| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2013 | Volume
: 5
| Issue : 3 | Page : 121-125 |
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Is Trichoscopy a reliable tool to diagnose early female pattern hair loss?
Sana A Bhamla, Rachita S Dhurat, Punit P Saraogi
Department of Dermatology, T.N.M. College and B.Y.L. Nair Ch. Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Correspondence Address:
Sana A Bhamla
Department of Dermatology, T.N.M. College and B.Y.L. Nair Ch. Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai - 400 008, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0974-7753.125603
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Background: Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) presents with visible patterns of hair loss, thus making a bedside diagnosis possible. However, there are cases of FPHL presenting without any visible hair thinning, making it necessary to subject them to a scalp biopsy to make a diagnosis. Aim: The aim of the following study is to determine if trichoscopy can be used as a bedside tool to diagnose Early FPHL in women presenting without any visible thinning of hair, using >20% hair diameter diversity - anisotrichosis, as the diagnostic criteria. Materials and Methods: Trichoscopy was performed on 20 cases of early FPHL (biopsy proven), 63 normal controls and 29 Grade 2 FPHL Controls. Results and Discussion: In the biopsy proven FPHL cases, 75% showed anisotrichosis on trichoscopy. This finding was significantly higher in FPHL Cases compared to normal controls. As expected, 93% of Grade 2 FPHL controls also showed the same finding. Trichoscopy was found to be 75% sensitive and 61.54% specific in diagnosing early FPHL. Thus, a negative result would be more indicative of absence of disease, however, a positive result would not always indicate the presence of disease. |
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