December 5 2005, 11:01 am PT | Posted in: Drugs + Drugs (Cause Hair Loss)
Doc…I’m really scared, confused, and upset with myself.
I had some thinning and receding at the hair line, and a little bit on the crown of my head. I decided to give rogaine a try to improve the situation. I used it about 5-6 times, but also used it on the front of my hairline. After a few days, I noticed that the hair seemed to be thinning a lot, and that my hairline had receded, especially at the temples. So after using the rogaine for a few days, I went from some thinning in the temples and crown to having a receding hairline, with even greater thinness in the temples and top. At this point, when my hair is wet, I see much more scalp, and it makes me want to throw up. It basically thinned out my hair everywhere, especially in the problem areas. Basically, I feel that I took a situation that wasn’t really that bad, and made it much worse. I’m kicking myself for having not just left it alone.My questions:
1) Since I’ve stopped the rogaine, will the hair that seems to have fallen out return? If it will come back, about how long will it take to go back to the way it was before I used the rogaine? (I’ve read on some forums about rogaine “shed”, but does this hair come back all of the time?)
2) Can rogaine cause a receding hairline? Could I have done permanent damage to any of the hair by using the rogaine (such as if the follicles were already thinning/in trouble)?Thanks so much for your help. I’m really struggling with this, and I’m looking for some peace of mind.
Hair shedding from Rogaine is temporary. New hair should grow in a few months. Hair growth works in cycles. When rogaine causes hair shedding it may induce the hair shaft to fall off; the follicle would then enter a dormant phase in the cycle (temporarily) while the matrix is restructured for future growth, hopefully with a thicker and stronger hair shaft. Thus, initially, you may appear to lose more hair, but after waiting for many months you may have thicker and stronger hair with any new hair growth, assuming the Rogaine works. It is very scary for some patients to experience the shedding phase (unusual) and considering the extreme reaction to the Rogaine, I wonder if the statistical probability of working in your situation offsets the risk of continued hair loss. If it works, it generally takes 6-8 months. More significant growth may occur (in less than half of patients) who take this medication. In general Rogaine may cause either more hair growth, stop further hair loss, prolong the hair cycle where hair exists in its best ’show’ state, or it may be limited to slow down the hair loss process if it works at all.
dont use this product after one year not even 3% of my hair rogaine caused me to lose grew back………
i started losing my hair last year(2007) and went to the store and bought rogaine as well…
the thing is that NO ONE who is going to buy rogaine is going to want to use it if it makes their hair fall out!!
it certainly made mine fall out… in CLUMPS.
and no one wants to lose more hair when using a product that alleges to grow hair –such as rogaine–and then have to be told that one must wait an ADDITIONAL 8 months for their hair to (maybe hopefully) grow back… all to make a company some money (” o, keep using it it will work” cha-ching)
never mind rogaine… if it makes one’s hair fall out ( which is the opposite of whats advertised, and damn sure not mentioned ANYWHERE on their product as a potential side effect).. i empathize with the above person cause the same thing happened to me..
verily, my hair loss is a lot worse since last year, and sice i have just turned 32, i’m in the process of losing more hair up to an inch from my once normal hair line. i choose to try tea tree oil, selenium shampoo from head and shoulders, drink more water and green teas.. ANYTHING that doesnt involve a man made chemical (we all know pharmaceutical companies have to add a man made chemical to a product in order for it to be considered a drug… they cant exactly patent plants!!!)