Verbatim response from Perplexity
For overall hair regrowth, oral minoxidil has not been shown to work better than topical minoxidil in head-to-head clinical trials and meta-analyses; the best evidence suggests they are roughly comparable in efficacy.[1][2][5][8]
What differs is the tradeoff:
- Oral minoxidil is often more convenient and may lead to better adherence/satisfaction, because you take a pill instead of applying a scalp solution.[11]
- Topical minoxidil is usually the first-line, FDA-approved option and tends to cause more local irritation such as itching or scalp discomfort.[7]
- Oral minoxidil can cause more systemic side effects like headache, hypertrichosis, and blood-pressure-related effects, so it is generally used with more caution.[7][11]
A practical way to choose:
- Choose topical minoxidil if you want the standard, safer, on-scalp option and can use it consistently.[7]
- Choose oral minoxidil if you strongly prefer a pill or cannot tolerate topical treatment, but do this with a clinician because of systemic side effects.[2][7]
If you want, I can also break this down by men vs women, or by side effects, cost, and expected timeline.