Hi Dr.Rassman,
What is your opinion on oral minoxidil (Loniten) regarding hair-regrowth and are you able to provide any information from your practice or any other doctor’s experience?
The original use of this drug in the 1960s was for hypertension (high blood pressure) and some patients may still take it for treating that. The side effect was the growth of hair on the body (everywhere and anywhere). For women, mustaches and chest hair would appear.
There may be dangerous side effects of dropping of blood pressure when taken in a non-clinically controlled or indicated circumstance. This is not a good drug for oral use to regrow hair. Stick to the topical.
As an educational “addition”, oral minoxidil is rarely used in cardiology practice today because of its serious side effect profile, compared to other available drugs. It can cause pericardial effusion and –in some patients – worsen cardiac ischemia (lack of oxygen to the heart). As a result, it is occasionally (but rarely) used in some patients who do not respond to “triple therapy†(diuretic and two other antihypertensive agents). This is aside from the fact that dose and dosing has (obviously) never been determined for treatment of alopecia.