Started on 1.25mg oral minoxidil daily since June 22, 2024. By second week, the infamous dread shed started and peaked at 4-5th week. Since this was expected, decided to continue even though I had other side effects like headaches, dark baggy circles under eyes..
But even after end of second month, these side effects continued. The dread shed tapered down by 7th week. But I was concerned how my face skin and eyes had changed… hated to see myself in the mirror - couldn’t recognize myself , looked as I aged another 20 years! So I talked to my doctor, she saw my pics and said I could stop or try taking every other day.
I decided to stop yesterday as the whole point of starting minoxidil was to stop my shedding but not at the cost of my face looking ugly. Now I’m wondering if I’ll shed more since I stopped cold turkey even though I was on it for just 2 months. Also, not sure if I’ll regain all that hair I lost with the initial minoxidil shed. I don’t want more hair, just want to get back what I lost with the medication- which is half my volume. The doc says it’s ok to stop cold turkey and that I’ll regain my hair that I lost at the initial dread shed, but will continue to shed as before treatment. But then she also said she never heard of any side effects like mine, so I’m not sure if I’ll gain the hair I lost. Also, hope my face skin and eyes will return to normal.
But I do see some publications on how oral minoxidil reduces collagen production (which I think is good for the scalp but not for the face). And when I googled, saw many others complain about these same side effects - dark baggy circles under eyes, and aging on the face, but no scientific publications with these side effects.
Anyone experienced this?