A Popular Baldness Treatment Drug Threatens Infants with a Serious Syndrome
10 Cases Reported in Europe
Spanish doctors have warned of the dangers of a baldness treatment drug, after an increase in cases of newborns suffering from "werewolf syndrome", where hair covers their faces and bodies, after 10 cases were reported in Europe since 2023.
According to the British newspaper "Mirror", Spanish doctors believe that the reason for infants suffering from this syndrome is due to their parents using a common treatment for baldness called "Minoxidil".
Serious Symptoms Affecting Children
Doctors explained that hair covers their faces and bodies, as a result of hormonal disorders, after being exposed to these chemicals found in this drug, which is sold in the markets without a prescription.
This drug is usually used on the scalp to stimulate hair growth by enhancing blood flow to the hair follicles, which is the part of the skin in which hair grows by collecting old cells together.
What is werewolf syndrome?
Werewolf syndrome causes abnormal amounts of fine hair up to 5cm long to grow on a child's face, arms and other parts of their body.
The condition is medically known as hypertrichosis and has no cure, meaning people have to manage the symptoms by shaving, waxing or trimming their hair.
How the phenomenon began
According to the Daily Mail, concerns about the strange phenomenon were first raised in April 2023 after an unnamed baby boy developed a condition that caused his hair to grow thickly all over his body within two months.
At the time, doctors discovered that his father, who had taken a month off work to care for him, had been using 5% minoxidil on his scalp to treat baldness. However, when the child stopped taking the medication, his symptoms began to subside.
After the incident, the Pharmacovigilance Centre evaluated the Spanish Pharmacovigilance System and reviewed data from the European Medicines Agency, and found 10 other recent cases of “werewolf syndrome” in infants linked to minoxidil in Europe.
In each case, the symptoms subsided after the parents stopped using minoxidil. However, health authorities have warned that early-stage infants exposed to the drug may be at risk of heart and kidney damage.
Previous research has also shown that applying even a teaspoon of minoxidil to the scalp of adults twice a day can cause rapid heartbeat and problems with salt and water retention.
The centre suggested that minoxidil is likely to be passed from parents to their children through the skin or mouth, so the European Health Authority said that infants exposed to the drug are at risk of heart and kidney damage.
Harms adults and children
Previous research has shown that applying a teaspoon to the scalp of an adult twice a day can cause rapid heartbeat and problems with salt and water retention.
In light of these incidents, minoxidil sold in Europe will now have to include warnings on its packaging about the risk of excessive hair growth in infants, and advise users to avoid contact with young children in areas where the medicine has been applied.
