Should I Stop Minoxidil If I Haven’t Seen Regrowth After a Year?

Dear Dr Rassman

I have been using Minoxidil once per day since February 2010 on the temples and hairline (as well as finasteride)

I haven’t ever experienced a noticeable shed, or any regrowth. My hair has continued to get slowly worse. I have continued using Minoxidil as I thought that maybe it could at least be contributing to help slow down the MPB process – but I am unsure if this is the case

The Rogaine website states that treatment should be stopped if no results (i.e. regrowth) are seen within one year. My questions are therefore

1) Is it best that I quit using minoxidil?
2) Is there a risk that healthy hair would have become dependent on minoxidil, and fall out if minoxidil is stopped?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks

If you are sure that there was no benefit from the use of minoxidil, then stopping it should not make a difference; however, if there was some benefit, stopping it would cause loss in those hairs that benefited. So it really is important to be sure.