October 17, 2026 | Female Hair Loss, Hair Restoration, Hair Transplant
What did you tell Mochi Health?
“In women, finasteride is a stabilizer first and a regrower second. The win is the hair you keep. Any new density over the following year is a bonus.”
Medication, in the Mochi Health explainer and the Southwest Plastic Surgery post. Surgery, here.
What the Medication Is For
What does finasteride do?
“It slows down that signal driving the follicle to shrink. It is not a hair-growing medication. It is a mechanism to slow down hair-loss activity and maintain hair growth.”
Who gets it?
“It is actually very common in women with female pattern hair loss. I offer it to all postmenopausal women as one of the main preventative means to stop further hair loss. We use it sparingly and with a lot of care in premenopausal women due to pregnancy risks.”
The Disclosure, Once
“Finasteride is not FDA approved for the treatment of alopecia in women. Yet we know that it works, because it has the same mechanism of action in women who have hair loss due to androgenic alopecia. We use it off-label, and we advise patients that we’re using finasteride off-label, and they understand this use. When we use it in premenopausal women, we do so with a lot of patient education, as this is important, as the medication can cause birth defects if used during pregnancy.”
Where It Stops
“Phase two consists of hair growth. There is a slight, if minimal, growth boost in phase two, but the effects on hair thickness or receding hairline are not fully seen until around 12 months down the road.”
Slight. Minimal. A year. For density, the conversation changes.
Strip or FUE, for a Woman
From a consultation this month, in Spanish, rendered in English:
“So we would take hair from the back, we take it in a strip, so it leaves a scar, but your hair will hide it, and we place the hairs one by one.”
“There is a technique where we take the hair one by one, but to do that we have to shave, and in women that doesn’t make sense, right?”
And the same choice, explained to a man who keeps his hair short:
“One is where we kind of shave down everything and get each hair one by one. That one really doesn’t leave behind any scar, and once the hair grows, you really can’t notice that you had anything done. The other one is where we actually make a cut like this, and we get a strip of hair. But you would have a scar that goes like this. If your hair was longer, it would cover it.”
| Hair length | Donor method | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Long, worn down | Strip (FUT) | A linear scar the hair hides; no shaving |
| Short, or willing to shave | FUE | No linear scar; donor area shaved to zero |
PRP With the Grafts
“The only other thing I recommend doing at the same time is using a little bit of your platelet-rich plasma, where we draw some blood from your vein and we get the growth factors, and I mix that into where I’m putting in the grafts, and we get a higher take rate. Our take rate is almost ninety-eight, ninety-nine percent of the grafts actually survive and grow.”
When the New Hair Shows
“The hair shaft can fall out. Some of them will stay and they’ll just be tiny hairs for a little while until they start growing, but sometimes the shaft will fall out, the follicle stays, and then four months is when it starts growing back out.”
Four months. Full timeline in the FUE post; per-graft pricing on the fees page.
Not Every Thin Hairline Is Hormonal
What else thins a hairline?
“Did you pull your hair back a lot before, in a ponytail or a bun? Sometimes when you do that for many years, the hair suffers and falls out.”
Traction, not hormones. A transplant conversation.
FAQ
Does finasteride regrow hair?
“It is not a hair-growing medication.”
Why not transplant first?
“The win is the hair you keep.” Stabilize, then fill.
Will the grafts take?
“Our take rate is almost ninety-eight, ninety-nine percent of the grafts actually survive and grow.”
Does FUE leave a scar?
“That one really doesn’t leave behind any scar, and once the hair grows, you really can’t notice that you had anything done.”
Why Choose Dr. Agullo
Dr. Agullo is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery, completed his plastic surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, and serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He has been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years, 2014 through 2026, is a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, and was the lead expert in Mochi Health’s explainer on finasteride for women.
Ready to Talk?
The first visit is a scalp exam and a medication plan. The transplant conversation comes when the hair you have is safe.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com. #StayBeautiful
Find me at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.
