Category: Drugs

Dear Dr,

I have been on Xandrox15 (on frontal/temporal area) for about 6 months till date. At first I thought it didnt help much so I switched back to Rogaine 5% about 3 weeks ago. About the 2nd week onwards, I started encountering major shedding on the hairline. Now, I can see the receding areas which wasnt so obvious before. Even my hair stylist commented it at the 3rd week when I went for a haircut (I visit him usually monthly).

My question is, could it be that minoxidil 15% was working for me and the switch to Rogaine 5 % (which i had been using for past 3 yrs and didnt help with regrowth but maybe a little in delaying the frontal hairloss) is causing the shed?

Thanks!

Minoxidil dependence (and shedding after stopping it) is mostly reported in the patients who had some improvement with medication. Although there is no documentation of dependence on higher doses of this medication, with decreasing the dose, I assume that dependence could be dose dependent. That means, if you are switching from a higher to a lower dose of medication, you may experience shedding or just losing the benefit of the high dose. Again, minoxidil dependence only occurs in hair that sees benefit from minoxidil. The better the hair thickness gets, the more the dependence upon minoxidil. If you continue to have shedding after that period, you must see a hair specialist to evaluate the miniaturization of your hair and make sure this hair loss is part of a regular “pattern” baldness and that there are no other factors involved. It is possible that the shedding is the result of your primary problem.

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to read this message… I love your blog! I am 22 years old and have been taking propecia for about two and a half months now, and I have definitely lost a significant amount of hair since beginning the medication. It almost seems that propecia has accelerated my hair loss in these early stages. Is that even possible? I was hoping for the exact opposite effect, so I’m obviously pretty disappointed. If propecia will eventually work, will I also be able to regrow this hair lost in the first few months of taking the medication? Can you please explain this to me. Thank you!

Assuming that you do have genetic balding, I tell my patients to stay the course. Some people have reported a temporary acceleration of hair loss, but in actuality this is really acceleration of the hair cycling process. You should see the shedding stop in a few months and start seeing value at about the 8th month.

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I was taking Lipodrene for weight loss and it contains ephedrine group alkaloids in it. I have been losing my hair and it is getting to be a problem. I have stopped taking the Lipodrene but when will my hair stop falling out? What can I do to stop this? Help !!!!!!

We have answered similar questions in regards to ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and hair loss as their side effects. Although hair loss is not reported as a common side effect of these medications, it is mentioned in some websites (such as Bodybuilding.com) which go over side effects of bodybuilding medications. The mechanism of hair loss with these medications is not quite clear. Hair loss should be reversible after discontinuation of ephedrine with time. I am not aware of any studies indicating how long before recovering from this condition if it occurs.