Minoxidil Side Effects

[what]

I've been on 5% minoxidil and 0.5mg every other day of propecia for about 1 yr and 3 months now.

For most of the time i hadn't really noticed any side effects and was maintaining my hair fairly well. However, a few weeks ago i noticed that my eyes seemed to have bags under them and i looked all around tired. Also, my forehead looks puffy or bloated...the horizontal wrinkles look larger and more obvious. At the time i thought that it was simply because i was tired and it was just a transient thing i was experiencing due to lack of sleep.

But, just this past weekend i went to visit my friend and his wife that i hadn't seen in months. His wife is a very blunt person and will tell you what's on her mind without hesitation. I walked into their apartment and within 30 secs she looked at me in an odd way, as if studying my face, and then proceeded to tell me that i look "different" and that i have bags under my eyes and look tired and asked if i wasn't sleeping well or if something was wrong.

This sort of confirms what i thought i noticed a few weeks back. And maybe i'm experiencing sides from minoxidil. Have others experienced this? I've read a lot of complaints about it online and it's negative effects on a person's looks, but thought that they were probably just coincidental. Now, i'm not so sure and think there is some truth to those complaints.

Unfortunately, i think i need to stop taking minoxidil. Which sucks b/c i think it was helping but, i don't like what it's doing to my face, so am stuck. If you experienced sides like this, did they go away after stopping?

 

[whats up im joe]

do you have any before & after pictures of your eyes and or forehead?
not saying i dont believe you, i'd just to see how dramatic the changes are. because i've heard a lot about eyebags & wrinkles from minoxidil but have never seen pictures to show how bad it really is.

 

[Primo]

I personally do believe minoxidil has had slight effect on my skin and wrinkles, but without it my hair would look like sh*t right now. Still nowhere near as bad as the Finasteride penis I had before though.

minoxidil was proven to inhibit collagen synthesis in two studies, however the concentrations of minoxidil used was quite high, so I would have thought the skin effect should only be minor at the small doses we take.

 

[what]

do you have any before & after pictures of your eyes and or forehead?
not saying i dont believe you, i'd just to see how dramatic the changes are. because i've heard a lot about eyebags & wrinkles from minoxidil but have never seen pictures to show how bad it really is.

Hey Joe, i don't have any pictures. Honestly, if you don't know me, you probably wouldn't notice anything. It's a very subtle thing, and took a bit of deliberation on my part to say "yeah, something is going on here". but, i was definitely starting to notice a change when i looked in the mirror and then when my friend's wife pointed out the very thing i'd been concerned about, without any tip off that i was having issues, that kind of got me worried.

My main concern is that it will be progressive and get worse with time. If it stayed like it is, i'd consider just cutting the dose down to once a day and or using a lower concentration. But, there is no guarantee it's not going to get worse and the risk of looking like crap just doesn't seem worth it to me. I'm still losing hair even with the treatments (just slower) so i'm going to bald at somepoint anyway and i really don't want to bald with bags and dark circles under my eyes.

Seems like i can't win. Treatments are helping but of course i get sides - from both minoxidil and propecia. Can't catch a break.

 

[what]

I personally do believe minoxidil has had slight effect on my skin and wrinkles, but without it my hair would look like sh*t right now. Still nowhere near as bad as the Finasteride penis I had before though.

minoxidil was proven to inhibit collagen synthesis in two studies, however the concentrations of minoxidil used was quite high, so I would have thought the skin effect should only be minor at the small doses we take.

Yeah, Primo, I've read that about collagen synthesis as well. My effects are fairly minor at this point. I'm concerned that it will get worse with time.

What's weird is that i've been using minoxidil with no troubles for well over a year and have only just started to notice effects. How long were you on before you detected any problems?

 

[Primo]

I've been using minoxidil for 6months.

It's natural for 24yo guy like me to have a few minor lines forming in the face and I did have this before I started, but I do think they may have got slightly worse since I began in July, although it's probably not something that anybody else would notice at this point. If my skin really starts to look progressively crap over the next 12months then I'll know it's definitely the minoxidil.

Some people are more sensitive to minoxidil than others though, personally I was very sensitive to finasteride, but I've been quite lucky so far with minoxidil in terms of sides.

 

[TA45]

Yes, Z I got the same reactions from people after being on it for a while. I am now off it. Unfortunately it is another product that worked but I can't use it. People were telling me I look older and giving me weird looks. Sucks

 

[keepinthehair]

Timallen

Has the "aging look" subsided since you stoped the Min and how long did it take. I have recently noticed darkness and wrinkels that seem to have appeared faster than normal in the last few months. I figured my looks were finally catching up to my actual age. If a lower dose still works, then I am all for it.

 

[TA45]

I tried lowering the dose but still felt it was manipulating my skin. I think any dose at all will delay the "healing" if you are prone to skin issues from minoxidil. Maybe starting treatment at a lesser dosage would delay the skin effects?? But for me I used the lower percenatge minoxidil for about a month and it didn't help that much. As far as how I am now: I think I am at about 80% skin health now. Meaning a lot of the wrinkles that formed when on it are still there however they only get pronounced if I am stressed or tired...where as they were pronounced much more often when I was on minoxidil. The bloating has gone down at about 85% as well. Hope this helps. Just so everybody knows, my intention is not to badmouth minoxidil.

 

[MrBastard]

For the past few days i noticed i look more tired aswell :thumbdown2:
Wrinkles no so much, but i have gotten small bags under my eyes who is blue when i see on them close.

I apply 1.5ish ml minoxidil after a shower every night on a damp scalp, and i use morning 1 ml weekends aswell on a damp scalp. Will go down to only 1 ml nightly on a completely dry scalp from today and see how it go.

I also started b-komplex vitamins a few days ago wich is supposed to help skin so can be interesting to see if my small changes help anything... I have used minoxidil since summer 2010 and have used on a damp scalp atleast 80% of the days.

 

[brightside]

Aren't these skin issues often caused by applying on to a damp scalp?