Oral Minoxidil vs Topical Minoxidil Which is Better?

[Curious25]

6 hours ago, NARMAK said:

Personally i'm not comfortable recommending oral Minoxidil to others. I think topical Minoxidil can be more targeted on the scalp and there's less chance of the side affects Oral Minoxidil usually has associated with it. Also you avoid some Trichosis potentially rearing its head. 

 

Are you a prescribing physician? 

A lot of renowned surgeons are actually contradicting what you have stated, and believe low doses of oral minoxidil to be more efficacious than the topical, such as Dr Bisanga and Dr Mwamba. It is also the go to in the spanish hair loss industry, and both Dr Konior and Dr Nadimi told Melvin they prescribe it on their insta live. 

[JP28]

Oral minox is one of my favorite drug, I’ve been on it for a little over 6 months and the results have been great. 
 

[NARMAK]

23 minutes ago, Curious25 said:

Are you a prescribing physician? 

A lot of renowned surgeons are actually contradicting what you have stated, and believe low doses of oral minoxidil to be more efficacious than the topical, such as Dr Bisanga and Dr Mwamba. It is also the go to in the spanish hair loss industry, and both Dr Konior and Dr Nadimi told Melvin they prescribe it on their insta live. 

You don't have to be a prescribing physician to be able to see the clinical study data on it and compare the two.

Even Melvin and another respected member have pointed out side affects and needing more studies. 

Topical Minoxidil has a proven track record of both clinical studies and results shown by users over time to be recommended imo in conjunction with Microneedling. 

Personally if somebody is worried about side affects and keeping them low as possible, Oral Finasteride and Minoxidil being combined are more likely on paper to exhibit sides than an Oral Finasteride and Topical Minoxidil. 

Even if i was also a physician and prescribing etc. it's not as if somebody won't find a reason to take issue with my stance on recommending topical over oral. 

I'm not saying oral Minoxidil doesn't work here, i'm simply stating what i feel i would say to a friend or somebody else about the topic of hairloss advice as a laymen with an interest in preserving his own hair. 

[Curious25]

41 minutes ago, JP28 said:

Oral minox is one of my favorite drug, I’ve been on it for a little over 6 months and the results have been great. 
 

What dosage do you take, and when did you start to notice results with your hair? 

[Curious25]

29 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

You don't have to be a prescribing physician to be able to see the clinical study data on it and compare the two.

Even Melvin and another respected member have pointed out side affects and needing more studies. 

Topical Minoxidil has a proven track record of both clinical studies and results shown by users over time to be recommended imo in conjunction with Microneedling. 

Personally if somebody is worried about side affects and keeping them low as possible, Oral Finasteride and Minoxidil being combined are more likely on paper to exhibit sides than an Oral Finasteride and Topical Minoxidil. 

Even if i was also a physician and prescribing etc. it's not as if somebody won't find a reason to take issue with my stance on recommending topical over oral. 

I'm not saying oral Minoxidil doesn't work here, i'm simply stating what i feel i would say to a friend or somebody else about the topic of hairloss advice as a laymen with an interest in preserving his own hair. 

I just thought it would be important to clarify whether you were a physician or not, seeing as though you stated you weren’t comfortable recommending oral minoxidil to others - so writing posts such as that on a board in a hair loss community, we need to establish what your background is to ascertain whether this is something we should take on board or not. 
 

Considering we now know that you are in the same boat as us, and are just interpreting the available studies online (which is fine) to come to this conclusion - personally I think I’d stick to listening to the world class surgeons and dermatologists inputs, given they have access to not only the studies that we have seen, but their in clinic evidence from patients response, and peer shared evidence within their professional networks. 
 

If I were you, I’d probably start recommending your layman friends to consult with relevant doctors such as hair surgeons, dermatologists, urologists, cardiologists etc - best way to keep everything safe 👍🏻

[JP28]

9 minutes ago, Curious25 said:

What dosage do you take, and when did you start to notice results with your hair? 

I do 1.25 in the morning with the pill and 2 drops of the liquid under the tong at night. 
it took a couple of months but it was pretty significant for me hair got much thicker, temple points started to grow new hair that I never had before, eyebrows and lashes grew and body hair in general. I love it. 

[Curious25]

32 minutes ago, JP28 said:

I do 1.25 in the morning with the pill and 2 drops of the liquid under the tong at night. 
it took a couple of months but it was pretty significant for me hair got much thicker, temple points started to grow new hair that I never had before, eyebrows and lashes grew and body hair in general. I love it. 

Nice. And you don’t use the drops topically at all? 
 

Have you considered upping your oral dosage and terminating the drops altogether ? 

