Hair Loss Treatment in Singapore: How Doctors Decide What You Actually Need
Reviewed by Dr Eugene Lim | MBBS (NUS, Singapore), Dr Cindy’s Medical Aesthetics, Singapore. Fully registered with the Singapore Medical Council, practising alongside Dr Cindy Yang.
Most people who come in about hair loss have already tried something. A shampoo that promised thickening, a serum bought after an advertisement, a supplement recommended by a friend, sometimes all three at once and for several months.
The question they arrive with is rarely “what treatments exist?” It is closer to “why has none of this worked, and what am I supposed to do instead?”
The answer is almost always the same, and it is not a product. What has usually gone wrong is that a treatment was chosen before the type of hair loss was established. Hair loss has several distinct causes and patterns, and a treatment that makes sense for one may do very little for another.
A supplement that corrects a nutritional deficiency does not treat the underlying process driving pattern hair loss. A regenerative scalp procedure will not correct hair loss driven by an untreated thyroid problem. Starting with the wrong intervention is how months can pass without addressing the actual cause.
This article sets out how the decision is actually made in clinic: what gets assessed, what the main categories are, which treatments match which category, and in what order they are considered. It is written to be read before you spend anything else.
The four categories, and why the category decides the treatment
Hair loss is not one condition. Before any treatment is chosen, the first job is to establish which broad category the problem fits into, because that determines what should happen next.
Pattern hair loss, or androgenetic alopecia. Hereditary and hormonally driven. In men it typically shows as a receding hairline and thinning at the crown.
In women it more often shows as a widening part and diffuse thinning across the top of the scalp, with the frontal hairline usually preserved, a presentation covered in full in our article on female hair loss. It is progressive, which means it tends to continue without intervention, and earlier treatment generally has more to work with because more viable follicles remain.
Shedding, or telogen effluvium. A sudden, diffuse increase in hair fall, often appearing two to three months after a trigger. Common triggers include a significant illness, surgery, childbirth, rapid weight loss, severe psychological or physiological stress, or starting or stopping certain medications. The hair can come out in alarming amounts, and yet this is also the category most likely to recover once the trigger has passed.
The follicles are not permanently damaged. More of them have been pushed through the hair cycle at around the same time and, once the trigger has resolved, the cycle can gradually return to normal.
Nutritional and medical. Iron deficiency or depleted iron stores, inadequate protein intake, thyroid dysfunction and post-infective shedding, including telogen effluvium following Covid infection. Here the hair loss may be a symptom of something systemic, and no scalp treatment substitutes for identifying and correcting an underlying medical cause.
Scalp and inflammatory. This includes alopecia areata, scalp infections and inflammatory scalp conditions. Persistent itch, flaking, tenderness or visible scaling can point towards a scalp condition, while alopecia areata may instead appear as smooth, well-defined patches of hair loss without obvious inflammation. These presentations are assessed differently from straightforward shedding or pattern thinning.
The reason this matters commercially as well as clinically is simple. A patient with telogen effluvium who is sold an unnecessary procedure may improve and might have improved anyway. A patient with progressive pattern hair loss who relies on a supplement that does not address the underlying condition may continue to lose ground while they wait. Getting the category right is what makes the treatment appropriate in the first place.
What is actually happening to the follicle
Hair grows in a cycle. The anagen phase is active growth and normally accounts for the large majority of scalp hair at any one time. Catagen is a brief transitional phase.
Telogen is the resting phase, after which the hair is eventually released and shed. Losing hair every day is therefore normal, and the figure most people have heard, somewhere in the region of 50 to 100 hairs a day, is a useful rule of thumb rather than a diagnostic cut-off.
Two different things go wrong. In telogen effluvium, a significant trigger pushes an abnormally large proportion of follicles out of anagen and into telogen at around the same time.
The increased shedding typically appears two to three months later, which is why it can seem to arrive without a cause. The follicle itself is not permanently damaged.
In pattern hair loss the change builds gradually. Under the influence of androgens in genetically susceptible follicles, each successive growth cycle can produce a shorter, finer and less pigmented hair. This is miniaturisation.
