HAIR GROWTH ELIXIR
Almost every woman Dr Ophelia treats for hair thinning has already been told to use minoxidil, and many have tried it and stopped. They stop for one reason: minoxidil pushes follicles out of their resting phase ahead of schedule, and as new hair comes up, it displaces the old. For the first two months you shed more than before, and you are asked to accept that as progress. For a woman already frightened by what she sees in the shower drain, that is an enormous thing to ask.
Then there is the vehicle. A conventional 5% scalp solution is roughly half propylene glycol and a bit over a quarter alcohol, and its own label lists dry skin and changes in hair texture and colour among recognised effects.
So five years ago Dr Ophelia began compounding something else. Not a gentler minoxidil, but a formula that works through different biology, in an alcohol-free base, with neither a shedding phase nor a drying vehicle built into how it functions. It is made fresh for each patient after assessment.
Recyclable Packaging
Suitable for Vegans and Filler Free
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Every Cause of Hair Loss Is a Medical One
Hair loss is sold as a grooming problem. It is not. Every cause of hair thinning is medical. Androgenetic alopecia is endocrine. Telogen effluvium follows illness, deficiency, thyroid disease, medication, surgery or childbirth. Alopecia areata is autoimmune. Scarring alopecia is inflammatory and can permanently destroy follicles if not caught.
Diagnosing which you have requires a doctor. Most people offering hair loss services in this country are not doctors, as the Institute of Trichologists states on its own website. Dr Ophelia is a Consultant Dermatologist on the GMC Specialist Register, number 6149018. She also holds a PhD in hair follicle bioengineering and founded the tertiary hair clinic at a major London teaching hospital.
How Your Formula Is Made For You
Dr Ophelia doesn't compound anything until she knows what she is treating.
- History: Pattern and duration of loss, family history, what you have tried, your hormonal picture, medication, and anything in the last year that could have triggered a shed. Most of the diagnosis happens here.
- Scalp imaging: HairMetrix measures density, calibre and the proportion of your hairs in the growth phase, in numbers rather than impressions.
- Bloods: Ferritin, thyroid function, vitamin D and a full blood count as a minimum. Dr Ophelia treats ferritin above 70, because normal for not being anaemic is not the same as normal for growing hair.
- Then we decide the formula: concentration, base, and activities, based on all of the above. We measure again at three months and adjust.
Start Your Consultation
- Online medical questionnaire. Free. Ten minutes, and Dr Ophelia reviews everyone personally. If she can prescribe safely, we compound and dispatch your formula. [Start Your Free Assessment]
- Hair consultation, 130 Harley Street. £400. Forty-five minutes with me: examination, HairMetrix imaging, diagnostics, and a full treatment plan. Scarring alopecia looks like pattern thinning to a patient and like nothing else to a dermatologist with a dermatoscope. [Book a Hair Consultation]
- Skin and hair consultation. £500. Both in one appointment. [Book a Skin and Hair Consultation]
Dr Ophelia is the sole prescriber for every formula in this range. That is a medicolegal position, not a marketing one.
What Goes In It
Factual information for patients considering treatment. Two actives in a lightweight, alcohol-free base, both at the concentration used in the published trial.
Finasteride 0.25%
Finasteride blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT, which drives scalp follicles through cycles of miniaturisation. A phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial across 45 European sites compared 0.25% topical finasteride against placebo and oral finasteride 1mg in men over 24 weeks. Total hair count rose by 20.2 hairs against 6.7 on placebo. Plasma finasteride was more than 100 times lower with the topical; serum DHT fell 34.6% against 55.6%.
The trial included men, so evidence in women is thinner. Oral finasteride failed to beat placebo in a randomised trial of 137 postmenopausal women. Its use in women is off-label, based on mechanism, clinical judgement and five years of my prescribing it.
Recognised side effects include reduced libido, erectile dysfunction and mood changes. In April 2025, the FDA issued an alert about compounded topical finasteride, citing 32 adverse event reports between 2019 and 2024, noting effects continued after stopping in most.
Topical finasteride can transfer from the scalp to hands and pillow. Wash your hands, let the scalp dry fully, and tell me if a pregnant woman may come into contact with your scalp or bedding.
Melatonin 0.1%
Melatonin is produced in the hair follicle itself, and follicles carry receptors for it. A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 0.1% topical melatonin in 40 women, published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2004, found a significantly increased proportion of hairs in the growth phase.
- Why is there no minoxidil or alcohol: Minoxidil's own label lists temporary hair loss as an undesirable effect, and gives excipients as propylene glycol at 500mg/ml and ethanol at 280mg/ml. Neither active here needs those solvents, so this base is alcohol-free, fragrance-free and preservative-free.
