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Which hair restoration treatment is right for me?

It comes down to one question: has the hair been permanently lost, or is it still there but thinning? Permanently lost hair can only be replaced surgically. Hair that is still present but weakening can often be supported without surgery.

Most people fall into one of four situations. Find yours below — then confirm it at an assessment, because the pattern you see in the mirror is not always the pattern underneath.

If you are not yet sure what type of hair loss you have, start with our page on hair loss — it covers the patterns, causes and warning signs in detail. This page assumes you already know roughly what is happening and want to compare what can be done about it.

At a glance

Compare hair restoration options

Seven options, what each one actually does, and the catch with each. No treatment here is better than the others in the abstract — they do different jobs.

The one rule worth remembering

Nothing on this list creates new follicles. Surgery moves the hair you still have. Everything else supports follicles that are still alive. That is why donor supply and how much living hair remains matter more than which treatment sounds most advanced.

Investment

How much does hair restoration cost in Markham?

Hair restoration at our clinics starts at $3,990 plus HST for a smaller hair transplant session, $499 for a three-session PRP course, and $149 for a naturopathic hair health consultation. The assessment itself is free.

Most clinics in the Greater Toronto Area will not give you a figure until you are sitting in front of them. We publish ours, because cost is the first thing almost everyone wants to know and it should not require an appointment to find out.

Prices exclude 13% Ontario HST. Laboratory fees, where testing is ordered, are charged separately by the laboratory. You receive your full cost in writing before committing to anything.

What moves the price

• How much area needs treating, and how advanced the loss is
• For surgery, the number of grafts required
• For non-surgical treatment, how many sessions are planned
• Whether more than one treatment is combined
• Whether ongoing maintenance is part of the plan

Is any of it covered?

Hair restoration is classified as a cosmetic procedure in Ontario, so OHIP does not fund it. The narrow exception is hair loss from a documented medical condition, injury or burn, assessed case by case. Where blood tests are ordered by a physician and are medically indicated, many standard markers are covered even though the treatment is not.

Definition

What is hair restoration?

Hair restoration is the whole field of assessing and treating hair loss — surgical, regenerative, medical and cosmetic. A hair transplant is one procedure within it, not a synonym for it.

The distinction matters when you are comparing clinics. A clinic that only performs surgery will tend to recommend surgery. Hair restoration as an approach starts by identifying what kind of hair loss you have and how far it has progressed, then works out which of the available options — if any — would actually change your situation.

Sometimes that answer is a transplant. Sometimes it is a blood test. Sometimes it is monitoring for six months before deciding anything. Those are all legitimate outcomes of an assessment.

For the patterns, causes and warning signs of hair loss itself, see our hair loss page.

Surgical

Hair transplant surgery

A hair transplant is the only option that puts hair back into an area where none is growing. It moves follicles from the back and sides of your scalp — where hair resists pattern thinning — into the areas that have lost it.

It is performed under local anaesthetic, which in Ontario only a physician may administer. Two harvesting methods are used, FUE and FUT, and the right one depends on your donor supply, how many grafts you need and how you wear your hair.

What surgery cannot do is stop the hair around the transplanted area from continuing to thin. That is why it usually sits inside a longer plan rather than standing alone.

Hair transplant: methods, graft numbers, recovery and cost →

Non-surgical

Non-surgical hair restoration options

These support follicles that are still alive. None of them will bring back hair from an area that has gone completely bald — and any clinic suggesting otherwise is overselling.

PRP therapy

A concentrate prepared from your own blood, administered to selected areas of the scalp as a planned course with maintenance afterwards. Best suited to thinning that is still active rather than areas already lost.

PRP sessions, evidence and pricing →

TED hair regeneration

TransEpidermal Delivery uses acoustic energy to move topical compounds into the scalp without needles. It appeals to patients who want a supportive treatment but are uncomfortable with injections. Suitability and the number of sessions depend on the type and stage of loss.

Supportive rather than corrective. It will not replace lost follicles.

Laser hair therapy

Low-level light therapy is used to support follicles that are still producing hair. It requires consistent use over months, and the effect depends on continuing — benefit generally fades once treatment stops.

Most useful for early thinning, and often combined with other treatment rather than used alone.

Scalp micropigmentation

Pigment is placed in the scalp to create the appearance of closely cropped hair or added density. It is the only option here that produces an immediate visible change, and the only one that grows nothing at all.

