Reviewed by the AOKLINIK clinical team. Last reviewed 2026-08-27.
First, which kind of hair loss do you have
Hair loss is not one condition. It is at least five, they look similar in a mirror, and the treatments do not overlap. Treating the wrong one is the most common reason people spend money on this and see nothing.
Two questions separate most of them. Is hair coming out, or is it growing back thinner? And is the loss spread evenly, or concentrated in a pattern?
| Type | How it presents | Reversible? | What it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telogen effluvium | Diffuse shedding across the whole scalp, starting around three months after a trigger: illness, surgery, childbirth, rapid weight loss, severe stress | Usually, fully | Find and correct the trigger. Rarely needs scalp treatment |
| Pattern hair loss | Progressive thinning in a pattern. Crown and temples in men; widening part with a preserved hairline in women | Slowed and partly regained, not cured | Long-term medical treatment, often with regenerative support |
| Nutritional or thyroid | Diffuse thinning or shedding, frequently with fatigue, brittle nails, cold intolerance | Yes, when corrected | Blood tests first. Correct the deficiency |
| Traction alopecia | Recession at the temples and hairline, sometimes small bumps along the pull line | Early yes, late no | Remove the tension. Treatment only helps before scarring |
| Scarring alopecia | Smooth shiny patches with no visible follicle openings, sometimes itching, burning or tenderness | No | Urgent assessment. The goal is stopping progression |
That last row is the one worth acting on quickly. Scarring alopecia destroys the follicle permanently, and the window in which treatment changes the outcome is measured in months. If your scalp is itchy, sore or shows smooth patches without visible pores, that is a reason to be seen sooner rather than to try something first.
The blood test comes before the treatment
This is the least commercial advice on this page and the most useful.
Before any scalp treatment, we test. Ferritin and full blood count, because iron deficiency is common in Malaysian women and is one of the few genuinely correctable causes. Thyroid function, because both underactive and overactive thyroid cause hair loss and neither responds to anything applied to the scalp. Vitamin D, and hormonal tests in women where the pattern or history warrants it.
A meaningful proportion of people who arrive asking about laser or PRP have a correctable deficiency instead, and treating the scalp while ferritin sits at 12 is paying for one thing while the actual cause continues.
Testing is not a delaying tactic. It is what stops you buying the wrong treatment.
Why it looks different in men and women
In men, pattern hair loss follows a recognisable sequence: recession at the temples, then thinning at the crown, then the two meeting. The hairline recedes. It is usually obvious what is happening, and often ignored for several years anyway.
In women, the pattern is different and more easily missed. The frontal hairline is typically preserved while the part widens progressively. Many women notice it first when a ponytail feels thinner rather than when they see scalp. Because the hairline stays intact, it is frequently dismissed as ordinary until it is well established.
Female pattern hair loss also more often has a contributing cause worth finding: iron, thyroid, or a hormonal driver. That is another reason the tests come first.
What works, and what it realistically does
Being precise here matters, because this category attracts more overclaiming than any other in aesthetic medicine.
Topical minoxidil is the mainstay for pattern hair loss and has the longest evidence base of anything available. It works while used and stops working when stopped. Shedding in the first weeks is expected and is not a sign of failure. It is available over the counter in Malaysia.
Oral anti-androgen treatment is prescription-only, effective in male pattern hair loss, and has a side effect profile that requires a proper conversation with a doctor rather than a purchase. It is not appropriate for everyone and is prescribed only after individual assessment.
Regenerative scalp injections, from From RM1250. PRP and PRF concentrate your own platelets and growth factors into the scalp to support follicles that are still alive. Reasonable evidence in early to moderate pattern loss, best used alongside medical treatment rather than instead of it, and requiring maintenance. It does not revive a follicle that has already gone.
Laser scalp stimulation, from From RM850. Fotona HAIRestart stimulates dormant follicles and scalp circulation, painless and with no downtime. A supporting treatment within a plan rather than a standalone answer.
Exosome therapy, from From RM1850. Newer, promising, and with a thinner evidence base than the options above. We will use it and we will not tell you the evidence matches minoxidil, because it does not.
The AO Hair Growth Programme, from From RM1850. Laser, regenerative injections and standardised progress photography under one doctor-led plan, with measurement at every step rather than impressions.
What does not work
Shampoos, as a treatment. A good shampoo can improve scalp health and remove build-up. None of them treats pattern hair loss. Anything sold on that basis is selling you the wrong thing.
Supplements, unless you are deficient. Correcting low iron works. Taking iron you do not need is not harmless. Biotin is famously ineffective in people who are not deficient, and it interferes with thyroid blood tests, which can produce a misleading result on exactly the test you needed.
