Category: Drugs

Costco has stopped selling it’s 5 percent Kirkland brand of Minoxidil liquid, and only the foam is offered now. I want to still use a liquid instead of the foam and have found that Walmart carries a brand call Equate from Israel. any feed back on the product?

I wasn’t aware that Costco stopped selling their Kirkland Minoxidil liquid, but Equate appears to be just another name that generic minoxidil is sold as. In other words, though I don’t have specific experience with Equate, I’d expect it would be the same as the Kirkland, Rogaine, and other products that contain 5% minoxidil as the active ingredient.

There are some short reviews of Equate on the Walmart site.

Hi,

Dr. Rassman, i am on Finasteride treatment since 1 year. However im not happy with the result. Firstly, i saw that my hairs were darking so quickly in the first 3-4 months. i was happy and i was getting results from Finasteride. My hairs was really good and i was feeling that it gets better day by day. Then i had a shedding phase, i was shedding like crazy, then my hairs was less thicker after this shedding phase.

Then, My hairs came back until 8th month. yet i had another shedding phase during 8th month and i lost my hair density again. Then my hairs come back later but i shedded crazy again. i had my hairs shedding during shower,on my pillow, on my laptop. (1 cm or less length hairs)

i just finished my 12th month, with the shedding phase, (or shedding period) My hairs are worse than ever, after the last shedding phase which occured 1 month ago.

Should i give up on treatment or will my hairs will come back? or when they will come back? Thanks in advance Dr. Rassman.

You need to follow up with the doctor who prescribed you the medication. What you describe is very strange and I would hope the doctor you saw has some good objective notes, measurements, or photographs that he/she can use to validate your complaints.

The decision to stop or start Propecia (other any other medication) should be between you and your doctor.

In general, Propecia (finasteride) does not work the way you are describing. It usually takes 6 months to a year before you notice any effects. It does not “darken” your hair. The medication should not start and stop the shedding of hair in cycles like you’re describing. Many patients continue to lose some hair while taking Propecia, but the key point is that they lose a lot less hair than if they were not taking the medication at all.

I wanted to know, if you have an undefined hair loss pattern, for example thinning in ur frontal hairline in one corner then some in the middle and none on the right hand side. Would propecia be effective in treating that, and would the hairloss be aggressive since it has an undefined pattern or would it not be aggressive?

Thank you.

It sounds like you do not have a clear diagnosis of your hair loss. Propecia is for the treatment of male pattern baldness (MPB), but if you indeed have diffuse unpatterned alopecia (DUPA) then Propecia would not likely help. Some patients mistake MPB for DUPA when hair loss is worse on one side.

Eventually (especially under the microscope) the hair loss pattern may emerge, thus a good examination and diagnosis is important. The status of the hair in the very back of your head will tell the doctor if you have DUPA or not.

My effectiveness with Minoxidil decreased in the last months. (im on it for 18 months) Some friend keep telling me that 1 week break will increase its effectiveness and will be great for my skin? is it true? Do you recommend it for me?

I do not know how taking a one week break would help in minoxidil’s effectiveness. That’s a new one to me.

This was a comment we recently received on an older Propecia post:

DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG! My fiance took it for years, with no side effects (although we are realizing now that the emotional/mental trauma he has been suffering since he took the drug is very likely related) – but once he quit the drug he experienced genital shrinkage, low libido, trouble maintaining erections, etc.

Some studies have shown that ~95 % OF MEN SUFFER these side-effects to some capacity – no long-term side-effects were studied by Merck and what makes it tricky, is that RIGHT AFTER you stop taking the drug, you go back to normal for a few days/weeks – then, the symptoms worsen!! Stay away!

Genital shrinking after stopping Propecia is a new complaint, something I have never heard before. What you are saying is just not enough information for me. Of note, where are you getting this “95%” statistic of men suffering from this issue? It sounds like you’re confusing stats.

If I were to entertain this possibility, I would need to know the following bits of information: for example, are you talking about his penis or testicles that shrunk? Or are you talking about the size of his erection? He would need to see a doctor and find out:

1. What his testosterone levels are
2. What his sperm count is

He would need to get examined by a competent urologist. That is a start if he is really worried.

Hi Dr. Rassman, great blog.

I was wondering, whats your view on the effects of Minoxidil on collagen?

Iv heard a few reports of people experiencing bad skin and increased wrinkles on the face when using Rogain, also there is a paper out which shows Minoxidil does inhibit collagen production.

Thanks

I personally do not believe applying a topical medication on your scalp will cause wrinkles on the face, but we’ve written about this before here. What paper are you referring to? The one I’m aware of is relating to rats, not humans.

If you are concerned about such side effects, speak to your doctor and know that you have a choice to use or not use the product.

Hi Doctor,

Was wondering if you have heard anything whatsoever about this product called “Herbal H” for hair loss, I came across it a few days ago. I am attaching a link to their website; herbal-h.com

They have minoxidil listed as an ingredient which is obviously FDA approved. But I wanted to know if you have any information regarding the other listed ingredients or the product itself, for hair loss.

Thanks you.

This seems to basically be just 3% minoxidil with supplements in it (iron, saw palmetto, zinc, copper, angelica, and other things I’m not familiar with). There are a variety of products out there that contain minoxidil with other supplements, and I don’t know that one is any better than the other.

So the only thing I can really say is that topical minoxidil does grow hair, but the strength of minoxidil that is recommended for men is usually 5%.