Scroll through social media and before long you will find content about hair loss, with influencers documenting their ‘hair journeys’, recommending stacks of supplements, and enthusing about prescription medicines they have sourced through online clinics.

Hair loss has always been emotionally charged, but social media has accelerated both the anxiety around it and the market for solutions – some legitimate, some not.

The global hair loss treatment market is now valued at several billion pounds, and some online prescribing platforms have made it easier than ever for people to obtain prescription only medicines with minimal clinical oversight.

As a result, customers are increasingly walking into community pharmacies with questions, or with medicines they have already been prescribed online but know very little about. Here is what you need to know.

Oral minoxidil

Minoxidil has been available as a topical over-the-counter treatment for hair loss for decades. The foam or solution applied directly to the scalp is a familiar sight on pharmacy shelves, and is the only licensed treatment in the UK for androgenetic alopecia (pattern hair loss) in both men and women.

What is much newer – and far less well understood by most customers – is the oral form. Oral minoxidil is now widely prescribed off-label for hair loss in men and women, at doses of 0.625mg to 2.5mg daily. However, it only holds a UK licence for hypertension and is not MHRA-approved for hair loss.