The follicle does not disappear at first; it produces progressively less. As miniaturisation advances, the growth phase becomes shorter and the hairs can become so fine and short that they no longer contribute meaningful coverage. In longstanding pattern hair loss, severely miniaturised follicles become much less likely to respond substantially to treatment. This is the reason timing matters so much in this category.
A miniaturised follicle that is still producing hair gives treatment something to work with. An area that has been completely bald for years is much less likely to respond to non-surgical treatment, and no honest assessment should promise otherwise.
Everything that follows in this article is an attempt to do one of three things: remove an underlying cause where there is one, improve the scalp and follicular environment, or stimulate follicles that are still present but underperforming.
What Singapore adds to the picture
Generic hair loss advice is often written for temperate climates, and it does not always describe the conditions a scalp faces in Singapore.
Singapore is hot and humid throughout the year. Heat, humidity and sweating do not directly cause pattern hair loss or telogen effluvium, but they can make an oily, itchy or flaky scalp more noticeable and can aggravate existing scalp conditions in some people. Frequent sweating may also mean washing the hair more often, and repeatedly using harsh or strongly clarifying shampoos can irritate an already sensitive scalp.
That inflammation is worth treating, but it is important not to confuse a scalp condition with the underlying cause of the hair loss. Someone can have seborrhoeic dermatitis and pattern hair loss at the same time, and treating one does not automatically treat the other.
The ultraviolet index here also regularly reaches very high to extreme levels. As hair coverage decreases, a thinning scalp has less protection from the hair above it, and a widening part exposes more skin directly to ultraviolet radiation. That is a skin-health issue rather than a cause of the hair loss itself.
There is also a diagnostic point worth making in our population. Redness from scalp inflammation can be less obvious in more deeply pigmented skin than it is in lighter skin. Inflammation may therefore be easier to miss on a photograph or a casual look, which is one reason persistent scalp symptoms are better assessed on close examination.
The treatments, matched to the category
Dr Cindy’s Medical Aesthetics works with several groups of intervention. They are not necessarily alternatives to one another, and where combination treatment is appropriate, different parts of the plan may be addressing different parts of the problem.
Autologous scalp micrografting. A small tissue sample is taken from an area at the back of the scalp that is relatively resistant to androgenetic hair loss. The tissue is mechanically processed into a suspension containing cells and signalling components derived from the patient’s own scalp, which is then injected into areas affected by pattern hair loss with the aim of supporting follicles that are still present.
Because the material is autologous, it comes from the patient’s own tissue. The procedure is minimally invasive, although temporary tenderness, redness or other local effects can occur. Patients can usually return to normal activities quickly. Autologous micrografting has been studied as a treatment for androgenetic alopecia, with encouraging results in hair density and related measures, although the evidence base remains smaller than that for established medical treatments. It is set out in detail in our article on Regenera Activa, and the procedure page is autologous skin micrografting.
Fractional laser therapy with exosome. A non-ablative fractional laser creates controlled microscopic treatment zones in the scalp. The resulting channels can also be used to enhance delivery of a topical preparation applied immediately afterwards.
Paired with exosome therapy, an exosome-containing preparation is applied as a supportive treatment. Exosomes contain bioactive molecules involved in cell-to-cell signalling, and early research suggests potential effects on pathways involved in hair growth. The clinical evidence in hair loss is promising but still developing, with relatively small studies and considerable variation in the products and treatment protocols used. What the scalp procedures actually do covers this and the treatment below in more depth.
Downtime is generally limited, although temporary redness, tenderness or a tingling sensation can occur after treatment.
Microneedling with radiofrequency and exosome therapy. RF microneedling creates controlled micro-injuries in the scalp while delivering radiofrequency energy into the tissue. This produces a local wound-healing response, while the channels created can also provide a route for topical products applied afterwards.
Exosome-containing preparations can then be applied following the procedure. Early clinical studies of microneedling or RF microneedling combined with topical exosome preparations have reported improvements in measures such as hair density and hair diameter, but the evidence is still emerging and larger controlled trials are needed to establish how much benefit the combination adds and which treatment protocols work best.
