How do anabolic steroids make your head bigger?

[Sal_Ammoniac]

Or in other words, what part of your head increases in size? I imagine it’s the skull, though it’s hard for me to see how that would happen. Does your brain get bigger too, or does it just slosh around more? Also, when you stop taking steroids, does your head shrink down again?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[Fear_Itself]

Do heads get larger when using steroids? Always?

[Shagnasty]

I studied steriods in grad school and I have never heard of this.

[Mindfield]

The only thing that I can think of is that IIRC anabolic steroids have a tendancy to make you retain water, which I suppose could account for puffiness in the extremities and the adipose tissue of the face. That might be what the OP meant by the head getting larger.

[Squink]

@Shagnasty

I studied steriods in grad school and I have never heard of this.

I did a postdoc studying steroids and I never heard of this.

[LateComer]

@Shagnasty

I studied steriods in grad school and I have never heard of this.

I think the op is thinking about Human Growth Hormone. Head size has been a big topic in recent debates about steroids and HGH use.

Here’s a cached google article from last year discussing Barry Bonds and head size.

Bonds did not say whether he had taken steroids, but he laughed at speculation that his head has grown in recent years. Head growth is a common side effect of Human Growth Hormone, while shrunken testicles is a common side effect of anabolic steroids.

[Sal_Ammoniac]

The popular impression is that steroids make your head grow larger. Here’s an example, culled from the net: “Steroids are known to change facial features, and making the user’s head grow larger, which just working out won’t do (Yeager).” (From here.) As mentioned, there’s been a ton of talk about Barry Bonds and his hat size. Is it all just a myth?

[tremorviolet]

@Sal Ammoniac

The popular impression is that steroids make your head grow larger. Here’s an example, culled from the net: “Steroids are known to change facial features, and making the user’s head grow larger, which just working out won’t do (Yeager).” (From here.) As mentioned, there’s been a ton of talk about Barry Bonds and his hat size. Is it all just a myth?

I’d always heard that gap-toothed grin shared by many body builders such as Arnold and Lee Haney was a product of steroids. that taking then can cause bone growth in the plates of the skull. But I have absolutely no cites to back this up; it’s all hearsay.

[astro]

Effects of Steroids

Water Retention:
This is most common from using steroids. It is a “puffiness” or swelling in the neck and facial areas. It can also cause your ankles and fingers to swell. This side effect has also been known to give a person a bloated feeling in the abdomen.

You face getting fatter and your neck getting thicker due to added muscularity can easily give the impression of having a “larger head”.

[picunurse]

An over abundance of HGH in an adult causes flat bones to grow thicker. These include the bones of the head, hands, feet and pelvis.
It causes the facial features to thicken, but the real problem is that it can cause death from impinging on the brain.
If the increased HGH is intrinsic, as in a pitutary tumor, It may be reversible by hypophysectomy (removal of the pitutary).
Anabolic, and glycogenic steriods, cause fluid retention, resulting in a “Moon face” making the head look larger.

[Sal_Ammoniac]

Picunurse, thanks. That seems to be the answer I was looking for. If someone was taking both HGH and anabolic steroids, that could cause their head to plump up nicely.