Anything promising results in weeks. The hair cycle does not permit it. Three months is the earliest anything shows, and six is when it can be judged.
Treating without a diagnosis. The most expensive path through this is buying a course for the wrong condition, and it is also the most common.
The preventable one
Traction alopecia deserves separate mention because it is the only common type that is entirely preventable and, past a point, entirely permanent.
It comes from sustained pull on the follicle: tight ponytails, braids, extensions, and tightly pinned styles worn the same way every day. In Penang we see it most often at the temples and along the frontal hairline.
Early on, it recovers completely once the tension stops. After repeated cycles the follicle scars and no treatment restores it. The threshold arrives without any warning, which is why recession at the temples in someone who wears their hair pulled back is worth assessing early rather than watching.
The advice is unglamorous: vary the style, loosen the tension, avoid pulling on wet hair, and take the earliest signs seriously.
What to expect, and how it is measured
Nothing in under three months. That is the hair cycle and no treatment shortens it.
Standardised photography at baseline. Same lighting, same angles, same parting. This is not decorative: patients are routinely wrong about their own progress in both directions, and a photograph is the only honest comparison.
Review at three and six months. Six is when a plan is judged and adjusted.
Pattern hair loss needs ongoing treatment. Stopping returns you to the trajectory you were on. That is worth understanding before starting rather than discovering at month twelve.
And if the honest answer is that follicles in an area are gone and no medical treatment will bring them back, we will say so and discuss transplantation as a separate conversation rather than selling you a programme that cannot reach it.
Who assesses this
Hair and scalp assessment at AOKLINIK is doctor-led, beginning with examination and blood tests rather than a treatment recommendation. Where shedding follows rapid weight loss, Dr. Daniel Chong assesses it alongside the metabolic picture, and he has written separately on why shedding starts at three months on a GLP-1.
Our prices are published openly. The RM50 consultation covers assessment and a written plan, charged whether or not you proceed, and our doctors are not paid commission.
Common questions
It depends on the cause and whether treatment is topical, regenerative or a structured programme. At AOKLINIK, laser scalp stimulation starts from RM850, PRP or PRF scalp treatment from RM1,250, and the AO Hair Growth Programme, which combines laser, regenerative injections and progress photography under one plan, from RM1,850. Blood tests are additional and are usually the first thing we recommend. All prices are published openly and your own is confirmed after assessment.
Shedding is hair leaving the scalp: more in the brush, more in the drain, a thinner ponytail, but the hairs themselves are normal thickness. Thinning is hair regrowing progressively finer and shorter until it barely reaches the surface. Shedding is usually reversible and often self-limiting. Thinning is usually pattern hair loss and is progressive without treatment. They need completely different approaches.
Ferritin and full blood count, thyroid function, and vitamin D. In women, hormonal tests where the pattern or history suggests it. Low ferritin is common in Malaysian women and is one of the few genuinely correctable causes, so testing before treating is not a delaying tactic, it is what stops you paying for the wrong thing.
It has reasonable evidence for pattern hair loss, particularly early to moderate, and it works best alongside medical treatment rather than instead of it. It is not a cure and it requires maintenance. Anyone presenting PRP as a standalone answer to advanced pattern loss is overselling it.
It depends entirely on the type. Telogen effluvium is usually fully reversible. Nutritional and thyroid causes reverse when corrected. Pattern hair loss can be slowed and partially regained but not cured. Scarring alopecia and long-standing traction alopecia destroy the follicle, and once that has happened no medical treatment restores it.
Nothing works in under three months, because that is the length of the hair cycle. Meaningful assessment happens at six months, and standardised photography at baseline is the only reliable way to judge it. Memory is unreliable here and patients routinely underestimate their own improvement.
Yes, and it is one of the most preventable. Traction alopecia comes from sustained pull: tight ponytails, braids, extensions, and tightly pinned hijab styles worn the same way daily. Early on it recovers completely when the tension stops. Past a certain point the follicle scars and it does not. That threshold arrives without warning, which is why the recession at the temples is worth acting on early.
Yes, but the cause needs establishing first. Rapid weight loss commonly triggers telogen effluvium at around three months, which is self-limiting and does not need scalp treatment. What it can also do is unmask underlying pattern hair loss that was already progressing. Those are two different findings needing two different answers.
This page is general educational information and does not replace individual assessment. Medicines referred to are named for education only and are not advertised: topical minoxidil is available over the counter, and oral anti-androgen treatment is a prescription medicine registered with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency and prescribed only after individual assessment by a doctor. Devices used are registered with the Medical Device Authority. Suitability, the number of sessions required and outcomes vary and no result can be guaranteed.