The treatment is minimally invasive and patients can usually return to usual activities quickly, although temporary local redness, tenderness or irritation can occur.
Oral supplements and topical scalp products. The clinic works with different supplement and topical categories because they are intended to address different parts of the hair-loss picture. Nutritional supplementation has a clear role where a relevant deficiency exists, while other formulations are marketed or studied for their potential to support stress-related shedding or the hair growth cycle.
Alongside these, the clinic carries scalp essences and shampoos intended to address shedding or scalp condition, depending on the product and its ingredients. Which supplements have evidence behind them, where that evidence is limited, and where supplements are unlikely to be enough on their own is covered in our honest answer on hair supplements.
A word on how well evidenced these treatments are, because “regenerative” covers a wide range. Correcting a documented nutritional or medical cause has the clearest rationale because it addresses the underlying problem directly. Autologous micrografting has a growing clinical literature in androgenetic alopecia, although studies remain relatively small.
Fractional laser and microneedling are established technologies in dermatology, but evidence for their specific use in hair loss depends on the treatment and combination being studied. Exosome therapy is newer: early human studies have reported improvements in hair density and thickness, but the literature remains heterogeneous, with small sample sizes, different exosome sources and preparations, and no standardised treatment protocol. It is better described as an emerging supportive treatment than as an established replacement for conventional hair-loss therapy.
One distinction worth drawing before the list is read as longer than it is. A salon scalp treatment is not on it. Salon scalp treatments are primarily cleansing and conditioning services aimed at scalp comfort and hair condition, and they can genuinely help an oily or flaking scalp feel better.
They do not establish the medical cause of hair loss, so they are not a substitute for an assessment when hair is progressively thinning, shedding substantially or being lost in patches. For scalp comfort they may have a role. For diagnosing and treating the cause of hair loss, they are a different proposition.
Prescription medication is a separate question, and it belongs in a consultation. There are oral and topical medications used for pattern hair loss with established clinical evidence behind them, but their suitability, expected benefits and potential adverse effects differ between patients. Whether medication belongs in your plan is a decision made with a doctor who has assessed you.
How the treatments are sequenced
Order matters more than most patients expect, and getting it wrong is one reason months can go by without addressing the actual problem.
First, remove the cause if there is one. If blood tests show iron deficiency, depleted iron stores or thyroid dysfunction, that is corrected before or alongside anything else. A scalp procedure performed while a significant systemic driver remains untreated does not address the underlying problem. If there is an active scalp infection or significant inflammatory scalp condition, that needs treating too.
Second, establish what needs to happen between clinic visits. This depends on the diagnosis. Where a nutritional deficiency exists, supplementation may be part of the plan. Where a scalp condition is present, appropriate scalp care or topical treatment may be needed. In pattern hair loss, evidence-based topical or oral medical treatment may also be considered depending on the patient. The daily regimen should match the mechanism rather than simply be added because someone has hair loss.
Third, add an in-clinic treatment where it has a role. Depending on the diagnosis and extent of the hair loss, options may include autologous micrografting, fractional laser with exosome therapy, or RF microneedling with exosome therapy. These are aimed at follicles that are still present, including follicles undergoing miniaturisation. The evidence and expected benefit differ between procedures, so the choice should be based on the pattern, severity and treatment goals rather than treating them as interchangeable.
Fourth, reassess and maintain. Progress is monitored at periodic assessments and the plan is adjusted according to what is actually changing. For a progressive condition such as androgenetic alopecia, some form of ongoing treatment or maintenance is usually needed because the underlying susceptibility remains.
What results actually look like, and what they do not
Results vary by treatment and by patient. Some changes, such as reduced shedding, may be noticed earlier, while visible improvements in density generally take longer because hair growth itself is slow.
Anyone quoting a single timeline for every patient is oversimplifying it. The hair growth cycle sets the pace and it cannot be hurried.
Two limits are worth stating plainly, because they are the ones patients are most often not told.
