How Safe Is Prescribing Oral Minoxidil in Patients Allergic to Topical Minoxidil?
February 2022
in “Journal of The American Academy of Dermatology”
TLDR Oral minoxidil is a reasonably safe alternative for patients allergic to the topical form.
The document presents a study involving 9 female patients who developed an allergy to topical minoxidil, a common treatment for female pattern hair loss. These patients had been using topical minoxidil for an average of 4.8 years before developing acute contact dermatitis. Patch testing confirmed that the allergy was to minoxidil itself, not the propylene glycol commonly found in the solution. The study explored the use of low-dose oral minoxidil (0.25 mg twice a day) as an alternative treatment. The patients tolerated the oral medication without side effects for an average period of 17 months, ranging from 7 to 33 months. The study suggests that oral minoxidil is a reasonably safe alternative for patients with an allergy to the topical form, with the caveat that patients should be advised to discontinue use if cutaneous side effects occur.
View this study on jaad.org →
Cited in this study
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research Effectiveness and safety of low-dose oral minoxidil in male androgenetic alopecia
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research Female pattern hair loss: a pilot study investigating combination therapy with low-dose oral minoxidil and spironolactone
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