The first step is the same for every woman who walks through our door: find out why it’s happening before deciding what to do about it.
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Hair loss in women rarely has one cause, and it rarely shows up as one clean pattern either — which is why treating it before understanding it produces poor results.
Men’s hair loss is overwhelmingly pattern baldness, driven by one hormonal pathway, and it shows up the same way in almost every case. Women’s hair loss branches — hormones, thyroid function, iron levels, inflammation, stress, or postpartum changes, sometimes several at once — and it can show up as a widening part, diffuse thinning, or a receding hairline, sometimes all in the same patient at different points.
That’s why the order of operations matters more here than almost anywhere else in hair restoration. A treatment chosen before a diagnosis is a guess, and a guess wastes the thing patients have the least of: time their hair loss isn’t waiting on.
We treat women with every type of hair loss, whether the cause is metabolic, hormonal, inflammatory, autoimmune or scarring. These are the six we see most often, and each one calls for a different plan.
Postpartum Hair Loss
Menopausal Hair Loss
Nutritional or metabolic hair loss
Hormonal Hair Loss (androgenetic alopecia)
Post-Chemotherapy hair loss
Stress-related hair loss (telogen effluvium)
Our at-home treatments give you access to the same medications, devices, and expertise Dr. Vinay uses in his full program – delivered as a manageable routine you can follow on your own schedule.
Meet with Dr. Vinay to discuss your hair loss history, lifestyle, and goals.
We may recommend labs to get the full picture. Based on your consultation, Dr. Vinay prescribes a combination of treatments – drawing from medications, devices, and supplements – targeting the specific mechanisms driving your hair loss.
Hair loss isn’t static, and neither is your plan. Dr. Vinay supervises your progress and adjusts your plan as needed.
Same four targets, opposite plans — becauseSome women need a surgical solution. Others get everything they need from ACS and a home regimen. A few are better served by a hair system while a non-surgical treatment does its work underneath. What fits depends on how far the loss has progressed and what’s driving it.the diagnosis is what decides.
Surgical
Women with a stable donor area and a defined zone of loss: a widening part, a high or receding hairline, traction alopecia, or scarring from a past procedure. Diffuse or still-active loss usually needs to be stabilized first, which is why candidacy is decided at diagnosis.
Follicles are taken one at a time from the donor area and placed where density is needed, following the direction and angle of your natural hair so the part and hairline read as your own. Procedures are performed only at our Chicago flagship, and results mature over the following twelve months.
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Non-Surgical
Women at almost any stage. ACS is organized into three plans: Maintain, for women who want to keep the hair they have; Restore, for women regrowing areas that have thinned; and Replace, for women pairing it with a transplant or a hair system.
ACS is prepared from a small sample of your own blood and applied to the scalp to do three things: block the inflammatory signals driving the loss, raise the metabolism of the follicle, and restore blood flow to it. Dr. Vinay was the first to bring it into hair restoration from orthopedic medicine.
Non-Surgical
Women whose diagnosis can be managed at home, women extending results between in-office treatments, and women who live too far to visit the clinic regularly.
After your consultation, Dr. Vinay prescribes a regimen built for your diagnosis and it’s shipped to your door. Follow-ups happen over Zoom with progress photos, so the plan changes when your results say it should.
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Non-Surgical
Women whose scalp is part of the problem: flaking, buildup, inflammation, sensitivity or damage from styling and chemical services. Hair can’t grow well from a scalp that isn’t healthy.
Our trichologist, Debbie Ansay-Martinez, examines the scalp under magnification and treats it to restore its normal balance, at HairLab Chicago in Deerfield. When a skin condition is involved, Dr. Elizabeth Kiracofe is consulted.
Non-Surgical
Women with advanced loss, loss after chemotherapy or autoimmune conditions, or anyone who wants full coverage right away while another treatment works underneath.
A CRLAB CNC system is custom built to the shape of your head and matched to your color, density and part, then fitted by Chanel Kwak at HairLab Chicago. The base lets the scalp breathe, so ACS or scalp treatment can continue beneath it.
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Non-Surgical
Women with a visible part, thin crown or scarring who want the appearance of more density, on its own or alongside a medical treatment or transplant.
Fine pigment is placed in the scalp to reduce the contrast between hair and skin, so thinning areas read as fuller. It’s performed by Sandra Salgado, our scalp micropigmentation specialist for women, and usually takes two to three sessions.
Plastic and reconstructive surgery is the specialty that heals wounds. That is what the training is.
I began practicing plastic surgery and grafting techniques in 2009, alongside the rest of a surgical practice. For the last five years my work has been entirely hair. The advances we made in transplantation and in non-surgical restoration were significant enough that it became the only thing we do.
I trained in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Northwestern University, where I was Chief Resident and the Louis E. Fazen Endowed Scholar of Medicine, and at the University of Chicago. I have performed over 10,000 procedures.