Pattern hair loss is ongoing, and maintenance is part of the conversation. Treatment can improve or stabilise hair growth, but androgenetic alopecia is a progressive genetic and androgen-dependent condition. Treatment manages that tendency; it does not remove it. If an effective treatment is stopped, the benefits may gradually be lost and the underlying progression can resume.
Longstanding bald areas are much harder to recover. The non-surgical treatments described here depend on follicles that are still capable of producing hair, including miniaturised follicles producing hairs too fine to contribute much coverage. Where an area has been completely bald for years, the likelihood of meaningful regrowth with non-surgical treatment is much lower.
In those cases the honest conversation is about protecting and thickening the areas that are still viable, and about surgical options elsewhere if restoration of a longstanding bald area is the goal. The clinic does not perform hair transplantation.
Side effects depend on the treatment being used. With minimally invasive scalp procedures, temporary redness, swelling, tenderness or irritation can occur, while each treatment has its own specific risks and limitations. Your doctor should go through these before anything is done.
What it costs, and what drives the cost
No prices appear in this article deliberately, because figures change and the clinic publishes current ones in its own hair loss treatment cost guide. What is worth understanding here is the structure, because it is what makes quotes from different clinics difficult to compare.
Three things drive the cost of treating hair loss.
Whether the treatment is a single session or a course. Some procedures may be performed as a single treatment followed by reassessment, while others are delivered as a course of sessions over several months. A per-session price for a treatment course and the total price of a different procedure are not comparable numbers unless you know how many sessions are actually being recommended.
What the procedure actually involves. Autologous micrografting, for example, requires a small tissue sample taken under local anaesthesia, mechanical processing of that tissue and administration into the treatment area. Other treatments involve different equipment, consumables and levels of medical intervention. Those differences form part of the cost.
The ongoing regimen, where one is needed. Oral supplements, prescription treatment or topical scalp products may create recurring costs depending on the plan. They should be included in the calculation when they are actually indicated, rather than added automatically to every treatment programme.
The assessment is also part of the cost, but it serves a different purpose. It determines what is driving the hair loss and whether treatment is needed in the first place. Spending on the right diagnosis before committing to months of treatment is usually more useful than repeatedly buying products for a cause that has never been established.
What a first hair loss consultation involves
The assessment is the part of the process that determines what should happen next, so it is worth knowing what it consists of.
Working out which type of hair loss you may have is the subject of our diagnostic guide to hair loss, and it is worth reading before an appointment.
The consultation itself begins with a detailed medical history. The doctor asks about the onset, duration and pattern of the loss, family history of hair loss, recent illnesses, medications, diet and relevant lifestyle factors. The timeline often gives important clues, because a sudden shed a few months after an illness and three years of gradual thinning are very different stories before anyone looks at the scalp.
Then comes a physical examination of the scalp and hair. The doctor assesses the distribution, pattern and extent of the loss and examines the scalp itself for inflammation, infection or other dermatological conditions. Close examination matters particularly when there are scalp symptoms or patchy loss, and redness from inflammation may also be less obvious in more deeply pigmented skin.
Where the history and examination suggest a systemic cause, further investigations such as blood tests may follow.
You should leave the consultation with a clearer understanding of what type of hair loss you have, whether an underlying cause needs correcting first, which treatments are appropriate and which are unlikely to help, and what a realistic timeline looks like. If you leave with a treatment package and no explanation of what is actually causing your hair loss, that is a reasonable thing to question.
Where to be seen, and who sees you
Dr Cindy’s Medical Aesthetics assesses and treats hair loss and thinning at both of its clinics.
Orchard. 360 Orchard Road, #05-06 International Building, Singapore 238869. Monday and Thursday 11.30am to 7pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm. Closed Sunday and public holidays.
Tampines. 1 Tampines Central 5, #07-01 CPF Tampines Building, Singapore 529508. Monday to Friday 11.30am to 9pm, Saturday 10am to 7pm. Closed Sunday and public holidays.
