Dermatologists usually know nothing about hair loss, unless they specialize in it specifically, and make a career out of it. And that is a small amount of med school students who pursue research on hairloss.
I remember the moment I realized dermatologists don’t care about male pattern baldness. From my experience, they are largely clueless about male pattern baldness. I made several visits/follow-ups for a skin condition, in a highly regarded research university. This school is always top 3 overall on usnews, top 5 university in medical research:
None of the dermatologists knew what minoxidil and finasteride was. I had to use the brand names, Rogaine and Propecia, and that happened to ring a bell. They did not know the drug names of treatments that have been around since the 90s. That should tell you everything right there: hair loss is largely ignored by the medical field.
In another dermatology clinic, a fancy/expensive one, the dermatologists there had no idea about the derma roll/dermapen studies for hair loss. I’ve since had no more visits to dermatologists and just read forums for help (like hair loss talk).
I know this may sound crazy because a dermatologist has 12 years of higher education including 8 years for med school and residency: the truth is some random Jon Doe off the streets like me or you, who reads up on hairloss news, science, and research, will likely have more knowledge about hair loss than a general derm. This is my 12th year as a member of hair loss talk. No med school needed. No $250k med school debt. And I pretty much taught those derms what is the drug name of Rogaine and Propecia. 22 year old me (at the time). And it’s not their age or outdated knowledge, there were young derms and old derms interacting with me. None of them knew much about male pattern baldness and their treatments.
So, dermatologists aren’t/can’t be embarrassed about something they don’t even know exists.