The Doctor-Led Hair Growth Programme. What A Full Year Looks Like
Hair loss is a long-term condition, so treating it in single sessions is the reason most people are disappointed. A proper programme runs across twelve months in four phases. Diagnosis and correction first, then an intensive treatment course, then review and adjustment, then maintenance. Knowing the whole sequence before you start is the difference between a plan and a series of purchases.
Key points
Phase one is diagnosis and correction, because a follicle short of iron or affected by thyroid dysfunction will not respond well to any treatment.
Phase two is an intensive course, typically three PRP sessions spaced four to six weeks apart, with medication added where appropriate.
Phase three is review at three and six months with photographs and dermoscopy, and adjustment of the plan based on what actually happened.
Phase four is maintenance every six to twelve months, because the process driving your hair loss does not stop.
Want to see what your twelve months would look like? Message a GMC-registered doctor on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com.
Why single sessions disappoint
Most people arrive having bought treatment rather than care. A session here, a supplement there, a shampoo, perhaps a course of something at a clinic that never established what was causing the problem. Six months later nothing much has changed and the conclusion drawn is that the treatment does not work.
Usually the treatment was fine and the structure was not. Hair grows on a cycle measured in months, so anything assessed at six weeks is being judged before it could possibly have worked. Genetic hair loss is progressive, so a burst of treatment with no maintenance fades. And a contributor such as low ferritin or an untreated thyroid problem will blunt any scalp treatment until corrected, which is the single most common reason PRP underperforms.
As our doctors put it, "we are not selling you injections, we are managing a condition, and those look very different across a year."
Phase one, months zero to one. Diagnosis and correction
Nothing is injected until we know what we are treating. Your scalp is examined with dermoscopy to see whether follicles are healthy, miniaturising or gone, area by area, since the answer often differs between the hairline, the crown and the parting. Where a scarring alopecia is suspected, a biopsy is arranged, because those conditions need anti-inflammatory treatment urgently and PRP is not an established treatment for the scarring process.
Blood testing runs alongside, covering full iron studies including ferritin, full thyroid function with antibodies rather than TSH alone, vitamin D, B12, folate, zinc, full blood count, HbA1c, CRP and the relevant hormonal markers. Anything found is corrected and given time, because hair responds to restored iron or thyroid function over months.
You also get a baseline. Standardised photographs of the hairline, parting and crown, so that progress in nine months is measured rather than remembered. Most people underestimate their own improvement without them.
Phase two, months one to four. The treatment course
Once the groundwork is done, treatment begins. For pattern hair loss the core is a course of around three PRP sessions spaced four to six weeks apart, performed by a GMC-registered doctor. PRP is well evidenced here, with a 2025 meta-analysis in Dermatology and Therapy pooling 43 randomised controlled trials and 1,877 participants finding it increases hair density, and trial data show a dose relationship, with more treatments per month associated with greater gains.
Where appropriate, medication is layered in. Topical minoxidil suits most people, and pooled data show PRP combined with minoxidil outperforms either alone. A DHT-lowering medication is discussed where it fits your situation and your preferences, and we are straightforward about the trade-offs rather than defaulting either way.
Expect reduced shedding first, often within one to two months, and be prepared for a small temporary increase in shedding early on as the cycle resets, which is normal and not failure.
Ask what your course would involve. Message us on WhatsApp.
Phase three, months three to six. Review and adjust
This is the phase most clinics skip, and it is where a programme earns its name.
At three months we repeat the photographs and the dermoscopy and compare them against baseline. Thickening usually begins to appear around this point, with individual hairs stronger and the scalp less visible. Bloods are rechecked where a deficiency was being corrected, since ferritin in particular takes months to rebuild.
Then we adjust. If response is good, the plan continues to maintenance. If it is partial, we look at why, which usually means a contributor still not fully corrected, adherence to topical treatment, or an area where follicles were less viable than hoped. If there is no response in an area, we say so and reconsider, which sometimes means a surgical opinion for that zone while continuing to protect the rest.
