Some patients may develop both androgenetic alopecia and chronic telogen effluvium (CTE). Rebora et al used a simple screening method to evaluate a patient for both conditions. The authors are from the University of Genoa.
Patients studied: 71 women, 29 men, ages 14 to 78 years
Exclusions: alopecia areata, scarring alopecia, short clipped hair
The longest scalp hairs should be > 5 cm in length. If only 2 hair group lengths are going to be used (see below) then the longest hairs should be > 3 cm in length.
Protocol:
(1) The patient washed the hair using a standard protocol.
(2) The number of hairs shed during the shampoo were collected and dried.
(3) The hairs were divided into 3 groups, each of which was counted:
(3a) <= 3 cm
(3b) 3.01 to 4.99 cm
(3c) >= 5 cm
total number of hairs =
= SUM(points for all 3 groups)
percent of vellus hairs (those <= 3 cm) =
= (number less than or equal to 3 cm in length) / (total number of hairs)
Total Number of Hairs |
Percent of Vellus Hairs |
Diagnosis |
< 100 |
>= 10% |
AGA |
>= 100 |
< 10% |
CTE |
>= 100 |
>= 10% |
AGA + CTE |
< 100 |
< 10% |
CTE in remission |
Limitations:
• Variation in shampooing.
• Inaccuracies in counting hairs.
• Inaccuracies in measuring hairs.
Specialty: Dermatology
ICD-10: ,