Do You Have to Stay on Hair Loss Medication Forever?
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Do You Have to Stay on Hair Loss Medication Forever?
If you start hair loss medication, do you have to stay on it forever?
It depends on your diagnosis.
Temporary Hair Loss
If you have a temporary type of hair loss, such as telogen effluvium, the medication may not need to be permanent.
Telogen effluvium can be related to stress, an operation, a high fever or similar triggers.
Sometimes a dermatologist may prescribe minoxidil. Once the hair has grown back and you are happy with where it is at, you may be able to stop the minoxidil.
Male and Female Pattern Hair Loss
Male pattern hair loss and female pattern hair loss are different.
One way to think about it is to imagine that some of the hairs are starving. They are not getting enough blood or nutrients.
Minoxidil increases the blood supply, which can be thought of as providing the food and nutrients those hairs need.
If you stop the medication, those hairs may begin to starve again and start to miniaturise.
Do You Need to Think About Taking It Forever?
Rather than focusing on the idea of taking medication forever, it can be more helpful to live in the moment.
If you are in your 20s and taking the medication is helping you keep your hair, you can enjoy those years and revisit the decision when you are 30.
At that point, you can decide whether you want to continue.
Think of the medication as buying you time.
While you take it, you may have better hair. If you stop, your hair will eventually move towards where it would have been without the medication.
What Happens If You Stop?
If you had been taking medication for ten years and then stopped, your hair would not simply return to how it looked when you first started.
Without the medication, the hair loss would have continued to progress over those ten years.
That progression will not happen immediately after stopping. It may happen over a period of around 12 months.
If you decide you do not like what is happening, you may be able to start the medication again.
Every Diagnosis Is Different
How long you should stay on hair loss medication depends on the diagnosis.
For male and female pattern hair loss, ongoing treatment may be needed to maintain the benefits.
Other types of hair loss may only require treatment temporarily.
Your dermatologist can advise you, and your trichologist can also help guide you based on your diagnosis.
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