MPB versus Telogen Effluvium (post-Minoxidil)

[HairRequired]

Hello everyone.

Of course, this might sound like classic denial syndrome here. Oh no, I haven't got MPB! Definitely not me! So, the following might appear as the last vestige of denial before I finally accept that I have, like many others, MPB.

Anyway, I started to use Minoxidil when I had a full head of hair. My reasons for starting were paranoia and prevention.

Several years later (I'm 31 now) - I stopped Minoxidil cold turkey. It was the first time I went through the massive shed.

It's been 9 months since I stopped the Minoxidil and my hair doesn't seem to have responded back to baseline (however, arbitrary this might be considering the possible MPB factors).

My hair only shed and became weak and thin in the areas that I applied the Minoxidil (the mid frontal region).

Could this be down to the shock loss of stopping Minoxidil inducing TE? Or is my hair really how it is - if I had never used Minoxidil at all?

I'm considering going back on Minoxidil if it's either TE or MPB. And I would like to ask the forum whether there is any anecdotal success stories of restarting Minoxidil?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you're all doing well.

[Ziggyz123]

Hey, I too quit cold turkey in december after two years of use. My hair shed differently from yours though. I got telogen effluvium thought my whole head even though I only applied it to my hairline. I'm still sort of shedding from it and I am much thinner after 6-7 months.

However, I did read that after quitting, it could take up to 1 year for hair to rebound back. Odds are kind of against us because the hair becomes dependent on minoxidil.

If it wasn't giving you irritation or side effects, you could always try going back on. Also, a lot of people use the 10% and 15% to get better growth. That might help you out getting back what you lost faster.

[HairRequired]

Yeah, I think Minoxidil dependency might be real phenomena, and as such, only Minoxidil can help with that, I think!

Or I could just be balding!

[jamesst11]

I am not a doctor, but I seriously think that stopping minoxidil would not induce TE... rather, you were keeping those hairs in anagen and growing while on minoxidil and once you quit, they reverted back to the telogen phase and fell out. Some may return, some not. My experience is that those hairs in the MPB prone regions are much less likely to return, or will do so as weak vellous hairs.

[HairRequired]

Yeah. Probably!

Oh well. Minoxidil and Finasterside here we come! Let's hope they can reverse the miniaturisation in the mid-frontal region. Otherwise I'm bollocks'ed!