The 2022 New York Times Oral Minoxidil Article

Two New Articles Highlight Follow up Sequelae from the New York Times Oral Minoxidil Article

An article  published on August 18, 2022 in the New York Times titled “An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say”  created quite a stir in the world. It took the view that oral minoxidil was highly effective and reasonably safe and more and more of us should really check it out.

It seems that more and more of us have decided to check it out!

Certainly when you look at google trends and searches for the term oral minoxidil you can see two key things. First, one immediately notices the giant spike in August 2022 (see arrow below). Second, one can see that the interest did not just fall off but rather is climbing and climbing and climbing so we are nowhere near done with the surge of interest. The world’s interest is only climbing.

Since Aug 2022, our office has received questions about oral minoxidil every single day. But more importantly, not a single day has gone by since August 2022, that I have not seen or heard or been called upon to personally manage oral minoxidil elated side effects in patients. Swollen feet, swollen faces, excessive hair growth on the body, heart palpitations, dizziness, chest pain, shedding, weight gain, poor sleep, vision issues, rashes and cough.

Fortunately, most patients on oral minoxidil do great and don’t get these side effects. But one must keep in mind that side effects are possible with oral minoxidil. We’ll go into this more in one minute.

The publication of the New York Times article has most certainly transformed me into what I call a highly experienced OMSEE …. or oral minoxidil side effect expert. I can only imagine that the world has crowned more and more OMSEE’s since last August.

Many in the public carry the view that oral minoxidil is quite safe.  Many members of the public have the view the oral minoxidil has been hidden from them and now that they have been made aware of its use and benefits, they are wanting to use it. Patients want to start it - but not starting tomorrow – or even today – they want to start yesterday.

We have reviewed countless side effects together over the years, both on our posts and our on Evidence Based Hair Podcast. Just last week we reviewed a male who ordered oral minoxidil on the internet and develop a lung issue – hypersensitivity pneumonitis – from oral minoxidil.

The wonderful studies by Dr Sergio Vano et al and Dr Sanabria et al highlight many of these side effects. You can see in the charts below how common some of these side effects were found to be by the 2 authors.

I was really interested to see two new studies highlighting the New York Times article and its impact. To review these articles, click on the links below.

REFERENCES

Desir N et al. Insights Into Perceptions and Gender Differences About Androgenetic Alopecia in an Observational Study of Commenters on the New York Times Oral Minoxidil Article. J Cutan Med Surg. 2023 Apr 21;12034754231170215.

Kolata G. An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say. August 18, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/health/minoxidil-hair-loss-pills.html

Sanabria B et al. Adverse effects of low dose oral minoxidil for androgenetic alopecia in 435 patients. JAAD 2021; 84: 1175-78

Vano-Galvan S et al. Safety of  low dose oral  minoxidil for hair loss:  A multicenter study of 1404 patients. JAAD 2021; 84: 1644-51.