HAIR GROWTH ELIXIR DHT BLOCKER FREE
Some people cannot take a DHT blocker. Some have taken one, did not get on with it, and will not go back. And some are in a situation where adding another drug that acts on hormones is the last thing anybody wants, including their oncologist. All three end up in the same place, looking for something that works on hair without touching androgens at all.
That is what this is. The same compounded topical as my standard Hair Growth Elixir, with the anti-androgen removed. What remains is melatonin, which acts on the follicle's own receptors and on the growth phase of the hair cycle, and, where appropriate, minoxidil, which works on the follicle and its blood supply rather than on your hormones.
What matters most isn't what is in it, but how it starts. Minoxidil is normally started at 5% on day one for everyone. Dr Ophelia does the opposite. Most patients begin at 1%, and we increase in small increments only as far as needed and tolerated, up to 7.5%. Many patients stay on melatonin alone. If you are frightened of side effects, that is the point. A doctor starts you at the bottom and increases it only as far as you need.
Recyclable Packaging
Suitable for Vegans and Filler Free
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If You Are Having Treatment for Cancer
This section is about hair. It is not advice on cancer treatment, and nothing here should change what your oncology team has told you. Anything Dr Ophelia prescribes is agreed with your oncology team.
Hair loss during and after cancer treatment is common, one of the most distressing parts of the whole experience, and treated far less often than it should be.
- Endocrine therapy: Hair thinning on aromatase inhibitors and tamoxifen is well recognised and under-discussed. It follows an androgenetic pattern, thinning at the front and the crown, which is a cruel piece of biology, because the obvious drug to reach for would be an anti-androgen, and that is precisely the thing a woman on endocrine therapy least wants added. This formula exists for that gap. In a study at a major cancer centre, 37 of 46 women with endocrine therapy-induced alopecia, about 80%, showed moderate to significant improvement on a topical treatment of this kind.
- After chemotherapy: Most hair regrows. In some people, it does not fully regrow, which is recognised as persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia and is most associated with taxane regimens. In a series of 100 breast cancer survivors with persistent alopecia, 92% had received a taxane. It is treatable, under-recognised, and being told it is permanent is not the same as having been assessed.
- Men after prostate cancer: If you have been advised to stay away from anything that interferes with androgens, this is the version of the treatment that does not.
Dr Ophelia writes to your oncologist or clinical nurse specialist, and she does not start anything during active treatment without their agreement. If you are on cardiotoxic chemotherapy, that is directly relevant to whether minoxidil is appropriate and at what concentration, because minoxidil began life as a blood pressure drug. That is one reason Dr Ophelia starts at 1%.
Every Cause of Hair Loss Is a Medical One
Hair loss is sold as though it were a grooming problem. It is not. Every cause of hair thinning is a medical condition, and figuring out which one you have is a diagnosis, not a product recommendation.
Most people offering hair loss services in this country are not doctors. That is a scope-of-practice issue, which does not extend to examining you for inflammatory scalp disease, interpreting your bloods, or prescribing. Dr Ophelia is a Consultant Dermatologist on the GMC Specialist Register, number 6149018. She holds a PhD in hair follicle bioengineering, and she founded the tertiary hair clinic at a major London teaching hospital.
How Your Formula Is Made For You
- The Follicle Profile: History covers the pattern and duration of the loss, family history, what you have already tried, your hormonal picture, and your full medication list. If you are on cancer treatment, that includes the regimen and where you are in it.
- Scalp imaging: HairMetrix measures density, calibre and the proportion of your hairs in the growth phase, in numbers rather than impressions. This matters especially after chemotherapy, where the real question is whether regrowth is happening slowly or not happening.
- 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.
- Cardiovascular check: Blood pressure, cardiac history and current medication, which determine whether minoxidil is appropriate and at what strength.
Then we titrate. Review at three months with repeat imaging. We decide whether to increase it together, rather than as a default.
Start Your Consultation
- Online medical questionnaire. Free. For straightforward pattern thinning with a clear history. Ten minutes, and Dr Ophelia reviews every one personally. [Start Your Free Assessment]
- Hair consultation, 130 Harley Street. £400. Forty-five minutes with me in person: examination, HairMetrix imaging, diagnostics, and a treatment plan.
- If you are having or have had cancer treatment, Dr Ophelia would strongly encourage the in-person route. The assessment is genuinely different: there is a medication history to go through properly, and Dr Ophelia would not decide whether minoxidil is appropriate off a form.
- Skin and hair consultation. £500. Both in one appointment. Worth considering after cancer treatment, which frequently affects skin and nails as well.
A consultation does not always end in a prescription. You are paying for an answer rather than a bottle. Dr Ophelia is the sole prescriber for every formula in this range.
What Goes In It
Factual information for patients considering treatment. Not a recommendation, and not a substitute for the assessment. Melatonin 0.1%, with or without minoxidil at 1% to 7.5%, in a lightweight, alcohol-free base. This formula contains no finasteride or other anti-androgens at any concentration.
Melatonin 0.1%
Melatonin is best known as a sleep hormone but is also produced in the hair follicle itself, and follicles carry receptors for it. It acts during the growth phase of the hair cycle and is an antioxidant, which matters because oxidative stress at the follicle is implicated in pattern hair loss. The most-cited study is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 0.1% topical melatonin in 40 women, published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2004, which found a significantly increased proportion of hairs in the growth phase against placebo.
Minoxidil 1% to 7.5%, where it is appropriate
Minoxidil is the most established topical treatment for pattern hair loss. It widens blood vessels, increases blood flow to the follicle, and lengthens the growth phase. It does not act on hormones.
