Note that the increasingly popular low-dose oral Minoxidil for hair loss (taken via ingesting pills or tablets) acts a bit differently compared to sublingual Minoxidil (taken via dissolving under the tongue). Read the bottom half of this post for more details. Top half is all updates.

Sublingual Minoxidil for Hair Loss Updates

Update: February 2023 — A HRN forum member named “Viney” is posting excellent details with photos of his hair regrowth from sublingual Minoxidil and Dutasteride. He sees a dermatologist at Sinclair Dermatology (Melbourne, Australia).

Update: January 2023 — I posted something on Twitter about sublingual Minoxidil possibly being more effective than oral Minoxidil. Below are the interesting responses from Dr. Corralo and Dr. Bhoyrul:

Update: December 2022 — Also see this thread on Twitter in relation to the same subject.

Update: September 2021 — A clinical trial of 40 male and female patients receiving sublingual Minoxidil (SM) for androgenetic alopecia just ended. Per the summary, SM produced a dose-dependent increase in mean terminal hair count of the frontal and vertex scalp and an improvement in hair density. There was no affect on blood pressure. Quote from reviewer Dr. Mirmirani:

“The authors suggest that sublingual Minoxidil (SM) may have better bioavailability and fewer hemodynamic effects by avoiding first-pass liver metabolism. Although the data in this study are positive, it will take more to convince me that it is significantly better than oral Minoxidil (OM). Very few of my patients on low-dose OM for hair loss discontinue the medication due to side-effects. The other consideration is cost. OM it is an inexpensive, generic drug, that is covered by medical benefits.”

Update: March 2021 — An excellent video presentation on sublingual Minoxidil from Dr. Bevin Bhoyrul from Sinclair Dermatology:

Update: July 2020 — Also from Sinclair Dermatology comes a case series report of 64 patients taking sublingual Minoxidil (0.45 mg per day) for pattern hair loss.

April 9, 2018

Sinclair Dermatology

Earlier today, a reader named Chris posted a very interesting video about a new hair loss treatment from Australia that entails putting some kind of dissolvable listerine-style strip underneath the tongue. Chris asked me for my opinion about this treatment.

At first, I thought that this seemed like an obvious scam since the title of the video includes the word “breakthrough” in it. Moreover, the video does not even mention what ingredients are in the sublingual strip or patch itself.

However, since the famous Australian dermatologist Dr. Rodney Sinclair appears in the video, I decided to conduct further research. Dr. Sinclair (associated with “The Hairy Pill“) is an extremely well respected researcher in the hair loss world. In the above video, he is honest and clearly says that this treatment will not bring back hair in totally bald scalps.

Having said that, so far it seems that the results from this treatment on people who have moderate levels of balding have been very positive. And this got me curious about what magic concoction was in the strip itself?

Clinical Trial for Sublingual Minoxidil

I did not have to conduct much further research to figure out what this new potential breakthrough hair loss cure entailed. On Dr. Sinclair’s blog, the latest post from today discusses a new clinical trial they are conducting that is recruiting both men and women. Volunteers will be treated with low-dose oral Minoxidil that will be given as a sublingual tablet (which will dissolve under the tongue).

I would not be surprised if the tablet is actually the strip/patch that was shown in the video I posted earlier. It would be very uncomfortable to put an actual tablet underneath the tongue and wait for it to dissolve, unless the dissolution happened very rapidly. On the other hand, a strip would be much easier to keep in place underneath the tongue for a longer period of time.

I discussed oral Minoxidil for hair loss in detail last year. While I often use topical Minoxidil foam, I would not take the oral version as I do not want more body hair as a potential side effect. However, oral Minoxidil clearly seems to be a superior option to topical Minoxidil when it comes to hair growth benefits. Partly due to the sulfotransferase issue.

If you live in Australia or in the nearby vicinity, perhaps it is worth volunteering for these trials. Today I finally learnt the definition of “sublingual”.

Also make sure to read my post on extra strength Minoxidil 15 percent for other alternatives to regular dosage store-bought Minoxidil foam.