others.


That's it, folks. Long story short:
minoxidil does ruin your skin. I am 23 and it did that to me; it is not natural aging. My lifestyle is very healthy and I do not take any other meds.
Safest bet if you don't want minoxidil or finasteride is Adenogen. Recent research has shown that minoxidil in fact works through increasing adenosine levels in cells. I will report back with adenogen results. Meanwhile, I suggest people with minoxidil sides also use adenogen so we have a better understanding of how effective it is.

Prostaglandins analogs like bimatoprost or latanoprost will make skin look even worse than minoxidil, i´ll try adenogen once more and see how it goes, i used it like 4 years ago but i wasn´t losing great amount of hair at that point, now i have dropped minoxidil because of sunken eyes and wrinkles and dark circles and it´s getting better, but i notice my hair thining rather quickly, ia have been on propecia and minoxidil for over a year with great results, i hope propecia only helps me to maintain what i have been able to gain over the course of these months.
But don´t even consider prostaglandins (bimato or latanoprost) an option, they will destroy subcutaneous fat very quickly

 

[PotatoHairLoss]

Have really bad dark eye circles and puffiness

I'm 23 been using Minoxidil, Minox5 Trima for about 4 years now.

Yes , I have really bad dark eye circles and puffiness but I'm putting the blame on my incredibly nocturnal sleep cycle and lack of sleep.
I don't really attribute it the Minoxidil, could it really be the reason??

 

[scott8696]

I am currently on Doxycycline, an antibiotic for my Acne. It makes your skin more vulnerable to sun (you got sunburned much quicker). I am wondering if minoxidil + Doxycycline is a deadly combination for your skin....

 

[monoid]

After 3 weeks on minoxidil (Rogaine foam 2x/day) I started to develop dark circles around my eyes. I'm going to pause the use of minoxidil to see if it gets better.

 

[gooose]

From my experience a certain amount of sides (yes the dark circles are a recognised side) correlate with effectiveness of regaine. I no longer respond to regaine and surprise surprise no amount of the stuff gives me any sides. When it was working i could feel my scalp and face tingle.

 

[Biffy]

Adenogen definitely doesn't cause wrinkles, so that is a viable alternative to Minoxidil with similar mechanism of action, but not quite potent as minoxidil though.

 

[potato87]

Hi all, just stumbled across this, my first post was how the belgravia centre high strength minoxidil ruined the skin under my eyes (also down rated by Fred the moron Belgian). I was crushed to see some say adenogen also has the same symptoms, I thought this was a great switch. Anyone with any experience on this?

 

[ryan82]

i have black circles under my eyes.. What to do??