Help- a young woman + Minoxidil.

[Coffee.and]

I was diagnosed with Androgenic Alopecia a year ago. I'm 29 years old now, and my situation is getting worse. I've tired using Rosemary, ACV, Saw Palmetto- Nothing helped. Maybe It's time to try Minoxidil. But I'm so scared... I've heard it cause your skin to age and get saggy, and also cause dark circles under the eyes...

I'm losing more and more hair, and it shows. I feel lost. Maybe it's time to try it. :< Any advice, or help would be great.

[animetor7]

I'm so sorry to hear about your struggle with this. I don't know much about Minoxidil, but I just wanted to say that the LHC is behind you and I'm sure some of our lovely members will have some suggestions. Hang in there!!:cheer::flower::grouphug:

[Anje]

My husband's been using Minoxidil for years, and his skin looks younger than most people his age. He does have dark circles under his eyes, but he's always had those.

I'd say to give it a try -- it definitely did have some effect for him. It apparently increases circulation to the area; every so often he'll have a drip that ran down his forehead, and you can see that there's a little pink line indicating its travel.

My only real advice is to be careful to keep it off your face (maybe a sleep bonnet would be wise) as it can also affect facial hair, and keep it far away from any pet cats. It's pretty toxic to them, so you don't want to leave drips lying where they could step in it. (My cats have coexisted with it for years without problems, but it's something to be careful of.)

[Babyfine]

I'm sorry this is happening to you. I have wanted to try Rogaine for awhile, now, but have been scared off for the reasons you stated. I did a search and found some hairloss forums, both women's and men's, where some of the members swore that Rogaine had aged their skin. So I made the decision not to try it for now. Perhaps discussing it with a dermatologist would help? I've thought of doing that myself. I have very thin hair, but so far I've had good luck with keeping what I have by using Nioxin step 4-including the scalp treatment. However, Nioxin does not regrow hair and they do say not to wait to used Minoxidil if you are experiencing severe hairloss.
In your case I would discuss it with a dermatologist.
I do know I've followed the stories of those here who have used it with no side effects.

[Silverbrumby]

I tried it and i did get terrible eye bags that went away after i stopped. But others didn't get that so why not try it. I just wanted to add that according to a scientific study using rogaine with a dermal roller device significantly improved the outcome for regrowing hair.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746236/

...The results of this study show that Microneedling is a safe and a promising tool in hair stimulation both for male and female AGA and also is useful to treat hair loss refractory to Minoxidil therapy. We opine that Microneedling procedure should be offered to patients with AGA along with the existing therapeutic modalities for faster

(P.s. I use an electric dermal pen i got off eBay, way easier than the roller )


I'm sorry this is happening to you. I have wanted to try Rogaine for awhile, now, but have been scared off for the reasons you stated. I did a search and found some hairloss forums, both women's and men's, where some of the members swore that Rogaine had aged their skin. So I made the decision not to try it for now. Perhaps discussing it with a dermatologist would help? I've thought of doing that myself. I have very thin hair, but so far I've had good luck with keeping what I have by using Nioxin step 4-including the scalp treatment. However, Nioxin does not regrow hair and they do say not to wait to used Minoxidil if you are experiencing severe hairloss.
In your case I would discuss it with a dermatologist.
I do know I've followed the stories of those here who have used it with no side effects.

[summergame]

Hello there,

I am 28 years old and I use Minoxidil for about more than 3 year now. I also have alopecia androgenetica. I does work for me! I have a lot of new babyhairs and the my forhead doesnt look so big anymore. I just want to say that I only have a positive result with the 5%, the 2,5 % did nothing for my hair. I have no black circles on my eyes and my skin doesn't look older. This is the brand that I use : https://www.medibib.be/producten/minoxidil-bailleul-5-3-x-60-ml

If you have other questions about it, feel free to ask me :)

[lapushka]

Hello there,

I am 28 years old and I use Minoxidil for about more than 3 year now. I also have alopecia androgenetica. I does work for me! I have a lot of new babyhairs and the my forhead doesnt look so big anymore. I just want to say that I only have a positive result with the 5%, the 2,5 % did nothing for my hair. I have no black circles on my eyes and my skin doesn't look older. This is the brand that I use : https://www.medibib.be/producten/minoxidil-bailleul-5-3-x-60-ml

If you have other questions about it, feel free to ask me :)

About the link. For those that can't read Dutch (most of us here), it says it's prescription only and can't be exported due to legal restrictions. This goes for *any* prescription med in Belgium. ;)

[Agnieszka]

I'm sorry you are going through this! If you were diagnosed with the condition your doctor probably checked your ferritin levels before. I'm writing this just in case they didn't check it. My hair loss which looked just like AGA was caused by low ferritin levels and my hair got almost back to normal after correcting iron. Ignore my post if you have checked your ferritin before :-)

[summergame]

About the link. For those that can't read Dutch (most of us here), it says it's prescription only and can't be exported due to legal restrictions. This goes for *any* prescription med in Belgium. ;)

Thank you for the clear replay Lapushka, I did not think about those things. :flower:

[lapushka]

Thank you for the clear replay Lapushka, I did not think about those things. :flower:

You're welcome. I just recently discovered while looking for another med that prescription meds in BE can't be exported (even if you have a prescription). So if you order online from Belgian pharmacies, it's only going to have to be OTC.

[Coffee.and]

Hi- is the dermal pen safe? How do you use it? I rather try something else, so scared of Minoxidil. :<

[Coffee.and]

Thank you all for your kind comments.

[Angelica]

Calcium levels need to be checked also. How are your nails? What about a visit to a trichologist?

[red-again]

And your ferritin needs to be in the high end of the range not just 'in' range. Also have you had your tsh levels and free t3 and free t4 checked too. Plus thyroid antibodies. I'm a vet nurse but my degree is in nutrition and dietetics so I'm happy to interpret blood results and give nutrition advice if you need it.
Haven't any experience with the minoxidil but others on here seem to reckon it's not as scary as you've been led to believe. Bear in mind, you will always get a biased result on the Internet. The ones who have good results or no side effects will not be searching out sites to leave reviews so all reviews on some products can be negative or worrying. Take the gabapentin I'm in for nerve pain, read the reviews and yep, it's enough to put you off but in reality it is a great med for me, I just haven't left a review yet, so it's just the negatives again that people see. Reminds me to go and leave a few reviews on various sites!

[Silverbrumby]

Yes, it's safe if you follow basic sterilization techniques. The electric pen has detachable tips. You use alcohol to sterilize before and after use.

I set my pen to the shallowest setting.
Use wide tooth comb to create one inch parts.. Go over each hair part once or twice with pen. Place pen down and part hair another inch. Repeat

I use dermal pen before i wash hair because of the intense itching i get after use. Washing hair helps get rid of it. NEVER dermal pen before bed. The itching keeps you awake.

The dermal pens are around $56 on ebay.

If you try it might want to just do one side of you head with pen and rogaine and the other just rogaine. See if the pen makes a difference.

Also ONLY dermal pen once a week. NEVER dermal pen then apply rogaine. On dermal pen days either skip Rogaine or space as far away from needling as possible.

Rogaine is a blood pressure medicine. If you have low blood pressure be aware of that. It's possible the dermal pen might allow more of it to be absorbed. No medical literature to back that up.