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A hair transplant is surgery, not a medicine. It is done in a clinic, usually under local anaesthetic and over several hours, so no doctor can prescribe it and it cannot be arranged through an online consultation — it needs an in-person assessment with a surgeon.

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What it is

A surgeon takes hair follicles from the back or sides of the head — the occipital and temporal donor zones — where hair tends to be less affected by pattern hair loss because the dermal papillae in these regions express lower levels of androgen receptors. They place them one by one into the thinning areas, where they keep the characteristics of the area they came from, a principle called donor dominance: transplanted follicles retain their DHT-resistant programming and continue to grow in their new site. The two main techniques are follicular unit excision (FUE), in which individual follicular units are extracted with a small punch, and follicular unit transplantation (FUT, or strip harvesting), in which a strip of scalp is removed and divided into grafts. The surgeon selects the technique based on donor density, scalp laxity and hair characteristics. A hair transplant does not stop the underlying pattern hair loss, so hair in the untreated areas can keep thinning, and doctors often advise continuing medical treatment alongside it. Hi-Doctor does not perform or arrange hair transplants. The procedure is classified as surgery, not a medicine, across the EU.

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What has been reported

A 2025 scoping review of 43 publications on modern hair transplantation (Liu et al., Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2025) reported overall complication rates of 1.2% and 4.7% in two large case series.
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2025 — a scoping review on complications in modern hair transplantation. Frontiers in Medicine 2026 — Complications in follicular unit excision hair transplantation: current evidence and practical approaches.

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What can I take instead?

A licensed doctor decides case by case — we never prescribe without evaluation.

Oral finasteride

A 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor taken daily. A doctor may prescribe it after reviewing your history and ruling out contraindications. See Propecia.

Topical minoxidil

Solution or foam applied directly to the scalp. Can be combined with other actives in a compounded formulation. See Topical minoxidil.

Oral minoxidil

Low-dose, off-label, used by some dermatologists. Requires close medical supervision for potential cardiovascular effects.

Dutasteride 0.5mg

A more potent 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor. Reserved for specific cases, always under medical evaluation.
An individualised, pharmacy-compounded formulation combining finasteride, minoxidil, tretinoin or other actives is also something a doctor may prescribe after review.

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Common questions

A hair transplant is surgery, not a medicine. It is done in a clinic, usually under local anaesthetic and over several hours. No doctor can prescribe it and it cannot be arranged through an online consultation — it needs an in-person assessment with a surgeon.
No. It does not stop the underlying pattern hair loss, so hair in the untreated areas can keep thinning. Doctors often advise continuing medical treatment alongside it.
A licensed doctor may consider finasteride, topical minoxidil, oral minoxidil, dutasteride or a personalised compounded formulation. See finasteride and topical minoxidil for details.
Hair transplant has no EU marketing authorisation for this use. It is a surgical procedure, not a medicine, so it cannot be prescribed or dispensed in the EU for that purpose.

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How Hi-Doctor handles it

We don’t arrange this procedure, but our doctors can review your case and propose an equivalent hair-growth treatment with EU authorisation. See how it works for the consultation process and pricing for the consultation fee — medication, if prescribed, is paid separately, at a pharmacy of your choice.

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Start a consultation

Hair-growth consultation

Answer the hair-growth questionnaire and a registered doctor reviews it. They decide whether treatment is appropriate, which one, and at what dose — and declining is a normal outcome. See what it costs and how the review works.
This page is reference information, not medical advice and not a prescription. Whether a medicine is appropriate for you is decided by a registered doctor after reviewing your consultation.