01 Hair · Assessment
Hair loss assessment.
Six questions · About 60 seconds · Private
Hair loss is a symptom, and more than one thing causes it. Six questions orient you in about a minute: what you have noticed, how far it has gone, what you would like to achieve. Your answers stay on your device until you choose to send them.
The assessment does not diagnose and does not decide anything. An independent clinician looks at your history, your pattern and your general health, and tells you honestly what you are dealing with.
Free · About 60 seconds · Nothing sent until you choose
§02 Why the cause matters
Hair loss has more than one cause.
Some causes respond to treating the underlying problem, some do not, and telling them apart is a clinical judgement rather than something you can read off a website.
- IronFerritin
Iron stores are commonly checked where a clinician suspects a nutritional contribution, particularly in women. Assessed by your clinician.
- ThyroidThyroid function
Thyroid problems can cause diffuse shedding that resembles pattern loss, which is one reason a clinician may want it checked. Assessed by your clinician.
- AndrogenDHT and androgen activity
One of the factors a clinician may consider when assessing androgenetic hair loss. Assessed by your clinician.
- BaselineGeneral health and medication
Your history, your medication and a baseline picture of your general health, because what is appropriate for you depends on them.
§03 What a clinician may look at
Looked at, not guessed at.
Where investigations are carried out, the results are interpreted by the appropriate clinician, who explains what they mean for you.
Your history: how long you have been losing hair, the pattern, whether it runs in your family, your general health and any medication you already take. Photographs help and are optional.
Your pattern and the hair at the back and sides, which is what any surgical option would rely on, examined in person by the clinician who would treat you.
Investigations where a clinician thinks they are warranted, such as iron stores, thyroid function or a baseline blood picture, interpreted by that clinician.
A plain conversation about what is realistic, including the possibility that the right answer is to do nothing yet.
§04 Is this the right next step?
Works well for some. Needs a clinician first for others.
- FitsEarly to mid-stage pattern loss
And anyone who wants the cause established before deciding anything.
- FitsSlowing or halting progression
Including people protecting native hair after an earlier transplant.
- FitsNot sure what you are dealing with
The assessment sets out what is worth discussing; the clinician does the rest.
- Clinician firstPregnancy or breastfeeding
Some options are not appropriate; a clinician decides.
- Clinician firstA liver condition or certain medicines
A prescriber checks what is safe before considering any medicine.
- Clinician firstVery advanced loss
A surgeon examines the donor area and says plainly what it can and cannot provide.
Not everyone needs treatment, and not everyone who wants surgery is a suitable candidate for it. The treating clinician assesses each case individually and recommends only what is clinically appropriate, including recommending nothing at all.
§05 Common questions
The things people actually ask.
What does a hair loss assessment involve?
Six questions about what you have noticed, how far it has gone, the hair at the back and sides, your age and what you would like to achieve. It takes about a minute and does not ask for your details first.
Does it diagnose anything?
No. It orients you and sets out what is worth discussing. An independent clinician looks at your history, your pattern and your general health, and decides what, if anything, is appropriate.
Where do my answers go?
They stay on your device until you choose to send them. Health answers and photographs are only shared after your explicit, separate consent, and only with the treating clinician and provider.
Do I need photographs?
No. They are optional and can be added after you have sent your details. They go to the clinician's team for review, not to Vertex Medic for assessment.
What happens after?
A person from the coordination team calls to understand what you want from a consultation, then arranges it with an independent clinician. You receive the provider's written quote and take at least two weeks to reflect.
§06 When you are ready
Start with the assessment. Then decide.
Six questions, about a minute, nothing sent until you choose. Then a person from the coordination team calls to understand what you want from a consultation.