Useful for a shaved look, for adding apparent density to thinning hair, or for camouflaging a scar. Requires periodic touch-ups as pigment softens.

Where hair loss appears to be driven by something internal — thyroid function, iron stores, hormones or nutrition — that is assessed separately through blood testing and naturopathic care, because treating the scalp will not fix a cause that sits elsewhere.

Combining treatments

Can hair restoration treatments be combined?

Yes, and for many patients a combination makes more sense than any single treatment. Surgery replaces what has been lost; non-surgical treatment protects what is still there. Doing one without the other is how people end up with a good transplant surrounded by continuing thinning.

Common combinations we plan:

• Transplant plus ongoing maintenance — surgery for the lost area, medical or regenerative support for the hair around it
• Internal assessment before anything cosmetic — where shedding is diffuse or recent, testing first avoids treating a symptom
• Non-surgical support while deciding — for younger patients where the pattern has not stabilised enough to plan surgery
• SMP alongside a transplant — to add apparent density between grafts where donor supply is limited

But more treatment is not automatically better

Every component of a plan should have a specific job. If we cannot explain what a particular treatment is doing that the others are not, it should not be in your plan. Stacking treatments is easy to sell and often adds cost without adding result.

Suitability

Who is hair restoration suitable for?

There is no single candidate profile, because the treatments differ so much. Broadly, you are likely to be able to do something useful if:

• Your hair loss follows a pattern that can be assessed
• Your scalp is healthy
• You have enough living or donor hair for the option being considered
• Your general health suits the treatment proposed
• You are willing to follow aftercare and maintenance
• Your expectations match what is actually achievable

Booking an assessment does not commit you to treatment, and an assessment does not automatically produce a treatment recommendation.

Straight answer

When we recommend against treatment

We turn away a meaningful number of people who ask us for treatment. Selling a procedure to someone it will not help is worse than losing the sale.

• The cause has not been established. Sudden, patchy, painful or inflamed loss needs medical assessment before anything cosmetic.
• The loss is still moving fast. Treating today’s pattern without planning for tomorrow’s produces a result that ages badly.
• There is not enough to work with. If donor supply or remaining living hair cannot deliver what you want, no treatment on this page will.
• An active scalp condition is present. That comes first.
• Expectations are too far from reality. If we cannot close that gap in the consultation, we should not be treating you.

In those cases we will explain why, and what would need to change for treatment to become worth doing.

The process

What happens at a hair restoration consultation?

The assessment is free, takes under an hour, and ends with an explanation of which options fit your situation and which do not. You are not asked to decide on the day.

1. Book

   Call either clinic or book online. Choose Markham or North York, whichever is easier to reach.

2. Tell us what you have noticed

   When it started, how it has changed, which areas concern you and what you have already tried.

3. Hair and scalp assessment

   Density, pattern of loss, scalp condition and donor area reviewed. Baseline photographs taken so change can be measured later.

4. Relevant health review

   Medical and family history, medications and supplements. Further investigation is recommended where the picture suggests it.

5. Options explained

   Which treatments may suit you, which do not, what each one can realistically achieve, what it costs and what maintenance it needs.

6. Written plan

   If treatment is appropriate, you receive a plan and a written cost. If it is not, we explain why and what the alternatives are.

7. Follow-up

   Progress is reviewed against your baseline photographs. Hair responds over months, so follow-up is where results are actually judged.

Bring a list of your medications and supplements, and if you have older photographs of your hair, bring those too — they are more useful than most people expect.

For men

Hair restoration for men

Men most often present with temple recession, a receding hairline or crown thinning, following a recognisable pattern that tends to progress over years.

That progression is the thing to plan around. Using a large share of a limited donor supply early, on a pattern that is still advancing, is the most common regret in this field. A conservative first plan usually ages better than an aggressive one.

Where the pattern is established and donor supply is good, surgery is often the most direct option. Where it is still moving, supportive treatment while it stabilises frequently makes more sense.

For women

Hair restoration for women

Women more often experience a widening part, reduced density across the top, or diffuse shedding rather than a clear receding pattern. That changes the approach in two ways.

First, diffuse loss can involve the donor area itself, which affects whether transplantation is appropriate at all. Second, an internal cause is more often involved — which is why assessment usually comes before any cosmetic decision.

For many women the useful first step is finding out what is driving it rather than choosing a procedure.