Being told honestly at six months that one area will not respond is far more valuable than being sold another course into it.
Phase four, months six to twelve and beyond. Maintenance
The fullest results from an initial course usually appear between six and twelve months, once new hairs have grown and matured. From there the plan becomes maintenance, typically a PRP session every six to twelve months alongside whatever medication you are on.
Maintenance is not an upsell, it is the biology. PRP supports the follicle but does not switch off the genetic and hormonal process driving the loss, so gains fade over the months after treatment stops. Someone with more active loss may need review closer to every six months, while someone whose loss is well controlled and whose bloods are optimised may stretch to twelve.
Annual photographs continue, which over three or four years produce something genuinely useful, an objective record of whether you are holding your ground.
What a programme costs
Flagship Harley Street and Mayfair clinics commonly charge £600 to £850 or more per PRP session, and London practices generally charge 50 to 70 percent more than clinics outside the capital. A course of three at that tier, before any testing or medication, therefore runs well past £1,800.
Set that against the alternatives. A hair transplant in the UK runs £5,000 to £17,000 and does nothing to stop the loss continuing around it, which is why so many people need a second procedure without medical management. Doing nothing has a cost too, since follicles respond while they are miniaturising and not once they have closed.
At The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness, care is doctor-led and priced below flagship rates, with your full twelve-month plan and its cost set out after your free suitability review, so you can see the whole commitment rather than discovering it session by session. That transparency is deliberate. A programme you can only evaluate in fragments is one you are more likely to abandon halfway.
Ask for a twelve-month plan and price. Message us on WhatsApp.
The suitability review
Every programme begins with a free doctor-led suitability review rather than a booking. A GMC-registered doctor assesses your scalp, reviews or arranges your bloods, and gives one of two answers.
Approved, with the full twelve-month sequence set out, which areas can respond and which cannot, what to expect at each review point, and the total cost before you commit to anything.
Or not approved, which happens regularly. Sometimes the loss is a temporary shed that will recover on its own once a deficiency is corrected. Sometimes it is a scarring alopecia needing different treatment urgently. Sometimes the follicles in the areas that concern you have already closed and a surgical opinion is the honest recommendation.
We decline a meaningful share of enquiries, and that selectivity is why our reported outcomes are what they are.
Why people choose The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness
We are doctor-led and blood-test-first, with diagnosis, testing, prescribing and the full regenerative range under one roof, which is what allows a genuine programme rather than a sequence of appointments. Every treatment is performed by GMC-registered doctors, and no clinician treats a patient here until they have completed 100 supervised treatments.
We train other clinicians through our Academy, and across our work we report an 87 percent patient success rate, a 32 percent average density increase in hair restoration and more than 187 five-star reviews.
Book your free suitability review. Message us on WhatsApp, email team@thewellnesslondon.com, or call +44 20 3951 3429.
Frequently asked questions about the hair growth programme
How long does a hair loss programme take?
Twelve months to a meaningful result, with diagnosis and correction in the first month, an intensive course over months one to four, review at three and six months, and the fullest results between six and twelve.
Why do blood tests come before treatment?
Because a follicle short of iron or affected by thyroid dysfunction cannot respond well to stimulation, which is the most common reason PRP underperforms elsewhere.
How many PRP sessions are in the programme?
Typically three spaced four to six weeks apart to start, then maintenance every six to twelve months, adjusted according to how you respond.
When will I see results?
Reduced shedding often within one to two months, visible thickening from around three months, and the fullest result between six and twelve months.
Do I have to continue forever?
Maintenance is needed to hold the result, because the process driving the hair loss continues. The interval varies from six to twelve months depending on how active your loss is.
What if it does not work?
We review at three and six months against baseline photographs and dermoscopy, and if an area is not responding we say so and reconsider rather than selling another course into it.
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