What could happen if a woman uses Rogaine for men, extra strength? It says dangerous, not for use by women.

There is no reason why rogaine cannot be used on women, I suggest using this because its stronger.  Best, Dr Emer.

It is best to follow your doctor's advice before starting any medication.  Many women use 5% Rogaine without any issues.  Higher strength may be associated with higher side effects.

Rogaine extra strength (5%) can be used by women and has recently also received approval for use by women in the foam formulation at a dose of once daily. Check with your physician to see if Rogaine is right for you. Side effects include hair growth on the face, heart palpitations, dizziness, shedding of hair in the first month.  Rogaine is not for use by women during pregnancy. 

Thank you for your question. You’re asking if extra strength minoxidil for men is safe for women and I can certainly give you some guidance on this matter. Just a bit about my background — I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon, a Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, a hair restoration specialist and the founder of Trichostem™ Hair Regeneration treatment, which is an alternative non-surgical procedure designed to address hair loss in both men and women.Ninety-five percent of the hair loss that people usually experience is due to androgenetic alopecia, which refers to the progression of thinning hair. The hair starts out thick and as it sheds, it grows back thinner and thinner until it stops growing altogether and the area becomes completely smooth.In this country, the only currently FDA-approved hair loss drugs are minoxidil, for men and women, and finasteride, for men. These drugs certainly do have a role in hair loss management, but it’s important to understand that they do not stop hair loss progression. In my experience, minoxidil appears to simply prolong the growth cycle of thinning hairs. Currently, 5% minoxidil foam is approved for women and, from my experience, this is adequate enough for its purpose. We have certainly tried compounding minoxidil with higher percentages of retinols and other agents to help improve the topical treatment, but one of the challenges we’ve encountered from using a higher strength minoxidil was scalp irritation, which many patients did not want to go through with.In our practice, we’ve developed a treatment called Hair Regeneration, which has allowed us to do away with hair loss drugs like minoxidil and finasteride. With Hair Regeneration, we are using a material called extracellular matrix (ECM) combined with a part of your blood called platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and then injecting it into the scalp. What we are able to do is stop the progression of hair loss, reactivate hair that is not growing, and correct the hair growth cycle so that thinning hairs actually grow back thicker.With the development and evolution of this treatment, we’ve gone from an 88% success rate in treating hair loss in women to a 99% success rate. What this means is that within 12 to 15 months, most of our patients, both men and women, will see significant improvements, usually after only a single treatment. Sometimes a second injection is done the following year but in essence, I think that considering alternative treatment may be more beneficial instead of just thinking of taking stronger minoxidil. I recommend that you try to learn more about your alternatives, learn more about Hair Regeneration or treatments like it, and find a skilled and experienced practitioner who offers this type of procedure.I hope that was helpful and I wish you the best of luck!

I have often recommended higher concentrations of minoxidil (Rogaine) for women. There has been no problems in my hands