Trichoscopy and Hair Analysis

For hair loss to be treated successfully, the type, cause and severity of the hair loss must first be identified correctly. Alongside clinical examination, advanced imaging and analysis methods improve diagnostic accuracy while also allowing the course of treatment to be assessed objectively.

Trichoscopy allows the scalp and hair shafts to be examined in detail under high magnification with a special device called a dermatoscope, and has become indispensable in the diagnosis of hair disorders today. It helps establish the diagnosis in many types of hair loss and, where needed, identifies the best site for a scalp biopsy.

Digital hair analysis performed with the FotoFinder® TrichoScale X makes it possible to evaluate hair loss not only visually but through numerical, objective data. In suitable patients, using trimmed or untrimmed analysis methods, parameters such as hair density, hair shaft thickness, the terminal-to-vellus hair ratio, the anagen-to-telogen ratio, follicular unit structure and many other measures that matter in treatment follow-up can be analysed in detail.

These assessments allow the type and severity of hair loss to be determined more accurately, suitable candidates for treatment to be selected, and the effectiveness of treatment to be monitored objectively over time. The course of treatment can therefore be evaluated on the basis of scientific measurements rather than the patient's observation alone.

Trichoscopy and hair analysis provide important information in the diagnosis and follow-up of non-cicatricial alopecias — particularly androgenetic alopecia (male and female pattern hair loss), telogen effluvium and alopecia areata — as well as many types of cicatricial alopecia. Which assessment method is used is decided according to the patient's clinical findings.