Assessments are carried out by the clinic’s doctors: Dr Cindy Yang, founder and medical director; Dr Eugene Lim, fully registered with the Singapore Medical Council; and Dr Grace Su, a general practitioner working in aesthetic and lifestyle medicine.
One point on where to go, since it is a common question. Some presentations warrant dermatological assessment and possibly a scalp biopsy. A painful, scaling, blistering or rapidly spreading scalp condition is one.
So is patchy loss with well-defined circular borders. In those cases a referral is the right outcome of a consultation. Where the picture is pattern hair loss, shedding, or a nutritional or hormonal driver, a medically led aesthetic clinic can assess and treat it directly.
On choosing where to go more generally, since treatment menus across clinics look broadly similar and the assessments do not. Four things are worth looking for. A history that covers medications, recent illness, family history and, for women, menstrual history, rather than only the hair.
An examination of the scalp itself rather than of photographs. Blood tests where the history suggests a systemic cause. And a doctor willing to tell you when an area is not treatable, or when you should be seen by someone else.
Registration with the Singapore Medical Council is the baseline every doctor treating you should meet. The practical test is whether you can say, on leaving, which category your hair loss falls into and why the recommended treatment follows from it.
You also do not need a referral to be seen privately. A referral matters in the other direction, when an assessment concludes that your presentation needs dermatological, gynaecological or endocrine input.
Hair loss is one of the few concerns where the assessment is worth more than the first treatment, because the assessment is what makes the treatment the right one. If you have been trying things for a while without knowing which category you are in, that is the place to start.
Frequently asked questions
What are the hair loss treatment options in Singapore?
For non-surgical treatment the realistic options are regenerative in-clinic procedures, autologous scalp micrografting, fractional laser therapy with exosome, and RF microneedling with exosome, supported by oral supplements and topical scalp products, with prescription medication considered separately on medical assessment. Surgical hair transplantation is a different pathway and is not performed at this clinic. Which of these applies depends on your category, not on which is newest.
How does a doctor decide which hair loss treatment I need?
By establishing the category first. History determines the timeline and any systemic trigger, examination determines the pattern, extent and scalp condition, and investigations confirm a suspected underlying cause. Treatment is then matched to the category and sequenced, with any underlying cause corrected before or alongside the in-clinic work.
When should I see a doctor about hair loss?
When shedding has been noticeably heavier for more than about three months, when the part is widening or the hairline is moving, when there is patchy loss, or when the scalp is itchy, sore or scaling. For pattern hair loss specifically, earlier is materially better, because treatment works on follicles that are still present and miniaturisation is progressive.
Do I need a scalp assessment before starting treatment?
Yes, and this is the single most useful thing you can do. The most common reason a patient has spent a year without progress is that a treatment was selected before the category was established.
How do I know whether I need a procedure or just products?
Broadly, shedding driven by a resolved trigger and hair loss driven by a correctable deficiency often respond to correcting the cause plus a daily regimen. Established pattern hair loss generally needs an in-clinic stimulus as well, because the daily regimen supports the scalp environment but does not deliver the concentrated follicular stimulus that miniaturised follicles need. The examination distinguishes the two.
How can I prevent hair loss?
Genuine prevention is limited to what is modifiable: correcting nutritional deficiencies, managing thyroid and other medical conditions, treating scalp inflammation, avoiding sustained traction from tight hairstyles, and not delaying assessment once thinning starts. Hereditary pattern hair loss cannot be prevented, but its progression can be slowed, and that is a meaningful distinction.
Which hair loss treatments have real evidence behind them?
Correcting a documented deficiency, particularly iron where ferritin is low, has the clearest evidence of all, because it addresses the underlying cause rather than the symptom. Autologous approaches to alopecia rest on principles established in the published literature since the 1950s. Fractional laser delivery is built on fractional photothermolysis, which is well documented. Proteoglycan replacement therapy has clinical trial data in pattern hair loss. Exosome therapy has a sound mechanistic rationale and a younger, smaller clinical literature in hair loss specifically, which is why it is used here as a supportive component within a treatment. High-dose general supplements in people who are not deficient have the weakest case.
Can hair loss be reversed?
