RU-58841 scalp irritation after 3 weeks, is this normal or am I reacting?

Posted by nina_trailrun in Safety & Side Effects - 1 points, 4 comments.

Started applying RU-58841 about three weeks ago, mixed at 50 mg/mL in a standard vehicle, once daily after showering. First two weeks felt totally fine, maybe slight itch right after applying but it passed in a few minutes.

Week three the itch has gotten noticeably worse and the application spots (mostly crown and temples) are kind of pink and flaky now. No open sores or anything, just persistent irritation that doesn't fully go away between applications. I am I doing something dumb here, like applying to a wet scalp or using too much?

I have seen people mention adding dutasteride or ketoconazole shampoo into the mix. Would love to hear what others have done when they hit this kind of irritation wall. Is it a sign to back off the concentration, switch to every other day, or is this the contact dermatitis thing people warn about?

Also curious if anyone has paired it with oral finasteride and noticed the scalp side effects get better once systemic DHT drops? Trying to figure out if I should push through or change course before it turns into something worse.

Comments

• grinder265: I had something similar pop up around week 3 when I tried it, got the same pink flaky patch right at the temples. For me the issue was applying right after showering when the scalp was still damp, the vehicle just sat there and irritated the skin way more than when it was fully dry. Cutting it to every other day helped a lot, and I also dropped concentration down to maybe 30-35 mg/mL which made the daily itch basically go away. Honestly most irritation I have seen talked about is more contact d
• nina_trailrun: Thanks, that lines up with what I was suspecting. I do apply right after showering, like within a couple minutes, so the scalp is definitely still damp when it goes on. That is an easy fix to try first. Dropping to every other day plus waiting for the scalp to fully dry sounds like a reasonable plan before I touch the concentration. Can I ask how long you gave it before deciding the lower frequency was actually working, and did the pink/flaky stuff clear up on its own or did you need to give it
• leah_vo2max: To be fair the damp scalp thing makes a lot of sense, i've seen that bite people with topical fin too. Did you reconstitute yourself or was it pre-made? Just wondering if the vehicle formulation itself could be part of it, some of the ethanol/PG mixes are brutal on sensitive skin regardless of concentration.
• nina_trailrun: Reconstituted it myself with PG and ethanol, around 70/30 split. Honestly the vehicle might be half the problem at this point, I never thought about that. Did you end up switching carriers or just dropping frequency when you had irritation issues?

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