Take Two Asprins and Call Me in the Morning (... to Discuss your Minoxidil)

Aspirin Potentially Reduces the Effectiveness of Minoxidil

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) has always fascinated me. And it continues to fascinate people and researchers around the world. Apparently, some 58 billion doses of aspirin are taken every year. Researchers published over 1,000 scientific articles pertaining to aspirin last year alone. This just adds a bit more to the 23,000 studies that are already published in the scientific journals of the world.

We all know about aspirin. We take if for headaches. Some take it for preventing heart disease. Some take it for preventing strokes. Research now shows convincingly that taking an aspirin if you’ve had a heart attack can reduce your risk of having a second one. In addition, patients who take an aspirin after experiencing a mini-stroke (i.e. transient ischemic attack) have a reduced risk of having a stroke and a reduced risk of dying. Researchers are now trying to figure out how it can be used to prevent cancer and some dementias. This list of potential uses for aspirin is increasing - which means we could someday actually rise above the 58 billion doses yearly.

Aspirin has many effects in body and one is to inhibit an enzyme known as cyclooxygenase. By doing so, certain inflammatory pathways get shut down and the release of certain prostaglandins is inhibited in tissues.

Aspirin and Minoxidil: New Study Suggests Aspirin May Reduce Minoxidil Effectiveness

A new suggests that minoxidil could potentially reduce the effectiveness of minoxidil. To understand this further, it’s important to appreciate that minoxidil gets converted in the skin to minoxidil sulfate and it’s the minoxidil sulfate that actually does all the work for promote hair growth. The conversion of minoxidil to minoxidil sulfate occurs from enzymes known as sulfotransferases which are found the outer root sheath of hair follicles.

In the liver, it had been appreciated that derivatives of aspirin could inhibit sulfotransferase activity. In a new study, researchers found evidence that aspirin could inhibit sulfotransferase activity in hair follicles too. Using a kit that helps predict whether people respond to minoxidil or not, the researchers found that 14 days of continuous aspirin exposure reduced the number of minoxidil responders in half. Prior to aspirin use, 50 % of subjects in the study were predicted to respond to minoxidil treatment. After using aspirin, this was reduced to 27 %.

Conclusion

This is not definitive proof of aspirin’s ability to reduce the effectiveness of minoxidil, but it is certainly quite interesting and suggestive data. More research is needed to confirm this interesting finding.

Reference

Goren et al. Low-dose daily aspirin reduces topical minoxidil efficacy in androgenetic alopecia patients. Dermatol Ther. 2018 Nov;31(6):e12741. doi: 10.1111/dth.12741. Epub 2018 Oct 8.