It depends entirely on the category. Telogen effluvium usually recovers once the trigger resolves, because the follicles were never damaged. Hair loss from a nutritional or thyroid cause typically improves once the cause is corrected. Pattern hair loss is managed. Density can be improved and progression slowed while treatment continues, but the underlying tendency remains, and areas that have been bald for years cannot be restored non-surgically.
How long does hair loss treatment take to work?
Some patients notice improvement within a few weeks and others take a few months for changes to be significant. The growth cycle sets the pace, so a fair assessment of whether a plan is working needs months rather than weeks.
What happens if I do nothing about my hair loss?
For shedding after a resolved trigger, often recovery. For a nutritional or thyroid cause, the hair loss continues and so does the underlying problem. For pattern hair loss, progressive miniaturisation continues, and the follicles that are viable and treatable today are the ones at risk, which is what makes waiting costly in this category specifically.
How much does hair loss treatment cost in Singapore?
It depends on which treatment, because a single-session injection procedure and a course of laser or microneedling sessions are priced differently, and the daily supplement and topical regimen is a separate ongoing cost. The clinic publishes current figures for each of its hair loss treatments in its hair loss treatment cost guide, which is the right place to check rather than an article that may age.
How much does Regenera Activa cost in Singapore?
Autologous scalp micrografting is a single-session procedure and is priced per session. Current figures are in the clinic’s hair loss treatment cost guide.
How much does scalp microneedling cost in Singapore?
It is priced per session and delivered as a course rather than as a single treatment, so the figure that matters is the course total. Current per-session figures are in the clinic’s cost guide, and the number of sessions is set at assessment.
What does a hair loss consultation cost in Singapore?
Ask when booking, since consultation fees are set separately from treatment. It is worth treating the consultation as the part of the process with the highest return, because it is what determines whether anything you spend afterwards is aimed at the right mechanism.
Why do hair loss treatment prices vary between clinics?
Three things mainly. The treatment itself, since a procedure requiring tissue harvesting, processing equipment and a doctor’s time is not comparable to a topical treatment. Whether the quoted price is per session or per course, which is the most common source of confusion when comparing. And whether a doctor is performing the assessment and the procedure. A price quoted without a stated session count is not a comparable number.
Can you use MediSave or insurance for hair loss treatment in Singapore?
This is not something to take from an article, because coverage depends on your specific policy and on how a given treatment is classified. Ask the clinic what applies to the specific treatment being proposed, and ask your insurer about your own policy. Where hair loss turns out to be a symptom of an underlying medical condition, the investigation of that condition is a separate question from the treatment of the hair, and worth asking about separately.
How much does a scalp treatment cost in Singapore?
This depends heavily on what is meant, and it is worth separating. A salon scalp treatment and a medical scalp procedure are different services at different price points and they are not substitutes. Medical procedure figures are in the clinic’s cost guide.
What is the most affordable hair loss treatment that actually works?
Correcting a deficiency, where one exists, because a blood test and treating the deficiency address the cause itself, and sit well below the cost of any procedure. That is why testing first is the cheapest route through this. Where the diagnosis is pattern hair loss, the least costly effective approach is usually the daily regimen sustained properly over months, understanding that in established pattern loss it supports rather than replaces in-clinic treatment.
How many sessions of hair loss treatment will I need to pay for?
It depends on the treatment and on your assessment. Autologous scalp micrografting is a single session, repeatable annually depending on the follow-up evaluation. The laser and microneedling treatments are courses, at four-week intervals during an active treatment phase. Any session count quoted before your scalp has been examined is a guess.
Are hair supplements cheaper than clinic treatment over a year?
Usually yes, and it is the wrong comparison to make, because they are not doing the same job. Supplements and topicals maintain the follicular environment continuously; in-clinic treatment delivers a concentrated stimulus that no oral or topical product replicates. In established pattern hair loss they are two halves of one plan, and running only the cheaper half is the most common reason a year passes without a result.
Which clinic should I go to for hair loss in Singapore?
