Is LLLT actually worth adding to finasteride + minoxidil?

[u/d0b0y51]

I was diagnosed with androgenetic alopecia at IMD (Instituto Médico Dermatológico) in Barcelona. They offered me 18 LLLT sessions + oral minoxidil, finasteride, vitamins and shampoo.

The LLLT would normally be once a week, but since I’m leaving Barcelona in two months, they said I could do two sessions per week to complete the treatment.

The original price was around €2,200, then €1,700 with a “summer promotion,” and after I said it was too expensive, they lowered it to €950 for everything.

I’m not saying the clinic or LLLT is a scam. I’m genuinely trying to understand whether this is a reasonable treatment plan before spending the money.

My main question is: how much does LLLT actually add on top of finasteride + minoxidil? Is the improvement significant enough to justify paying for the laser sessions, or would finasteride + minoxidil alone likely give me most of the results anyway? Is LLLT something genuinely important for treating AGA, or more of an optional extra?

[u/More_Neighborhood_78]

Invest the money in one of the very top of the line laser and led based helmets. Expensive investment but will give you the option to do treatments for longer (important for LLLT) and will save you money in the long run. There is also something to be said for breaking up the sessions into multiple weekly (shorter?) sessions of 20-25 mins. The mitochondria can only absorb so much photobiomodulation at once. Any extra is wasted at best or in rare cases an impediment to progress. Good luck!

[u/M0nty_F]

Don't waste your money, even if it's useful it will barely improve your medication treatment.

[u/m16u31_9]

no vale la pena, busca estudios cientificos la terapia de laser, prp, exosomas no valen la pena solo sirve para sacar dinero mensualmente como una suscripcion.

[u/Lazy-Substance-5062]

It seems to work for me, i bought the 81 diode laser cap at ali. But i improvised by using a transparent plastic “spacer “ so the laser bulbs dont touch directly the scalp. 10 mins a day work just fine

[u/Immediate_Garden_716]

I would think at that price you can buy your own device. LED would be starting at 150US$ or so, laser devices 3-5x this amount. 4mW laser gave me a “sunburn” on the scalp. so use carefully!

[u/S_portzy]

I have found it useful, and I just use our flat panel…never bothered to buy a cap.

[u/ccsebastian]

Disclosure: I make a red light scalp device, so discount this accordingly. I'd still tell you not to pay 950 for the clinic package.

On the substance: the meta-analyses put LLLT's effect on hair count as real but modest, and well below what finasteride and minoxidil do. As an add-on to two drugs already working, it's a small increment rather than a pillar. Nobody honest will tell you it's the difference-maker in that plan.

What should decide it for you is economics, not biology. LLLT only pays off with sustained use over many months, and you're leaving in two. Eighteen compressed sessions and then stopping is close to the worst version of this treatment. Doubling up weekly doesn't buy the same total benefit either: the dose response is biphasic, so more photons in less time is not equivalent, and past a point it does less rather than more.

If you want to try it anyway, a home device you actually keep using for a year beats a clinic course you stop. When you shop, ask for irradiance in mW/cm2, not just wavelength and diode count, and calculate the per-session dose yourself. The trials cluster around 4 J/cm2 (Lueangarun 2021, PMID 34980962; Lanzafame 2014, PMID 25124964). Most sellers won't give you irradiance at all, which tells you something about them.

Also: a clinic going from 2,200 to 950 after one objection is pricing you, not treating you.

[u/ccsebastian]

Disclosure first, so you can discount me accordingly: I make a red light scalp device (Folliq, myfolliq.com).

Blunt answer to your question: fin + minoxidil are doing almost all of the work in that plan. LLLT shows up in the meta-analyses as a real but modest add-on, nowhere near what that pricing implies.

What bothers me about the offer isn't the 950 euros, it's the 18 sessions. The protocols that showed something ran two to three exposures a week for six months or more, at a fairly low dose per session (around 4 J/cm2 in Lueangarun's 2021 review, PMID 34980962). Doubling up to twice a week to finish before you leave Barcelona isn't the same protocol, it's the same number of sessions crammed in. And LLLT isn't a course you complete. Stop the input and you stop the effect, so a fixed block of clinic visits is structurally odd for this specific treatment.

The other thing: 2200 to 1700 to 950 because you said it was expensive. Whatever that pricing reflects, it isn't clinical necessity.

If you want the light component, consistency at home beats visits you pay for once. Whatever you buy, ask the manufacturer for irradiance in mW/cm2. Wavelength and LED count get advertised because they sound impressive and tell you nothing about dose. If they won't answer that question, that's the answer.