I have colleagues with real expertise in hair loss. What our particular training gave us was expertise in wound healing as a process, not as a complication to be managed. It is also why we are successful at grafting, since a transplant is a wound-healing problem before it is anything else.
That is what allowed me to bring ACS into hair restoration from orthopedic medicine, where it was developed to heal tendons, ligaments and cartilage, tissues where blood supply is poor and healing is slow. A thinning follicle has the same problem. I was the first to use it for hair, and we have continued to develop it since.
Dr. Vinay refers into a team he works with directly. These aren’t names on a directory. They’re the people your care is handed to when your diagnosis calls for them, and he stays involved when it is.
Trichologist and hair replacement expert, founder of HairLab Chicago. Scalp and hair care, and the non-medical side of hair loss — a category that does not require a prescription but does require proper treatment and restoration of scalp homeostasis.
Functional health physician. Hormone replacement therapy for hormonal causes of hair loss, and the broader metabolic and hormonal picture that patterned loss sits inside.
Dermatologist, consulted on cases where a condition of the skin is affecting the hair, and where specialty medication rather than hair loss treatment is what the scalp requires.
Many women come to us after seeing several providers and sitting through free consultations that ended without a real answer.
If you want a doctor focused on results, there’s value in time with that doctor one-on-one. Here’s what your consultation covers:
We diagnose conditions
We prescribe treatments.
We refer to other professionals.
We do the follow-ups.
Treatment pricing depends on your plan, and you’ll have it in writing at your consultation. Hair systems vary with size, length and degree of customization.
Consultation
$100 for a 30 to 45 minute consultation with Dr. Vinay, in person or over Zoom, applied toward your treatment if you proceed.
Payment plans
Available through Cherry and PatientFi, with flexible monthly options and no-interest financing for qualified patients.
Insurance
Some plans reimburse for medical hair prostheses. Where yours does, you pay directly and submit the invoice to your insurer.
Because this program sits inside a physician practice, we can provide the cranial prosthesis prescription and documentation your insurer requires, which a salon can’t do on its own. We’ll also tell you honestly when your policy is unlikely to cover it.
All of them. Androgenetic hair loss in men and women, telogen effluvium, postpartum hair loss, menopausal hair loss, traction alopecia, scarring alopecias, and hair loss caused by medical conditions or treatments. The first step is always diagnosis, because the right treatment depends on what’s actually driving the loss.
A detailed medical history, scalp examination, hair pull test, trichoscopy under magnification, and blood work when it’s indicated. We’re working to identify the underlying cause, not just the surface symptoms. The treatment plan follows the diagnosis, not the other way around.
Yes. Every paid consultation at Northwestern Hair is conducted personally by Dr. Vinay.
Before booking with him, patients can also speak with members of our team free of charge to ask initial questions and decide whether a formal consultation is the right next step. Complimentary pre-consultations are available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.
When a patient consults with Dr. Vinay in Spanish or Chinese, a foreign-language-speaking team member joins the conversation to translate, so language is never a barrier.
A real medical evaluation, not a sales meeting. Dr. Vinay reviews your history, examines your scalp and hair, runs diagnostic testing as needed, and gives you an honest read on your options, including when it’s the right answer, the recommendation to wait or to do nothing at all.
A formal consultation with Dr. Vinay is paid and reserves his time with you specifically. It runs 30 to 45 minutes and can be applied toward your treatment if you proceed.
For patients not yet ready for that step, you can speak with a member of our team — including team members who speak Spanish or Chinese — to have your questions answered first.
Yes. We work with PatientFi and Cherry to offer financing options at competitive rates, including no-interest financing for qualified patients. We’ll walk you through what makes sense at consultation.
If you’re losing your hair, you’re a candidate for evaluation. Candidacy for a specific treatment depends on your pattern of loss, your donor area, your scalp condition, your age, your medical history, and your goals — which is what the consultation is for. We treat the full spectrum of hair loss, and most patients leave with a plan even when surgery isn’t part of it.
Only with written consent, given specifically and on a per-use basis. Blanket consent isn’t something we ask for and isn’t something we accept.
We may ask patients to share their photos for educational purposes, because patient education is part of how this practice operates. Patients who choose to participate receive substantial cost savings through Northwestern Hair Studio.
Dr. Vinay began practicing in Chicago in 2009. He’s a board-certified physician trained in plastic surgery, dermatology, and hair restoration, and has performed over 5,000 procedures to date. In 2019, the practice was dedicated exclusively to hair loss and hair restoration.
Our flagship is at 3 East Huron, in the heart of Streeterville in Chicago. We also operate satellite offices in Lake County, on the North Shore, and in the Western Suburbs. All four locations offer consultations and non-surgical treatment. Hair transplantation is performed only at the Chicago flagship.
Call (312) 668-8222, text us, or book online. Most inquiries get a same-day response.
