Most adult hair loss is pattern hair loss and it responds best to treatment started early. Iron, thyroid and hormone causes are ruled out with a blood test before anything is prescribed. A telephone consultation is £59, a blood panel £350, and a platelet rich plasma session £450.
Message the clinic and a doctor replies within 24 hours.
Any of these needs to be seen the same day. If you are severely unwell, go to your nearest emergency department or call 999.
Hair grows in cycles, and loss is what you notice when more follicles rest than grow. In men it is usually pattern hair loss, driven by sensitivity to normal levels of testosterone. In women it is more often diffuse thinning across the crown with the hairline kept.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews van Zuuren, 2016
Shedding after an illness, a birth, a crash diet or a general anaesthetic is a different thing. It starts around 3 months after the event, is dramatic, and recovers on its own over 6 to 9 months once the cause has passed.New England Journal of Medicine Camaschella, 2015
Pattern loss thins the crown and the temples gradually over years. Diffuse shedding comes out evenly all over and fills the plughole. Patches with a smooth scalp are a different diagnosis again, and a scaly or painful scalp needs to be seen rather than treated.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews van Zuuren, 2016
Low iron is the correctable cause found most often in women, and ferritin below 30 micrograms per litre counts even when the blood count is normal. Heavy periods are the usual reason it is low.Gut Snook, 2021
An underactive or overactive thyroid causes diffuse thinning and is treated by treating the thyroid rather than the hair. It is checked in the same draw as the iron.NICE NG145, 2019
Send us what you are seeing and we will tell you what it is likely to be.
The appointment starts with when it began, what else changed, and what you have already tried. The scalp is examined for scarring, scale and inflammation, because a scarring loss is urgent and a non scarring one is not.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews van Zuuren, 2016
Bloods follow where the pattern suggests a cause. Ferritin, full blood count, thyroid and vitamin D at minimum, and hormones where periods are irregular or there is new facial hair. Results come back in a day or two and a doctor explains what the numbers mean.Gut Snook, 2021
Where the bleeding behind low iron is the real problem, that is treated alongside. Replacing iron while the loss continues is a treatment that has to be repeated every year.NICE NG88, 2021
Doing nothing
A legitimate choice, and the right one for shedding after an illness or a birth, which recovers on its own over 6 to 9 months.
Correcting the cause
Iron, thyroid and vitamin D put right where they are the reason. Hair follows the correction slowly, over 3 to 6 months, because the hair cycle is long.Gut Snook, 2021
Topical treatment
Applied to the scalp daily. There is evidence for it in female pattern hair loss, the effect is modest, and it has to be continued or the benefit is lost.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews van Zuuren, 2016
Oral prescription treatment for men
A five year study found the majority of men treated had no further loss and around two thirds had some regrowth. Sexual side effects occur in a small number and psychiatric effects have been reported, so the risks are set out before anything is prescribed.Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Kaufman, 1998
Platelet rich plasma
Your own platelets concentrated and injected into the scalp. A randomised placebo controlled trial found more hairs per square centimetre on the treated side than on the untreated side. The trials are small, it is not a cure, and it needs maintenance.Stem Cells Translational Medicine Gentile, 2015
A hair transplant
The right answer for an established bald area that medication cannot bring back. We do not do them. Where that is what you need we say so and refer you.
Nothing is judged before 3 months and 6 is fairer. The hair cycle means any treatment first stops loss and only then regrows, so month 2 usually looks like no change and month 3 sometimes looks worse before it turns.Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews van Zuuren, 2016
Treatment mostly holds what you have. Regrowth is real but partial, and it is greatest where thinning is recent and least where the scalp has been bare for years. Nobody honest promises a full head of hair.Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Kaufman, 1998
Stopping reverses it. Both topical and oral treatment hold their benefit only while they are used, and hair lost after stopping is the hair the treatment was holding rather than a new problem.Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency MHRA drug safety update, 2024
Do the pull test. Take about 60 hairs between finger and thumb near the scalp and draw them slowly to the ends, on 4 different parts of the head. More than 6 hairs coming away each time points to active shedding rather than pattern loss, and it changes the diagnosis before any test is run.