Why do we start at 1%.
Minoxidil was originally a blood pressure drug. Starting low and increasing in small increments helps you find the lowest concentration that works for you, rather than assuming you need the highest. Shedding is also milder when you start lower.
The shed, honestly.
A period of increased shedding is expected, usually starting in the first two to eight weeks and settling by around month three or four. Starting at 1% rather than 5% makes it considerably less dramatic.
Side effects.
Scalp irritation, itch and dryness are the commonest, and most come from the vehicle rather than the drug. Less commonly: fluid retention, ankle swelling, palpitations. Any of those means stop and tell me.
The base.
This vehicle is alcohol-free, fragrance-free and preservative-free. Conventional 5% scalp solutions are built on propylene glycol and ethanol; compounding properly means it does not have to be.
What is deliberately left out.
No dutasteride, because at around 528 daltons it is too large to cross skin reliably. No tretinoin or azelaic acid, because both are irritants. No added hormones.
Compounded fresh.
Every bottle is made to order. Your bottle has a six-month shelf life and is dated when made.
Who This Is For, and Who It Is Not For
People who have taken a DHT blocker and stopped. People who will not start one. Patients on endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Patients whose hair has not fully come back after chemotherapy, particularly after a taxane. Men advised to avoid anything acting on androgens. Women planning a pregnancy, on the melatonin-only version.
Not suitable if you are pregnant or breastfeeding; have an unassessed cardiovascular condition; have a phaeochromocytoma; are in active cancer treatment without oncology consultation; or your hair loss has not been diagnosed.
This treats ongoing loss rather than restoring what has gone. It is not a course you finish. It works better when your nutritional foundations are right.
How to Use
Apply to a dry or towel-dried scalp once daily, directing onto the scalp. Massage in briefly, wash your hands, let it dry completely. Use it every day. Expect nothing for three months, and expect some shedding in the first two if your formula contains minoxidil. Come back in three months for repeat imaging. Tell me about ankle swelling, palpitations or a racing heart rather than waiting.
Who This Is For, and Who It Is Not For
People who have taken a DHT blocker and stopped. People who will not start one. Patients on endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Patients whose hair has not fully come back after chemotherapy, particularly after a taxane. Men advised to avoid anything acting on androgens. Women planning a pregnancy, on the melatonin-only version.
Not suitable if you are pregnant or breastfeeding; have an unassessed cardiovascular condition; have a phaeochromocytoma; are in active cancer treatment without oncology consultation; or your hair loss has not been diagnosed.
This treats ongoing loss rather than restoring what has gone. It is not a course you finish. It works better when your nutritional foundations are right.
How to Use
Apply to a dry or towel-dried scalp once daily, directing onto the scalp. Massage in briefly, wash your hands, let it dry completely. Use it every day. Expect nothing for three months, and expect some shedding in the first two if your formula contains minoxidil. Come back in three months for repeat imaging. Tell me about ankle swelling, palpitations or a racing heart rather than waiting.
Frequently Asked Questions
The anti-androgen is taken out. The standard formula contains finasteride. This one does not contain it, or any other anti-androgen. What it uses instead is melatonin, and where appropriate minoxidil, neither of which acts on your hormones.
Because a DHT blocker is not suitable for you, or because you have decided against it. If neither applies, the standard formula is usually the more direct treatment for androgenetic thinning.
If your formula contains minoxidil, expect some, usually starting in the first two to eight weeks and settling by month three or four. Starting at 1% rather than 5% makes it considerably milder. Melatonin alone doesn't work that way.
Because 5% is a standard dose, not your dose, starting low helps you find the lowest concentration that works for you. It also makes the shed milder and reduces side effects.
Yes. Randomised evidence supports the concentration; it does not act on androgens, and it is well tolerated over years.
It may well be. Neither active ingredient in this formula acts on androgens. I will write to your oncology team and will not start anything they have not agreed to.
Often, yes. Incomplete regrowth six months or more after chemotherapy is recognised, most commonly associated with taxane regimens. We measure first with imaging.
Not without your oncology team agreeing.
Not necessarily. It may mean a lower concentration, or melatonin alone. Bring the details to the consultation.
Local: itch, dryness, irritation. Unwanted facial hair in some women, concentration-related. Less commonly: fluid retention, palpitations. Tell me rather than stopping.
It should not. This base has no alcohol.
It is a DHT blocker, so excluded by definition. It is also a large molecule at around 528 daltons, and human evidence for the topical form is close to absent.
No. Those decisions belong with whoever manages your hormones.
Speak to your midwife, GP or obstetrician first, since the folic acNo. It is compounded as a special, lawful route for a prescriber to obtain a medicine not commercially available.id dose exceeds early-pregnancy recommendations.
Compounded by a GPhC-registered UK pharmacy. Clinic registered with the CQC, provider ID 1-27377085712, location ID 1-29095875525. GMC 6149018.
Reduced shedding at around three months, visible density change between six and twelve.
Yes. Ferritin, thyroid function, vitamin D and a full blood count as a minimum.
It's a three-month supply, so £2.89 a day. Same price as the standard Hair Growth Elixir.
100ml bottle is three months, subscription saves 10%, bringing it to £234, or £2.60 a day. Reviewed every three months. Pause, change or cancel whenever.
7 to 10 working days to compound, then Royal Mail tracked delivery within 24 hours. UK only.
Six months from the date made.
No. You can't return dispensed prescription medicines. Tell me if something isn't working; we can adjust the formula.
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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