Oral Minoxidil; Safe Dose

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Oral Minoxidil; Safe Dose

Low Dose Oral Minoxidil is not Always Safe

Generally speaking, a small dose of oral minoxidil is safer than a large dose of minoxidil. However, some patients may experience side effects of oral minoxidil even with a low dose.

For example, headache is one of the common side effects of minoxidil, which appears even in a low dose in a sensitive patient. It means that side effects of minoxidil are irrelevant to the intake dose.

There is always an exceptional case. The incidence of side effects depends on sensitivity of constitution in each patient.

There is no dose dependent relationship between the absolute dose of oral minoxidil and the possible risk of side effects of minoxidil. Even low dose minoxidil may cause side effects in a sensitive patient.

This is the reason why the author recommends patients to reduce the dose of minoxidil tablets as low as possible.

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Kuniyoshi YAGYU, MD

General Manager, Ginza HS Clinic (current position) | Director, Ginza HS Clinic (current position) | Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Medical School.
Doctor of Medicine.

The 24th President of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), a Board of Governors of the Asian Association of Hair Restoration Surgeons (AAHRS), a Fellow of the ISHRS, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS).

He has received many awards for his outstanding achievements in hair transplantation, including “Research Award” and “Special Achievement Award” from the ISHRS, “Mediterranean Award”, “Tiberio Award” and “Caesar Award” from the Italian Society for Hair Science and Restoration, and “Hirayama Award” from the Japan Society of Clinical Hair Restoration.

He is a certified registered physician of the Japan Surgical Society, an Honorary Fellow of cardiovascular surgery of the Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery, a Fellow of the Japanese Circulation Society, and a Fellow of the Japanese Respiratory Society.

He served as a director of cardiovascular surgery at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, Medical School. He studied at the Hannover Medical School in the Federal Republic of Germany on a scholarship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Kuniyoshi Yagyu, MD, FISHRS. He served as the President of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery from 2015 to 2016. He is a board member of the Asian Association of Hair Restoration Surgeons. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery and a Winner of the ISHRS Research Award in 2010, and ISHRS Poster Award in 2014. He has authored more than 53 research and clinical publications in books and journals. He had been specialized in cardiac surgery for 22 years. He has been practicing hair transplantation for about 20 years in Tokyo, Japan.