Photograph the crown and the hairline in the same light, from the same distance, once a month. Part the hair the same way each time. A doctor can read 3 monthly photographs better than any description, and it is the single most useful thing to bring.
Collect the shed hair for one wash and count it. Between 50 and 100 hairs a day is normal. A regular count over a fortnight tells you whether the amount is actually rising, which is what most people cannot answer when they are asked.
Do not buy hair supplements, biotin or hair vitamins before a ferritin and a thyroid have been measured. Biotin does not treat pattern hair loss and it interferes with thyroid blood tests, so it can hide the answer you paid for.NICE NG145, 2019
Do not buy a course of platelet rich plasma for a scalp that has been bare for years. It works on thinning follicles and not on skin with no follicles left, and that is a course of £450 sessions we are turning down by saying so.Stem Cells Translational Medicine Gentile, 2015
Do not buy a hair mineral analysis or a food intolerance panel to explain shedding. Neither has evidence behind it for hair loss and both produce results people then act on.
Step 1
A telephone or video appointment. When it started, what else changed, what you have tried, and how much is coming out.
Step 2
A scalp examination and, where it is needed, ferritin, thyroid, vitamin D and hormones. Results in a day or two, explained by the doctor rather than emailed as a table.
Step 3
A prescription, a course of platelet rich plasma, or both. Hair moves slowly, so the first honest review is at 3 months and the photographs tell the story.
Ask before you book if you are not sure this is the right appointment.
Some of it, and it depends on how long the follicle has been resting. Thinning of a year or two responds better than a bald patch of ten. Treatment mostly stops further loss, and regrowth where it comes is gradual and partial rather than complete.
The trials are small and mostly positive for pattern hair loss. A randomised placebo controlled study found more hairs per square centimetre on the treated side after a course of three sessions. It is not a cure and it needs maintenance, and we tell you at the consultation whether your pattern tends to respond.
Because thinning in women, and sometimes in men, is iron, thyroid or vitamin D, and those are corrected rather than treated with hair products. Ferritin below 30 counts even when the blood count is normal. The Core panel covering all three is £350 and a doctor reads it with you.
A telephone consultation is £59. A hair consultation with a clinician is £150 and is redeemable against treatment. A platelet rich plasma session is £450, or £595 with a prescribed topical. A blood panel is £350. Prescriptions are dispensed and priced by the pharmacy.
Sexual side effects occur in a small number of men and usually settle on stopping. Psychiatric effects including low mood have been reported and the regulator has reminded prescribers to warn about both. The conversation happens before the prescription rather than after.
No. Where a transplant is the right answer we say so and refer you to a surgeon. Medication and platelet rich plasma still matter afterwards, because they protect the hair around the graft, which is the part people are surprised by.
Three months is the earliest fair review and 6 months is better. The hair cycle means treatment stops loss first and regrows second, so month 2 usually looks unchanged. Photographs taken monthly are what make that judgement possible.
Hair loss treatment is rarely covered by a policy. You receive an itemised receipt and can ask your insurer, and the honest answer is to plan on paying yourself rather than budgeting around a claim that is likely to be refused.
This page is general information about a condition and it is not a diagnosis. Treatment depends on what a doctor finds when they examine you, and no outcome is guaranteed. If you are severely unwell, or if any of the warnings at the top of this page apply to you, go to your nearest emergency department or call 999.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Interventions for female pattern hair lossvan Zuuren, 2016
Gut, British Society of Gastroenterology
Guidelines for the management of iron deficiency anaemia in adultsSnook, 2021
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Finasteride in the treatment of men with androgenetic alopeciaKaufman, 1998
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
Finasteride, reminder of the risk of psychiatric and sexual side effectsMHRA drug safety update, 2024
New England Journal of Medicine
Iron deficiency anaemiaCamaschella, 2015
NICE
Thyroid disease, assessment and managementNG145, 2019
NICE
Heavy menstrual bleeding, assessment and managementNG88, 2021
Stem Cells Translational Medicine
The effect of platelet rich plasma in androgenetic alopecia, a randomised placebo controlled trialGentile, 2015
Written and reviewed by the clinical team at The Wellness. Last reviewed 8 September 2026.
Tell us what is going on and a doctor will say what to book, or whether you need to be seen today.