Up to eleven you drink have been diagnosed in Navarra with hypertrichosis, the disease known as werewolf syndrome due to excessive hair growth, after discovering that his parents used anti-baldness lotion. The infants had progressively developed hair on their backs, legs and thighs over months, characteristic symptoms of this disease. In addition, hypertrichosis can increase the risk of liver and heart problems in children.
In April 2023, the Navarra Pharmacovigilance Center reported the case of a baby with a excessive hair growth all over the body. Once other pathologies and medications that could be causing this condition had been ruled out, the Center discovered that the father used minoxidil to stimulate hair growth. The man, who had taken leave from work to take care of his son, used the 5% lotion topically, so the baby was in contact with the treatment. After the drug was withdrawn, “there was a total regression of symptoms“, they say from the Pharmacovigilance Center of the Foral Community.
As a result of this case, a review was carried out of some similar cases that had been registered in the Spanish Pharmacovigilance System (FEDRA) and up to six other babies with werewolf syndrome were detected whose parents were also receiving topical treatment with minoxidil for androgenic alopecia. The investigation was expanded to a European level through Eudravigilance (the pharmacovigilance database of the European Medicines Agency) and three other similar cases were also found. The review of the literature provided one more, leaving the total number of cases compiled in once you drink.
The hypothesis issued by the Navarra Pharmacovigilance Center is that the minoxidil drug used topically can transferred through skin contact with infantssince this is more permeable “due to the lower thickness of their stratum corneum and their greater surface area/body weight ratio.” For this reason, the Center advises preventing children from “coming into contact with areas of the body where minoxidil has been applied topically” to prevent hypertrichosis. The appearance of this werewolf syndrome in children is worrying and requires multiple laboratory tests to rule out more serious health problems.
Spain is he second country with the most bald people in the world, with 42.6% of the male population who have already lost their hair or are losing it. Only the Czech Republic surpasses us with 42.79% and Germany follows us, with 41.2%. With these figures, it is not surprising that baldness treatments are in vogue, such as minoxidil, which, although it does not prevent hair loss indefinitely, slows it down and induces its growth in patients with androgenic alopecia, which affects people around the age of 50. to half of the men. Among the adverse reactions included in the package insert is hypertrichosis.
