Minoxidil

I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata a few months ago and had steroid shots in my bald spots. My doctor recommended a steroid topical along with minoxidil. I started using minoxidil (2% at first and then switched to 5%). Then, I slowly noticed dark bags under my eyes forming. I really thought it was just hereditary aging but I kept looking at my family members and just couldn't see it. It got to the point where I couldn't look in the mirror any more because I was unrecognizable. I looked 10 years older in a matter of months. I had even considered getting fillers. I bought all kinds of eye creams, concealer, was putting cucumbers on my eyes in the morning, tried to get more sleep. Then last week it dawned on me that maybe it was related to my hair loss. So I googled "alopecia and bags under eyes" and all of these posts came up about minoxidil causing bags under the eyes.

I stopped using it immediately. It's been 4 days since I quit, and I am almost back to looking like myself. I am hugely relieved that I didn't keep using minoxidil and that I made that connection. And also, thank god for Google - sometimes.