Treating Telogen Effluvium With Minoxidil

melky1 · Jul 30, 2017

Been on finasteride for 10 years and hair remained relatively strong up until about three months ago. Have been shedding aggressively since then, with noticeable thinning in my hairline, temples, and forelock.

I strongly suspect this shed is due to starvation diet and extreme/rapid weight loss from January - April along with severe emotional distress.

My question - if my suspicion is correct and this is stress induced effluvium, is it best to just be patient and see what hairs regrow now that my life is back on track? Or would adding minoxidil to my regimen help to aid/ensure regrowth? If I did use minoxidil and saw regrowth, would I be locking into permanent reliance on it? I wonder about this in consideration of the fact that these are hairs that may have come back to life eventually anyhow....

Of course I want these hairs back ASAP... but I suppose my concern with minoxidil are just like everyone else's - the potential commitment and the fear of the initial shed.

mr_robot · Jul 31, 2017

melky1 said:
Been on finasteride for 10 years and hair remained relatively strong up until about three months ago. Have been shedding aggressively since then, with noticeable thinning in my hairline, temples, and forelock.

I strongly suspect this shed is due to starvation diet and extreme/rapid weight loss from January - April along with severe emotional distress.

My question - if my suspicion is correct and this is stress induced effluvium, is it best to just be patient and see what hairs regrow now that my life is back on track? Or would adding minoxidil to my regimen help to aid/ensure regrowth? If I did use minoxidil and saw regrowth, would I be locking into permanent reliance on it? I wonder about this in consideration of the fact that these are hairs that may have come back to life eventually anyhow....

Of course I want these hairs back ASAP... but I suppose my concern with minoxidil are just like everyone else's - the potential commitment and the fear of the initial shed.

I lost a whole lot of hair from weight loss and stress, they never came back as Telogen Effluvium can cause accelerated male pattern baldness.

Minoxidil only extends the anasgen phase, they wont make hairs come out of the resting phase which is what Telogen Effluvium is. Your a best tom is to give it 4-6 months and see what happens.

melky1 · Jul 31, 2017

If I'm seeing light/translucent/withered/miniaturized hairs in my shed does that indicate the "accelerated male pattern baldness" you are referring to?

Obviously would be super bummed if male pattern baldness was kick-started by dieting and stress, as finasteride seems to have worked for me for a long time now.

melky1 · Aug 1, 2017

ForeverLacey said:
I don't think Minoxidil can stop a telogen effluvium once it has started. It's probably best to just let it run it's course if you already know and corrected what triggered it. Mr Robot is right in that it can accelerate thinning if you presently show signs of male pattern baldness however, if you are treating it with Finasteride with success then these hairs shouldn't be effected by miniaturization between cycles. I think where Minoxidil can help is in preventing telogen effluviums before it happen. I am testing this theory now, I started Minoxidil back in April a month prior to a major surgery. I had to go off all my hormonal therapy 2 weeks prior and couldn't resume until 2 weeks post op. I am now 10 weeks post op and have yet to experience an effluvium. In fact, I never had the dread shed but I am also only using it once a day. My hope is that it keeps my hair in the anagen phase until the stress from surgery, anesthesia, and going off and on HRT passes and then discontinue.

Oh wow, for all of my trolling of these forums, I was not familiar with the concept of "miniaturization between cycles" -- @ForeverLacey , can you elaborate on this? I have been shedding all sorts of hairs, from healthy dark ones to ones that have been shocked silver/gray, to wispy translucent ones that I was quite concerned were symptomatic of dying follicles. Is there the possibility that those miniaturized/unhealthy hairs come back strong over time?

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Also, goes without saying, but - hope recovery from surgery is going well and here's hoping the minoxidil continues to fend off that "dread shed!"