Realistic outcomes

How long does hair restoration take to work?

Almost nothing here works quickly. Scalp micropigmentation is visible as soon as the area heals. Everything else takes months, and a transplant takes up to a year and a half to finish developing.

The American Academy of Dermatology notes that many hair transplant patients see results between six and nine months, with some requiring around twelve. That matches what we see.

Two things influence your result more than the treatment you choose: how much living hair and donor supply you started with, and whether the underlying loss continues. Neither is under a clinic’s control, which is why nobody can honestly guarantee an outcome.

Informed consent

Risks and limitations

Every treatment on this page carries some risk, and every one has limits. Those should be explained to you before you consent, not after you have paid.

Depending on the treatment, possible effects include temporary redness or tenderness, swelling, bruising, bleeding, infection, folliculitis, temporary shedding, scarring, altered scalp sensation, uneven density, pigment change, a limited response, or the need for further sessions.

Hair transplantation is surgery. Most patients recover without serious complication, but outcomes cannot be guaranteed and existing hair loss can continue afterwards.

PRP, TED and laser therapy depend on living follicles. They cannot restore hair where viable follicles are no longer present.

Scalp micropigmentation is cosmetic. It creates the appearance of density and grows nothing.

General medical information on hair loss is available from the Mayo Clinic and the American Academy of Dermatology.

Our approach

Why choose DrHairs

Assessment before treatment

We work out what is happening before discussing what to do about it. That order is the whole difference.

Published pricing

Our prices are on this page. You should not need an appointment to find out what something costs.

Every option, not one

Surgical, regenerative, medical and cosmetic. A clinic that only performs surgery will recommend surgery.

Physician-performed surgery

In Ontario only a physician may administer the local anaesthetic used in a hair transplant. Ours is registered with the CPSO.

We say no

If a treatment will not meaningfully help you, we tell you at the assessment rather than after payment.

Two Ontario clinics

Markham and North York, both offering the same assessment and the same treatments.

Meet the clinical team · See the technology we use

Visit us

Two hair restoration clinics in Ontario

Both are full clinics offering the same assessment and the same treatments. Come to whichever is easier to reach.

York Region

DrHairs Markham

7080 Warden Avenue, Unit B3
Markham, Ontario L3R 1S2, Canada

Where: Warden Avenue just north of Steeles Avenue East, near Pacific Mall and First Markham Place
Driving: Minutes from Highway 404 and Highway 407 · free on-site parking
Transit: York Region Transit Warden route · Milliken GO Station nearby
Hours: Mon–Fri 9:00am–6:00pm · Sat 10:00am–4:00pm

(905) 604-0802
Directions

City of Toronto

DrHairs North York

Centerpoint Mall, 6464 Yonge Street, Unit 116
North York, Ontario M2M 3X4, Canada

Where: Inside Centerpoint Mall at Yonge Street and Steeles Avenue West
Driving: Short drive from Highway 401 · free mall parking
Transit: TTC Line 1 to Finch Station, then north on Yonge · YRT stops outside
Hours: Mon–Fri 9:00am–6:00pm · Sat 10:00am–4:00pm

(647) 568-0000
Directions

Patients travel to us from across Markham, Unionville, Milliken, Middlefield, Armadale, Berczy Village and Cornell; from Willowdale, Newtonbrook, Bayview Village, Hillcrest Village and Bathurst Manor in North York; and from Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Vaughan, Scarborough, Agincourt, Aurora, Newmarket, Stouffville, Pickering and Ajax. These are the communities we serve from our two Ontario clinics, not additional clinic locations.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Take the first step

Start with an assessment, not a procedure

The useful first step is understanding your hair loss — not choosing a treatment before anyone has looked at it. We review your pattern, scalp condition, history and goals, then explain which options fit and which do not. The assessment is free at both clinics and no referral is needed.

Book a free assessment
Markham (905) 604-0802
North York (647) 568-0000

Medical information and results disclaimer: this page provides general educational information and does not replace diagnosis or personalised medical advice. Treatment suitability, risks, benefits, recovery and expected outcomes vary between individuals. A qualified assessment is required before treatment. Sudden, patchy, painful, inflamed or rapidly progressing hair loss may require further medical evaluation. Individual results vary and previous patient outcomes do not guarantee the same result for another person. Hair restoration is a cosmetic procedure and is not covered by OHIP. Prices are in Canadian dollars and exclude 13% Ontario HST.