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Most hair loss treatment starts with an educated first choice and refines from there. Genetic testing shortens that road. TrichoTest, made by Fagron, reads 48 genetic variants across 13 genes linked to hair loss, from a single cheek swab. It looks at how your follicles handle androgens, inflammation and common hair loss treatments — and returns a profile of which treatment approaches you are likely to respond to, before you have spent months finding out the slow way. For the right patient it is genuinely useful; for the wrong one it is an expensive certificate. This page is honest about which is which.
At Hair GP the test is never sold on its own: results are interpreted by Dr Amy alongside your scalp examination and blood panel, because genetics are one input into a diagnosis — not a substitute for one.
What the test measures — and what it can’t tell you
The swab reads a panel of gene variants with known relevance to hair: how strongly your follicles convert and respond to androgens, how you process common hair loss treatments, and factors touching inflammation, insulin and micronutrient handling. From that profile comes a ranked picture of treatment approaches — a biology-based reason to prefer one over another. What it cannot do matters just as much: it will not tell you why you are shedding this year — that is the job of bloods and trichoscopy — and it is not a crystal ball for future loss. Anyone marketing genetic testing as a diagnosis is overselling it, and we would rather you heard that from a clinic that offers the test.
| TrichoTest (genetics) | Blood panel | Trichoscopy examination | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Which treatments suit my biology? | What’s depleting or disrupting my hair? | What kind of hair loss is this? |
| Sample | Cheek swab | Blood draw | Scalp under magnification |
| Changes over time? | No, done once and valid for life | Yes, re-tested as levels correct | Yes, tracked against photographs |
| Diagnoses the cause? | No | Contributors, not pattern | Yes, with history |
| Best used | Choosing or rescuing treatment | Every diagnostic work-up | Every diagnostic work-up |
The three answer different questions, which is why the swab is offered inside the consultation rather than instead of it.
Who actually benefits from genetic testing
Three groups get real value. Women whose treatment has underperformed — six months of diligent treatment with little to show — where the profile often explains the shortfall and points at the family we should have led with. Women facing a genuine fork in the road: more than one reasonable option, perhaps a conception timeline or a medication sensitivity complicating the choice, where biology-based ranking beats coin-tossing. And women starting treatment who simply want the first choice informed rather than average — a defensible luxury, bought once, valid for life. If you are outside those groups — your diagnosis is clear, the first-line choice is obvious and untried — we will usually tell you to keep your money and spend it on the treatment itself. A test that cannot change your next decision is not worth running.
What patients say
She made me feel very comfortable and was genuinely interested in understanding all my history and test results … Finally the first hair expert that looks through the lens of also a GP and can advise considering other factors ongoing in your health.
So much knowledge and advice shared with me that left me feeling informed and confident. Didn’t feel like a service where you’re just being sold the most expensive option! Felt listened to, heard, and understood.
How it works at Hair GP
The swab takes a minute at consultation (the test is £280); results return in a few weeks and are interpreted by Dr Amy against your examination, bloods and history — then folded into the written plan: which treatment, reviewed when, and what the genetics contributed to the choice. Because the profile never changes, it keeps paying its way at every future decision — a treatment swap, a post-pregnancy restart, a perimenopause re-plan all get made against your biology rather than population averages. Still deciding whether testing has anything to offer your situation? Whether it has anything to offer you is a consultation question, answered alongside trichoscopy rather than in isolation. Questions about how the test works or what it costs are welcome on WhatsApp.
Reading a TrichoTest report the way a doctor does
The raw report is a set of category scores — androgen pathway, treatment response, inflammation, micronutrient handling and so on — and, read naively, it invites two mistakes. The first is treating a percentage as a promise: a “high predicted response” to a treatment raises the odds we lead with it and shapes which route we choose; it does not guarantee your parting a date. The second is reading categories in isolation: a strong androgen-pathway signal matters far more in a woman whose bloods also show a raised free androgen index than in one whose androgens are quiet, which is why the swab is interpreted with your panel on the same desk. What the report is most useful for is tie-breaking — two defensible treatment options, one biology-based reason to prefer one — and explaining historical mysteries, like why a previous treatment did so little. Expect Dr Amy’s interpretation to be one page of decisions, not twenty pages of genome.
Your mother’s hair is a clue — not a sentence
Most women who ask about genetic testing are really asking about inheritance: my mother’s hair thinned, is that my future? The honest answer is that pattern hair loss is strongly heritable — from both sides of the family, not the mythical maternal grandfather alone — but inheritance sets a susceptibility, not a schedule. What you inherit is follicles more or less sensitive to androgens; what happens next is negotiated with your hormones, iron stores, thyroid and decades — which is why sisters with identical DNA anxieties can have entirely different hair at fifty. The practical use of a family pattern is urgency: a strong history plus early thinning is the textbook case for assessing sooner. The swab then makes the treatment choice informed — a better question than whether you drew the family card at all.
Not sure where to start? Ask the clinic first.
Dr Amy Vowler · GMC-registered GP · GMC 7451097
Message us on WhatsApp or give us a ring. We can't give clinical advice over a message, but we can tell you how the consultation works, what it costs and whether Dr Amy is the right person for you. No obligation, nothing to prepare.
TrichoTest is a genetic test performed from a cheek swab. It analyses gene variants involved in androgen sensitivity, drug metabolism, inflammation and related pathways, and produces a profile of which hair loss treatment families your biology is most likely to respond to. At Hair GP the results are interpreted by Dr Amy alongside your scalp examination and blood results, and folded into a written treatment plan.
No. Genetic testing indicates likely treatment response: it does not identify whether your shedding is driven by pattern hair loss, low iron, thyroid dysfunction or a hormonal transition. That diagnostic work is done by examination under magnification and a properly chosen blood panel. The swab answers the next question: once we know what is happening, which treatments suit your biology best.
For the right patient, yes: if treatment has underperformed, if you face a genuine choice between several reasonable options, or if you want your first treatment chosen on biology rather than averages. If your diagnosis is clear and the obvious first-line treatment is untried, we will usually say spend the money on treatment instead. The test is done once and remains valid for life, so it keeps informing every future decision.
The swab itself takes about a minute during your consultation, and results typically return within a few weeks. They are not just handed to you as a raw report: Dr Amy interprets the profile against your examination findings, blood results and history, then builds or adjusts your written treatment plan accordingly, including what the genetics changed and why.
Yes. The two answer different questions. Bloods find what is currently depleting or disrupting your hair (iron, thyroid, vitamin D, hormones) and are re-tested as levels correct. Genetics indicate which treatments your follicles are likely to respond to and never change. Skipping bloods because you have a genetic profile is how a treatable deficiency gets missed while a well-chosen treatment underperforms against it.
The test sits inside Hair GP’s consultation pathway rather than being sold standalone: the fifty-minute assessment with Dr Amy is £300, and the TrichoTest swab is £280 on top, offered where it will genuinely change your treatment choice. If it won’t change the decision, we will tell you so and recommend against it: a test that can’t alter your next step isn’t worth running.
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