[JP28]

1 minute ago, Curious25 said:

Nice. And you don’t use the drops topically at all? 
 

Have you considered upping your oral dosage and terminating the drops altogether ? 

I mean the drops act just like the oral version, but yeah I’d love that unfortunately it’s impossible to find a doc willing to prescribe minox in the USA it would be different if I was in Spain. Took me months to find someone and this doc only prescribes 1.25. Anyway in a couple of years from now all the health online companies will be prescribing oral minox and I won’t have to pass by a doctor. 
It was the same shit 10 years ago when you wanted to get Fina, too dangerous too this too that and now you can get it anywhere…

[Fue3361]

So here’s my experience with both.

 

Pre hair transplant, I was using minoxidil on my beard and a bit on eyebrows and it was making a big difference.  I stopped right after HT since they put me on oral, so I figured “same thing”.  My eyebrows pretty much lost most of the gains from topical minox, and beard lost some.

 

So from my experience, while oral affects the entire body theoretically, topical seemed to be way stronger for small sreas for example my beard and eyebrows.

 

I think this should probably be true also for scalp.

[NARMAK]

4 hours ago, Curious25 said:

I just thought it would be important to clarify whether you were a physician or not, seeing as though you stated you weren’t comfortable recommending oral minoxidil to others - so writing posts such as that on a board in a hair loss community, we need to establish what your background is to ascertain whether this is something we should take on board or not. 
 

Considering we now know that you are in the same boat as us, and are just interpreting the available studies online (which is fine) to come to this conclusion - personally I think I’d stick to listening to the world class surgeons and dermatologists inputs, given they have access to not only the studies that we have seen, but their in clinic evidence from patients response, and peer shared evidence within their professional networks. 
 

If I were you, I’d probably start recommending your layman friends to consult with relevant doctors such as hair surgeons, dermatologists, urologists, cardiologists etc - best way to keep everything safe 👍🏻

I'm sorry but i just find your post is a little bit condescending and dismissive. I tried to respectfully clarify myself and a forum like this is also for healthy debate, idea exchange etc.

That doesn't mean i have to be in those specific roles to be able to offer some insight and understanding.

A Dr X, Y, or Z who does hair transplants and has seen results isn't the same as a clinical study. You can respect their opinion for sure but that's also not how science works. That's why it's even been mentioned on the previous page about needing more clinical studies on this topic 

I don't think we need to go much further down this route. You clearly hold your opinion on the matter as do I. 

[NARMAK]

1 hour ago, Fue3361 said:

So here’s my experience with both.

 

Pre hair transplant, I was using minoxidil on my beard and a bit on eyebrows and it was making a big difference.  I stopped right after HT since they put me on oral, so I figured “same thing”.  My eyebrows pretty much lost most of the gains from topical minox, and beard lost some.

 

So from my experience, while oral affects the entire body theoretically, topical seemed to be way stronger for small sreas for example my beard and eyebrows.

 

I think this should probably be true also for scalp.

This is where i was personally trying to come from in terms if "targeting" the scalp etc. with the topical version and side stepping most of the side affects oral Minoxidil is linked with.

Surprised your beard lost some, i heard these non-DHT areas are usually more permanent. You look into Microneedling on the beard alongside Minoxidil? Seems popular and effective. 

[Fue3361]

4 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

This is where i was personally trying to come from in terms if "targeting" the scalp etc. with the topical version and side stepping most of the side affects oral Minoxidil is linked with.

Surprised your beard lost some, i heard these non-DHT areas are usually more permanent. You look into Microneedling on the beard alongside Minoxidil? Seems popular and effective. 

Like 60-80% of the growth ended up being permanent.  Eyebrows less.

 

 I’m pretty happy with where I’m at now though

Edited January 10, 2022 by Fue3361

[NARMAK]

26 minutes ago, Fue3361 said:

Like 60-80% of the growth ended up being permanent.  Eyebrows less.

 

 I’m pretty happy with where I’m at now though

Tbf, that's still good results compared to say starting with zero. Imagine if 50% or so of Minoxidil head hair stuck around lol

[Fue3361]

3 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Tbf, that's still good results compared to say starting with zero. Imagine if 50% or so of Minoxidil head hair stuck around lol

For sure.  And I look better without a beard, was mainly for the 1-2 day shadow to be more uniform.

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, Fue3361 said:

So here’s my experience with both.

 

Pre hair transplant, I was using minoxidil on my beard and a bit on eyebrows and it was making a big difference.  I stopped right after HT since they put me on oral, so I figured “same thing”.  My eyebrows pretty much lost most of the gains from topical minox, and beard lost some.

