Ten weeks, and the photographs caught up with the numbers

Not a study. Our own patients.

Almost everything written about exosome therapy for hair loss comes from somewhere else. A manufacturer’s trial, a small study in another country, a summary of a summary. Useful, but it is not us, and it is not you.

So we started keeping our own record. Every patient who has the treatment is scanned at the start and scanned again as they go, on the same machine, in the same clinic. We now have complete before and after scan data for 37 people.

This is one of their stories, told in the order it happened.

Chapter one: what the first scan found

She came to us in May 2025. She is 50, and she had been losing hair along the sides and the front for some time. On the day, the thinning was clearest above the ear and along the temple, where the scalp showed through what was left.

We scanned her scalp at that first appointment. Her overall score came back at 62 out of 100. The scanner compares that against everyone else it has scanned in the same age band and sex, which at the time was 74,848 women aged 40 to 49. She ranked 69,942nd out of 74,848, which puts her in the bottom 7 per cent. The average for women her age is about 75.

Underneath that single number, the scan breaks the scalp into separate measures. Three of them matter most for thinning, and all three sat below average:

The follicle density is the one that stands out. At 59 against an average of 78, she was not simply growing thinner hair. She had noticeably fewer follicles doing anything at all in the areas we measured.

One note on the panel above. That detailed breakdown comes from the full scan we run at the first appointment. What we track from then on is the overall score and the photographs, which is what the rest of this page shows.

Chapter two: what we did

She had six sessions of exosome therapy, starting in May 2025.

She took no hair medication alongside it. No dutasteride, no hair concentrate injections, no scalp botox. That matters when you read what follows, because it means the change came from one treatment rather than a combination of several.

Chapter three: what changed

Between 11 August and 21 October 2025, ten weeks apart, her overall score went from 61.4 to 70.7. A rise of 9.25 points.

These are the scanner images from her file. The first pair is the front of her scalp on those two dates.

In August there are a handful of long hairs lying across mostly bare skin. In October the same patch is speckled with short, fine, dark hairs pushing through. Those are new. They are short because they have not been growing long.

At the crown the change is about thickness rather than count.

And what it looks like without a microscope

These two photographs were taken on the same two days as the scans above, so the pictures and the numbers describe exactly the same ten weeks.

The band above the ear is the part to watch. In August the scalp reads through it clearly. By October it has filled in, and the edge of the hairline sits lower and looks less broken up.

How we measured it, and where the measurement is soft

We use a scalp scanner in clinic called Becon. It takes magnified photographs at set points around the head, at the front, the crown, the back and both sides, then produces a single score out of 100 for the overall condition of the scalp and hair.

It is not a perfect instrument, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. When we went back through our own records, the same set of photographs re-analysed on different occasions came back up to 4 points apart. So we treat anything under about 4 points as too small to call a real change. That is the shaded band on the chart above.

Her 9.25 points is more than double that. It is a real result, not a rounding error.

What this does and does not tell you

Hair loss has a lot of causes, and what works for one person may do very little for another. Age, how long the thinning has been going on, the underlying reason for it and general health all make a difference. Nobody can look at her numbers and tell you what yours would be.

Ten weeks is also a short window. It is long enough to see new growth starting, which is what the scans show, but not long enough to say where it settles. We keep scanning, and we will tell you honestly what we are seeing in yours as we go.

Frequently asked questions

Ten weeks seems fast. Is that normal?

It is at the quicker end. What the scans are picking up here is new growth starting, which shows up as lots of short fine hairs rather than a thicker head of hair. Those hairs still need months to grow out before the change is obvious in the mirror. Most people should expect to wait longer than this before they see much day to day.

How many sessions will I need?

She had six, but there is no fixed number that suits everyone. It depends on how much thinning there is, how your scalp responds to the first few sessions and what we see on your follow-up scans. We would rather review as we go than sell you a package up front. At your consultation we will give you a realistic idea of what your own course might look like.

What is the scalp score, and can I see mine?

It is a number out of 100 that our scanner produces from magnified photographs of your scalp taken at several points around your head. Higher is better. You can absolutely see yours. We scan at your first appointment and again as you go, and we will show you the comparison rather than just telling you it looks better.

Are these results typical?

Hers is a good result but not an extreme one, which is part of why we chose to show it. Across the 37 patients we have complete before and after scans for, the typical improvement was around 7 points. Five showed a change too small to count as real, and one got slightly worse. The chart on this page shows all of them.

Is this available on the NHS?

No. Exosome therapy for hair loss is a private treatment and is not available through the NHS. The NHS does provide support for some causes of hair loss, particularly where it is linked to an underlying medical condition, so it is worth speaking to your GP if you have not already. You do not need a GP referral to come and see us.

Do I need a referral from my GP?

No, you can book directly with us. That said, if your hair loss has come on suddenly, or alongside other symptoms such as fatigue or changes to your skin and nails, it is sensible to see your GP as well. Some causes of hair loss are worth investigating with blood tests, and we will say so if we think that applies to you.

Will my photographs be used?

Only if you say yes in writing. We take clinical photographs so that you and we can see what is changing over time. They stay in your record unless you give us specific written permission to use them elsewhere, and you can withdraw that permission at any time. Where we do publish them, we obscure the face.