Author: Dr. William Rassman

In Australia, there’s a hair clinic that’s been supplying Minoxidil tablets once a day in their offerings to young hair loss sufferers for a long time now. Reports indicate that maybe 50% of them have astounding scalp hair growth with a few side effects, but this medication when administered orally in tablet form, is not approved for this purpose by the FDA.

One reputable doctor does reports using the Minoxidil pill for severe psychological suffering in the young man and adding to it lotions containing finasteride and Rogaine. He warns of side effects and requires careful monitoring, which must be explained to the patient and the parents when minors are involved, and to use the medications only as a short term bridge for those young men with severe psychological dysfunction, until they can surround the dysfunctional state. There is caution suggested when side effects show up, because they can be life threatening. Of the ten or so young men reported by this doctor who received the pill in a 15 year period, one patient had excessive body hair and one developed occasional heart flutters. Stopping the medication stopped the heart flutters, but the excess body hair seemed to stay with the one patient that had it.

Minoxidil was originally developed as an antihypertensive agent to treat high blood pressure. If this medication is given to people without high blood pressure, it could drop the blood pressure enough to produce more than a heart flutter — like a heart attack or stroke — in some individuals who have other underlying conditions that lie dormant. Just remember, Minoxidil taken orally is NOT approved as a hair loss treatment. It may drop your blood pressure dangerously low and may cause strokes and even death.

Hello, I’m a 21 year old male who started using Rogaine at the age of 19. I was worried I was losing my hair because it is very prevalent in my mom’s family. After using Rogaine for over two years I decided to stop because of the irritation it was causing on my scalp. I stopped late last January and for the first three months I did not notice my hair count change at all, but in about the past three weeks my hair has been falling out by the handfulls. If this continues much longer I may be left with no hair at all. I have been using Rogaine again now for about a week and will continue, but do you think I will be able to get back in the large amount of hair I lost that was apparently dependent on Rogaine? Will reintroducing Rogaine to the follicles bring my hair back to what it was? thank you!

The only two FDA approved products approved for male pattern hair loss are topical minoxidil (Rogaine) and oral finasteride (Propecia). They both have limitations and work primarily by slowing hair loss than growing new hair. Only a small minority of men with genetic hair loss will experience great amounts of hair regrowth with minoxidil, while Propecia will show more predictable results in someone of your age. In your case, your genetic destiny may be catching up to you. It is doubtful that restarting Rogaine will regrow your hair, but Propecia, on the other hand, may reverse recent hair loss. Both drugs may slow the process of hair loss, but if you are genetically balding, Propecia attacks the cause of the hair loss and therefore is far superior. Get your diagnosis by mapping out your hair for miniaturization and with good measurement, you will be smarter about what is causing your hair loss and what benefits you may or may not get from doing whatever you choose to do.