Choose on the assessment rather than on the treatment menu, because the menus look similar and the assessments do not. What you want is a clinic that establishes which of the four categories of hair loss you have before recommending anything, tests for a systemic cause where the history suggests one, and tells you plainly when a treatment is not appropriate for your pattern. The practical test is whether you can say, on leaving, which category your hair loss falls into and why the recommended treatment follows from it. If you cannot, that is worth asking about before committing.
Who is a good hair loss doctor in Singapore?
Rather than a name, the useful thing is what to look for. A history that covers medications, recent illness, family history and, for women, menstrual history, alongside the hair itself. An examination of the scalp itself. A willingness to say when an area is not treatable, and to refer on when the picture is dermatological. Registration with the Singapore Medical Council is the baseline every doctor treating you should meet.
Should I see a dermatologist or an aesthetic doctor for hair loss?
It depends on the picture. Patchy loss with well-defined borders, scarring, a painful or blistering scalp, or rapidly progressing scalp disease belongs with a dermatologist, and may need a scalp biopsy. Pattern hair loss, shedding after a trigger, and hair loss with a nutritional or hormonal driver can be assessed and treated at a medically led aesthetic clinic. A clinic that refers you on when the first picture applies is doing its job.
Is there a hair loss clinic near me in Singapore?
Dr Cindy’s Medical Aesthetics assesses and treats hair loss and thinning at Orchard, at 360 Orchard Road, #05-06 International Building, and at Tampines, at 1 Tampines Central 5, #07-01 CPF Tampines Building. Both clinics see hair loss patients and both have doctors registered with the Singapore Medical Council.
What does a hair loss specialist actually do?
The work is diagnostic before it is anything else. A history covering onset, duration, pattern, family history, illnesses, medications and lifestyle; an examination of the scalp and hair assessing distribution, pattern and extent and checking for inflammation or infection; investigations where a systemic cause is suspected; and only then a treatment plan matched to the category and sequenced so that any underlying driver is corrected first.
Do I need a referral to see a doctor about hair loss in Singapore?
No. You can book directly with a private clinic without a referral. A referral becomes relevant in the other direction, when an assessment concludes that your presentation needs dermatological, gynaecological or endocrine input.
Should I go to a polyclinic or a private clinic for hair loss?
It depends which half of the question you are answering. If your history suggests a medical cause, iron deficiency, thyroid dysfunction or another systemic driver, then what you need first is the blood tests that establish it, and any doctor can arrange those. If the picture is pattern hair loss, you need a clinic that performs the in-clinic regenerative treatments, because that is where the treatment plan gets made. Ask what a given clinic offers rather than assuming, since provision varies.
What should I expect at a first hair loss consultation?
A detailed history, a physical examination of the scalp and hair, investigations if the history points to a systemic cause, and a plan. You should leave knowing which category your hair loss falls into, whether anything needs correcting before treatment, which treatments suit your pattern and which do not, and a realistic timeline. If you leave with a package and no category, that is worth questioning.
Which doctor in Singapore treats female hair loss?
At this clinic female hair loss is assessed by Dr Cindy Yang, Dr Eugene Lim and Dr Grace Su. What matters more than the name is that the history covers menstrual history alongside the usual ground, since the causes that are most often missed in women sit there. The clinic’s article on female hair loss sets out why.
Is a salon scalp treatment the same as a clinic hair loss treatment?
No, and confusing the two is common because both are called scalp treatments. A salon treatment is a cleansing and conditioning service aimed at scalp comfort and hair condition, and it can genuinely help an oily or flaking scalp feel better. It does not diagnose the cause of hair loss, does not involve a doctor, and does not deliver a stimulus to the follicle. For scalp comfort a salon is the right place. For hair that is thinning, it is not a substitute for an assessment.
References
1. Orentreich N. Autografts in alopecias and other selected dermatological conditions. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1959;83:463-479.
2. Manstein D, Herron GS, Sink RK, Tanner H, Anderson RR. Fractional photothermolysis: a new concept for cutaneous remodeling using microscopic patterns of thermal injury. Lasers Surg Med. 2004;34(5):426-438.
