Dutasteride Injections for Hair Loss

Update: February 15, 2025

New Jersey (US) based Dr. Sandy Milgraum is in the news for having treated around 100 hair loss patients over the past year with Dutasteride microinjections. He says that patients usually start seeing results after just one month. The full treatment regimen consists of three visits, costing a total of around $1,800. Note: Also make sure to check out my recent post on scalp microinfusion of hair loss drugs by tattooing.

Update: May 13, 2024

Dutasteride Injections for Hair Growth: Phase 3 Clinical Trials in South Korea

A South Korean company named Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical is preparing for Phase 3 trials for a Dutasteride containing injection treatment for hair loss called CKD-843. They began Phase 1 trials in 2021. The injection contains Dutesmol, a generic version of GSK’s Avodart.

Another South Korean company named Daewoong Pharmaceutical is working on finasteride injections. Note that oral Dutasteride has officially been approved to treat hair loss in only two countries: South Korea and Japan. If you take this drug for your androgenetic alopecia, please make sure to write a review in the comments to my Avodart hair loss reviews post.

December 27, 2018

Dutasteride Injections for Hair Loss

Last year I covered an interesting new study regarding mesotherapy with Dutasteride for treating hair loss. This treatment involves Dutasteride injections into the scalp at regular intervals. One of the co-authors of the study was a Dr. Sergio Vañó-Galván from Spain.

A few days ago, Dr. Vañó posted a superb before and after photo (pasted below) on Twitter of a patient who took the following for 6 months: 1) Oral Dutasteride; 2) Oral Minoxidil; and 3) Dutasteride injection sessions.

Dutasteride Injections for Hair Loss
Dutasteride injections for hair loss. Before and after hair growth results.

On Twitter, I asked Dr. Sergio Vañó why he needs to give his patients both oral Dutasteride and Dutasteride injections? If injection delivery of Dutasteride is working, why not stop taking oral Dutasteride that has higher chances of side effects? Dr. Vañó’s response was that the combined oral + injection treatment was working best, and after 1-2 years, the patient is given the option to pick one or the other. Dr. Vañó also explained to me that the injections’ effect is a bit like microneedling.

Note that the above exceptional result does not even include the addition of antiandrogens such as Spironolactone and RU-58841; along with estrogen into the mix. If you truly do not care about side effects, you can add far more hormone altering drugs via injections and get even better results.

However, I would not recommend such a comprehensive kitchen sink hair loss treatment regimen. Such a strategy is best left for male-to-female transsexuals who have limited other options.

Is the Golden Age of Hair Transplants in Turkey Ending?

I have covered hair transplants in Turkey (Türkiye) in several past posts. You just cannot avoid it, considering that Istanbul (Turkey) is the world capital for hair transplants. A combination of: low costs per graft; excellent geographical location; and thousands of good and bad clinics has resulted in Turkey’s hair transplant industry being worth over $2 billion per year.

Turkey Hair Transplant
Turkey hair transplant patients in a Turkish Airlines flight.

Is Turkey’s Golden Age of Hair Transplants Ending?

However, it was only a matter of time before the competition caught up, in spite of the “Turkish Hairlines” moniker becoming synonymous with hair restoration procedures. A new article in South China Morning Post (originally from the German Press Agency — dpa) is titled:

“The world hair transplant capital is in Turkey, but is clinics’ golden age nearing an end?”

The same article was also published in Yahoo earlier this month. The content starts off with estimating that Istanbul is home to a stunning 5,000 hair transplant clinics. And we know that the vast majority of these clinics are willing to undertake many procedures per day if they can get enough patients. Like an assembly line, but with a mixed bag of results.

According to the Turkish state tourism association, 1.5 million health tourists visited the country in 2023. And hair transplants were the second most desired procedure. They do not mention the most popular one, but I would assume that it is also a cosmetic treatment.

In the SCMP article, the well known Turkish hair transplant surgeon Dr. Koray Erdogan admits that:

“There are as many good as bad clinics in Istanbul.”

Moreover, he claims that hospitals in Europe now offer hair transplant procedures for $2,000, which was unheard of in the past.

I find it hard to believe that any hospital in Western Europe could offer such a low price. It must be hospitals in Eastern European countries.

Dr. Erdogan ends by saying that:

“The golden age in Turkey is coming to an end.”

Perhaps this is too soon to make such a conclusion. Just two days ago, the Daily Mail promoted a likely incorrect theory that NFL fans were convinced that Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce got a hair transplant in Turkey.

If even American citizens assume that a multimillionaire NFL player flies all the way to Turkey to get a hair transplant, the brand recognition remains stellar.