Can Rogaine Ruin Healthy Hair?

Dr. Rassman,

Thank you for this great blog. As you’ve pointed out several times in the past, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet about hair loss treatments like Propecia and Rogaine. My question today is about Rogaine. In your many years of treating patients, have you ever witnessed were Rogaine actually made the healthy hair fall out or become damaged? I’ve read where some individuals are claiming that Rogaine destroyed their hairline and damaged what healthy hair they had. Any experience with this in your own practice?

I’ve answered a similar question before.

I do not believe that Rogaine is bad for your healthy hair. If you have a full head of hair and you use Rogaine, there should be no impact on it… but then, why would someone do that? Apply the medication to the areas that have hair loss. And if you’re losing the hairline, applying minoxidil there most likely won’t show a lot of impact anyway.