 

So from my experience, while oral affects the entire body theoretically, topical seemed to be way stronger for small sreas for example my beard and eyebrows.

 

I think this should probably be true also for scalp.

Anecdotal but sound. Could be the same argument for oral fin vs. topical fin.

[Fue3361]

1 hour ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Anecdotal but sound. Could be the same argument for oral fin vs. topical fin.

Yeah, I'm aware a ton of people have only positives to give about oral minoxidil.  Wanted to give my n=1 experience with it myself.  Doesn't mean it's true for the majority.

EDIT:  Also doesn't mean that oral minoxidil is not working per say.  Just that in my case, topical seemed to give me a stronger response.  

Edited January 10, 2022 by Fue3361

[Baldingat22]

Any updates from all that have taken it? One of my doctors wants to prescribe a 2.5mg Oral Minox with 1mg Fin. I’ve been in fin over a year no sides but curious about oral minox. I’ve heard heard and hair growth but more worried about if hair grows weird places(like cheeks areas that hair wouldn’t grow on face), also if acne/eczema or dry skin/oily skin conditions happened, finally any chnage to hormone levels or thyroid I do have a thyroid issue I believe?

[aaron1234]

@Baldingat22 Since you've been on fin for a year already it's probably not a bad idea to try oral minoxidil.  It seems that most docs have their patients cut the 2.5mg tablet in half or the 5mg tablet in fourths to start, so roughly 1.25mg.  This way the body can get used to the medication before upping the dosage to 2.5mg.  Hypertrichosis, were hair grows in non scalp areas, is one of the most common side effects.  For me, I've noticed some vellus hairs coming in between my eyebrows and temple points.  I haven't noticed dry/oily skin or acne/eczema breakouts yet, but I've only been on it for a month. 

[Baldingat22]

4 hours ago, aaron1234 said:

@Baldingat22 Since you've been on fin for a year already it's probably not a bad idea to try oral minoxidil.  It seems that most docs have their patients cut the 2.5mg tablet in half or the 5mg tablet in fourths to start, so roughly 1.25mg.  This way the body can get used to the medication before upping the dosage to 2.5mg.  Hypertrichosis, were hair grows in non scalp areas, is one of the most common side effects.  For me, I've noticed some vellus hairs coming in between my eyebrows and temple points.  I haven't noticed dry/oily skin or acne/eczema breakouts yet, but I've only been on it for a month. 

Hmm yes I worried about hair growing strange places because I’ve seen when younger kids took it they almost looked like werewolf’s. I’d love the positive effects but would hate if it impacted skin/hormones issues. Heart I should worry about but don’t seem to care at this age lol 

[aaron1234]

7 hours ago, Baldingat22 said:

Hmm yes I worried about hair growing strange places because I’ve seen when younger kids took it they almost looked like werewolf’s. 

I think I know the case you are talking about, and I believe they were misprescribed with a much larger dose of oral minoxidil.  That drastic a case of hypertrichosis is probably not possible with such a low dosage.  

[BDK081522]

@Melvin- Moderator you should be well over a year on oral minoxidil now. Are you still at the 1.25 MG dose or have you upped it to 2.5 MG? Do you think it has worked as good or better than topical in your experience?

[Parannd]

We have the general idea that with topical minoxidil, the hairs that grow because of the product are dependent on it and would be lost if one stops using minoxidil.

Do minoxidil tablets work the same way? As in if you stop taking the tablets bye bye to the hair that is dependent on them?

[Curious25]

17 minutes ago, Parannd said:

Do minoxidil tablets work the same way? As in if you stop taking the tablets bye bye to the hair that is dependent on them?

Yes, minoxidil is minoxidil, regardless of its form. 

 

[HairEnthusiast101]

Any other further positives of this approach from users? I’m thinking of doing it I do fin and Dut together and I have kept everything but not much regrowth. I’m more so worried about growing hair on weird spots in the face like temples/under eyes. Also the liquid minox gave me bad red/itchy/dry skin reactions so if the oral does or doesn’t do this I’d like to know?

[NARMAK]

10 hours ago, JoDimaggio22 said:

Any other further positives of this approach from users? I’m thinking of doing it I do fin and Dut together and I have kept everything but not much regrowth. I’m more so worried about growing hair on weird spots in the face like temples/under eyes. Also the liquid minox gave me bad red/itchy/dry skin reactions so if the oral does or doesn’t do this I’d like to know?

I used to think of the unwanted hair growth (hypertrichosis) that you can get from oral Minoxodil but one solution is to simply laser the hair away. Much kore permanent solution.