I was recently told that minoxidil would help promote beard growth, as well as
male pattern baldness (i.e. help thicken patchy areas, etc.) Is this correct?
My understanding was than minoxidil was effective only in male pattern
baldness. Just a curiosity….
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Uucp: …{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!396!35!Ken.Milstead
Internet: Ken.Milst…@f35.n396.z1.fidonet.org
In article <3639.27CA7…@stjhmc.fidonet.org> Ken.Milst…@f35.n396.z1.fidonet.org (Ken Milstead) writes:
>I was recently told that minoxidil would help promote beard growth, as well as
>male pattern baldness (i.e. help thicken patchy areas, etc.) Is this correct?
>My understanding was than minoxidil was effective only in male pattern
>baldness. Just a curiosity….
Male pattern baldness of the vertex (back of the head) to be exact.
OK, I’ll fess up and say that I actually tried a combination
tretinoin/minoxidil alcoholic solution on the patchy parts of
my beard just for the hell of it. The irritant effect of the
tretinoin made me flake so much that I looked like I had a much
worse skin condition than a few bald spots on my beard. It didn’t
appear to have much of a facilitative effect on my beard, but I probably
didn’t give it enough time. I tend to doubt it would work, tho.
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Steve Dyer
d…@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
d…@arktouros.mit.edu, d…@hstbme.mit.edu
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
In article <6…@spdcc.SPDCC.COM> d…@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <3639.27CA7…@stjhmc.fidonet.org> Ken.Milst…@f35.n396.z1.fidonet.org (Ken Milstead) writes:
>>I was recently told that minoxidil would help promote beard growth, as well as
>>male pattern baldness (i.e. help thicken patchy areas, etc.) Is this correct?
>>My understanding was than minoxidil was effective only in male pattern
>>baldness. Just a curiosity….
>Male pattern baldness of the vertex (back of the head) to be exact.
>OK, I’ll fess up and say that I actually tried a combination
>tretinoin/minoxidil alcoholic solution on the patchy parts of
>my beard just for the hell of it. The irritant effect of the
>tretinoin made me flake so much that I looked like I had a much
>worse skin condition than a few bald spots on my beard. It didn’t
>appear to have much of a facilitative effect on my beard, but I probably
>didn’t give it enough time. I tend to doubt it would work, tho.
It’s my understanding that Minoxidil turns the fine, tiny hairs into
thicker pigmented ones. That effect was discovered when patients
with hypertension who were on the drug started getting hairy foreheads.
If you examine the skin carefully on the head, you will see that there
are these tiny hairs almost everywhere. In male baldness, the pigmented
hairs change to the tiny ones under the influence of testosterone. Essentially
the type of skin that is on the forehead grows backwards toward the vertex.
The idea of the minoxidil is to change them back. If your face has
the tiny hairs in the patches where the beard doesn’t grow, I suspect
it might work on that too. I’ve been bald so long I’m used to it
and my beard grows up almost to my lower lid as it is, so I haven’t
experimented with minoxidil.
<OK, I’ll fess up and say that I actually tried a combination
<tretinoin/minoxidil alcoholic solution on the patchy parts of
<my beard just for the hell of it. The irritant effect of the
You know, I’d be careful about sprinkling Rogaine on my body like
holy water. In animal studies, high doses of Rogaine cause a
number of very serious, and permanent, heart abnormalities. No
one – no one – has ever done a long-term study of Rogaine used
on healthy human subjects to determine what the effects on the heart
might be. The few studies that have been done were done only using
the low prescription amounts associated with using Rogaine for hair
loss. I think that if you start using more than the prescription
amounts just for fun you are volunteering your body to science
It would be a shame to read articles 15 years from now that describe
how some percentage of people who were prescribed Rogaine and misused
it by applying more than the suggested amounts to their bodies ended
up developing life-threatening heart disorders. Food for thought.
Will Estes (apple!cup.portal.com!Will)
In article <39…@cup.portal.com> W…@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes) writes:
><OK, I’ll fess up and say that I actually tried a combination
><tretinoin/minoxidil alcoholic solution on the patchy parts of
><my beard just for the hell of it. The irritant effect of the
>You know, I’d be careful about sprinkling Rogaine on my body like holy water.
You are grossly misrepresenting what I described.
>In animal studies, high doses of Rogaine cause a number of very serious, and
>permanent, heart abnormalities. No one – no one – has ever done a long-term
>study of Rogaine used on healthy human subjects to determine what the effects
>on the heart might be.
Someone who reads package inserts but can’t interpret them, I see.
You’re not presenting the reports in the package insert in any kind of
context where they make sense. Minoxidil has been in use systemically
as an anti-hypertensive agent for more than 25 years. Its effect on
the circulation and on the heart are quite well known. Its toxicity
in long term use in humans is very well known. The amount and extent
of cutaneous absorption both from solutions applied on the scalp and
elsewhere have also been very well documented–it usually ranges from
1-2% based on excreted metabolites.
When the drug is given as an antihypertensive orally, any effects on
the human heart stem directly from the fact that it is a very powerful
vasodilator. Reflex increases in heart rate and work, and fluid
retension are common, and are managed by the use of ancillary drugs.
The problems reported in animal studies have not been observed in
humans given even high doses of the drug for years for the control of
severe hypertension, and there have been several studies looking at
autopsy results in such patients who ultimately died looking for such
evidence. In fact, most of the "very serious, permanent" heart
abnormalities did not occur in monkeys, although they did appear in
dogs and pigs, but these abnormalities were related to the
pharmacological effects of the drug increasing the work of the heart.
Topical minoxidil application (even excessively frequent application)
can barely be shown to have any effect at all on cardiovascular
parameters affected by antihypertensive use of the drug. Application
to large areas of the skin might increase the total dose absorbed,
and this would increase the probability of systemic effects being
manifested. Part of the regular topical use of the drug should be
a screening for undesirable cardiovascular side-effects such as
increases in heart rate or water retention. You’d expect to see
something like this only in exceptional cases.
>The few studies that have been done were done only using
>the low prescription amounts associated with using Rogaine for hair
>loss. I think that if you start using more than the prescription
>amounts just for fun you are volunteering your body to science
>It would be a shame to read articles 15 years from now that describe
>how some percentage of people who were prescribed Rogaine and misused
>it by applying more than the suggested amounts to their bodies ended
>up developing life-threatening heart disorders. Food for thought.
Rather indigestible, alarmist, half-cooked food for thought, I’d say,
disguised as a sensible warning. No one is recommending that Rogaine
solution be applied to large areas of skin, or even for that matter
elsewhere than on the scalp. That said misuse would cause "life-
threatening heart disorders", given our experience with the drug
already, is rather unlikely.
–
Steve Dyer
d…@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
d…@arktouros.mit.edu, d…@hstbme.mit.edu
One point of note is that you shouldn’t use Rogaine if
you have open sores on the area you area of application
(ie: pseudofolliculitis).
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Michael Mahler – Stratus Computer