Why am I still shedding on Oral minoxidil?

Question

So, last June I started topical minoxidil due to slight recession of my hairline, I really didn’t have any other problem. My dermatologist told me he thought it was stress related. I used it for 6 months and I didn’t think it had did much for me, although looking back, my hair did feel a bit stronger. Since starting oral, 1 1/2 months in I started shedding and I still am, I’ve lost ground on my hairline and density. I’ve been on oral for 6 months today exactly and 4 months shedding, why is this?

Jacquelline Leva, DO · Answer

Although certainly topical minoxdiL will convert your hair follicles into a growth state most of the time patients need multimodal therapy. Low Light Laser therapy, +/- spironolactone women and +/e finasteride men typically what we see, can combine with prp as well. I would also do blood work Thyroid tests, iron, vitamin D, inflammatory markers, COVID testing to make sure nothing else is going on. It could also be you are undergoing stressful point causing telogen effluvium could be emotional stress, surgical, extreme diet changes.

Wipawan Vathananai, MD · Answer

I think it is important to rule out other causes such as telogen effluvium and alopecia areata incognita. For telogen effluvium, it could be caused by many things such as abnormal thyroid hormone, vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, stress, etc. Also, it's important to observe how many hairs you lose per day (you can check from the virtual scale - put "The Hair Shedding Visual Scale: A Quick Tool to Assess Hair Loss in Women" in Google). If the hair sheds more than 100 hairs/day on the day without shampoo, then it's abnormal. For the day you wash your hair, it would be abnormal if hair sheds more than 200 hairs/day.
I hope this help

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Why am I still shedding on Oral minoxidil?

Answers (2)

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