- Compounded fresh. Every bottle is made to order, needs no preservative system, and has a six-month shelf life.
Easier to Stop and Start
Hair treatment is not a course you finish. Stop finasteride before trying to conceive. Coming off a topical with very low systemic exposure and returning later is manageable. Restarting minoxidil brings the shedding phase back every time.
Who This Is For, and Who It Is Not For
- For: androgenetic thinning; women who tried minoxidil and stopped in the shed; women who cannot face starting it; people who reacted to the solvents; men who want a DHT blocker but not an oral one.
- Not for you if: you are pregnant, could become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. Finasteride can cause abnormal development of the genitals in a male foetus. Reliable contraception is a condition of treatment. Also do not use if someone in your household is pregnant and may contact your scalp; if you have a history of significant mood disturbance; if you have liver disease; or if your hair loss has not been diagnosed.
This treats ongoing loss rather than restoring what has gone. If you stop, loss resumes over six to twelve months.
How to Use
Apply to a dry scalp once daily, parting the hair and directing it onto the scalp. Massage in, then wash your hands thoroughly. Let it dry completely before you put your head on a pillow. Using it every day consistently does more work than concentration. Expect nothing for three months. Come back in three months for repeat imaging.
Easier to Stop and Start
Hair treatment is not a course you finish. Stop finasteride before trying to conceive. Coming off a topical with very low systemic exposure and returning later is manageable. Restarting minoxidil brings the shedding phase back every time.
Who This Is For, and Who It Is Not For
- For: androgenetic thinning; women who tried minoxidil and stopped in the shed; women who cannot face starting it; people who reacted to the solvents; men who want a DHT blocker but not an oral one.
- Not for you if: you are pregnant, could become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. Finasteride can cause abnormal development of the genitals in a male foetus. Reliable contraception is a condition of treatment. Also do not use if someone in your household is pregnant and may contact your scalp; if you have a history of significant mood disturbance; if you have liver disease; or if your hair loss has not been diagnosed.
This treats ongoing loss rather than restoring what has gone. If you stop, loss resumes over six to twelve months.
How to Use
Apply to a dry scalp once daily, parting the hair and directing it onto the scalp. Massage in, then wash your hands thoroughly. Let it dry completely before you put your head on a pillow. Using it every day consistently does more work than concentration. Expect nothing for three months. Come back in three months for repeat imaging.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because it contains a prescription-only medicine, and a prescription requires a prescriber who has assessed you.
The free questionnaire is a real route. The £400 buys a diagnosis: dermatoscopic examination, imaging, biopsy where needed, and injection treatments.
Because every cause of hair thinning is a medical condition, trichologists are not medically qualified. My GMC number is 6149018.
A little shedding can happen. What you should avoid is a rapid, synchronised shed.
No, because dryness comes from the vehicle, not the drug. This base has no alcohol.
They are the concentrations used in the published randomised trials.
No, but you must plan for it. You must stop finasteride before you try to conceive.
Reduced shedding at around three months; visible density change between six and twelve.
It requires care. Its use in women is off-label and based on mechanism and clinical judgement.
Reduced libido, erectile dysfunction and mood changes are recognised, most often in men on the oral drug. The April 2025 FDA alert cited 32 adverse event reports over five years.
Yes. Wash your hands after every application.
No. There is no licensed topical finasteride anywhere. This is compounded as a special.
Dispensed by a GPhC-registered UK pharmacy. The clinic is CQC-registered. Provider ID 1-27377085712, location ID 1-29095875525. GMC 6149018.
Three-month supply, £2.89 a day. That buys a formula compounded for your scalp and a named consultant dermatologist reviewing you for three months.
Topically, it is too large to cross the skin reliably, poorly water-soluble, and human evidence is close to absent.
This is standard. DHT Blocker Free removes the finasteride. PLUS adds minoxidil for advanced thinning.
Yes.
Yes, ferritin, thyroid function, vitamin D and a full blood count.
Loss resumes over six to twelve months.
We review you every three months. You can pause or cancel anytime.
7 to 10 working days, then Royal Mail trackedin 24. UK only.
Six months from the date it is made.
No. You can't return dispensed prescription medicines. If something isn't working, the formula can be adjusted.
AWARD WINNING PRIVATE CONSULTANT DERMATOLOGIST
Dr. Ophelia Veraitch is a globally recognised dermatologist with an unparalleled educational foundation and international expertise in both medical and aesthetic dermatology.
As a private consultant on Harley Street, she specialises in diagnosing and treating complex skin and hair conditions while also offering a full range of professional aesthetic treatments.
Alongside her clinical work, Dr. Ophelia has developed her namesake line of prescription-strength skin and hair products, bringing her world-class knowledge and experience directly into patients’ hands, to continue treating their skin at home.
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