Dropping Minoxidil - Staying on Propecia - Will I shed?

[Mickhazza]

Gday guys,


I was on minoxidil and propecia for about 10 months with great success however the side effects of minoxidil were a joke, not sure if it was allergy related but it turned my facial appearance to ****.. it sort of crept up on me.. got like inflamed facial skin like edema and dark circles.. i looked haggered or something anyway i quit the minoxidil about 3 and abit months ago and my hair has taken a nose dive.. ive lost like 30 or 40% density, especially in the front. Very thin at the moment when before you could barely tell i was losing it!? Interesting a few weeks after i quit minoxidil my scalp itched like mad and i just shed rediculously .. are these symptoms of
Telogen Effluvium?

Anyway i have stayed on the propecia the whole time and just wondering if the state of my hair will improve? Im not going to get back on minoxidil as ive tried that a few times on low doses the last couple of months and the reaction literally comes right back.. luckily it goes away quickly.. so when will i go back to baseline, anyone been in my position ? Cheers

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Guess if it doesnt help anyone here why comment. Awesome.

 

[Mickhazza]

Why did my title change?


Seriously no1 has ever dropped minoxidil on finasteride?

 

[runner32]

Seriously no1 has ever dropped minoxidil on finasteride?

My post is here http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/interact/showthread.php/66991-Time-to-Give-up

But yes, I dropped minoxidil while on finasteride just out of ignorance really. I didn't understand how/why finasteride and minoxidil worked. I paid the price big time. I didn't stop due to sides. never had any side effects from finasteride or minoxidil. I can't speak to the results yet since I just started back on minoxidil for the past few weeks. Will let you know

 

[andrew lincoln]

Seriously no1 has ever dropped minoxidil on finasteride?

My post is here http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com/interact/showthread.php/66991-Time-to-Give-up

But yes, I dropped minoxidil while on finasteride just out of ignorance really. I didn't understand how/why finasteride and minoxidil worked. I paid the price big time. I didn't stop due to sides. never had any side effects from finasteride or minoxidil. I can't speak to the results yet since I just started back on minoxidil for the past few weeks. Will let you know

Yep, I made the same mistake, and I shed like crazy!

 

[blaze]

your hair will get worse when you quit but it will get gradually better over the months. Your hair will return to a state that it would have been had you just used finasteride. But since you never just used finasteride I guess you dont know what that state looks like. It would have been best to taper like most drugs. Here is a small study on this issue:


Finasteride Treatment May Not Prevent Telogen Effluvium After Minoxidil Withdrawal


Archives of Dermatology


Oral 1-mg finasteride and 5% topical minoxidil are currently widely used to treat androgenetic alopecia (Androgenetic Alopecia) in men.1-2 Although the finasteride-minoxidil association has not been widely tested in humans,3 results in animal models suggest that the combination of the 2 treatments may be more effective in inducing hair regrowth than either treatment alone.


Interruption of minoxidil treatment is well known to induce telogen effluvium because the follicles phase simultaneously to telogen, having prolonged their anagen growth under the effect of minoxidil. This often produces severe hair loss with obvious thinning.


There are no data about the capacity of finasteride treatment to prevent aggravation of Androgenetic Alopecia after minoxidil treatment interruption. Our observations indicate that such benefits may not exist.


Report of Cases


In 1997, a 24-year-old man consulted us because of Androgenetic Alopecia . He started applying topical 5% minoxidil, 1 mL, twice daily. In October 1999, the patient was given 1 mg of finasteride in addition to topical minoxidil because the latter had produced only moderate regrowth. In May 2001, the patient was satisfied with his hair growth, which had considerably improved, with elongation and thickening of the hair in the temporal and vertex regions, but decided to interrupt minoxidil application for personal reasons. However, in November 2001, he returned to our offices because of a noticeable worsening of his Androgenetic Alopecia, complaining of severe hair loss for 2 months. Clinical examination revealed evident hair thinning.


Follow-up in February 2002 confirmed the worsening of his Androgenetic Alopecia compared with the pictures obtained before minoxidil treatment interruption. At follow-up in February 2003, the condition had remained stable.


We have recently observed 2 other patients who developed severe hair loss with evident worsening of Androgenetic Alopecia after interruption of 5% minoxidil treatment, despite continued finasteride treatment. Acute telogen effluvium started approximately 3 months after minoxidil withdrawal.


Comment




It is important to stress that all of these patients had been treated with a minoxidil-finasteride combination for 2 years with slight improvement of their clinical presentation. The reason finasteride does not prevent telogen effluvium after minoxidil withdrawal may reside in the different mechanisms by which these drugs act on the follicle. Finasteride is a 5-reductase type II inhibitor that decreases dihydrotestosterone production. It is effective in the frontotemporal region and in the vertex area. Minoxidil is a potassium channel opener and exerts its action through the activity of its metabolite, minoxidil sulfate. The exact mechanism of its action on the hair follicle is still debated, but it probably acts by stimulating the growth of the hair matrix and/or dermal papilla cells.


Our observations indicate that minoxidil and finasteride may have a synergistic effect on the hair follicles. This is promising with regard to using the 2 drugs in combination, but we also believe that physicians should be alerted to the risk of aggravation of Androgenetic Alopecia when the use of 1 of the 2 drugs (minoxidil) is interrupted.


So far, all of our patients who interrupted their minoxidil treatment and continued using finasteride have experienced worsening of Androgenetic Alopecia. However, we have no long-term findings for patients who discontinued finasteride use while continuing minoxidil therapy. Data from the literature indicate that finasteride withdrawal leads to slow and progressive hair loss, with return to pretreatment state within 1 year. Thus we can speculate that withdrawal of finasteride treatment in patients using the combination finasteride-minoxidil might be followed by a slow and not severe hair loss, but further observation is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

 

[Thom]

I made the mistake last year too. That shed will suck big time!

Are you sure it's the minoxidil causing those problems?

 

[andrew lincoln]

Very nice find on the article blaze!