Most hair loss treatment starts with an educated first choice and refines from there. Genetic testing shortens that road. TrichoTest analyses variations in the genes that govern how your follicles handle androgens, inflammation and the medicines we prescribe — and returns a profile of which treatment families you are most 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.
- – TrichoTest examines gene variants involved in androgen sensitivity, inflammation and drug metabolism from a simple cheek swab
- – The output predicts treatment response — which medication families suit your biology — not whether you will lose hair
- – Most useful when treatment has underperformed, when choosing between several reasonable options, or when you want the first choice to be the informed one
- – It does not diagnose the cause of your loss — examination and bloods still do that work
- – Swab, examination and interpretation all happen inside the standard £300 consultation pathway (but the test itself is an additional cost)
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 metabolise treatments such as minoxidil and the anti-androgens, and factors touching inflammation, insulin and micronutrient handling. From that profile comes a ranked picture of treatment families — the biology-based case for, say, prioritising an anti-androgen over another stimulant, or expecting more from one minoxidil route than 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, 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.
Book a Consultation
Hair loss is easier to treat when it's caught early. If you're noticing changes, a proper diagnosis is the first step toward the right treatment.
Our consultation includes a full clinical assessment, dermoscopy, and a personalised treatment plan — all in a single appointment.
Book your consultation today — £300Including assessment, and treatment plan. See full pricing
Who actually benefits from genetic testing
Three groups get real value. Women whose treatment has underperformed — six months of diligent minoxidil 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
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, at what dose, 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, minoxidil response, inflammation, micronutrient handling and so on — and, read naively, it invites two mistakes. The first is treating a percentage as a promise: “high predicted response to minoxidil” 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 anti-androgen 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 genuinely superb at is tie-breaking — two defensible treatment options, one biology-based reason to prefer one — and explaining historical mysteries, like why a previous clinic’s standard protocol 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, because early treatment protects follicles that waiting spends. 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 predicts 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 predict which treatments your follicles 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.
Understand what's causing your hair loss
A 50-minute consultation with Dr Amy includes scalp microscopy, and a personalised treatment plan—giving you definitive answers rather than continued guessing.
Book Your Hair Loss Assessment£300 consultation | Parsons Green, London
Next-day appointments often available
