DIAGNOSING  HAIR  LOSS  

Diagnosing any medical problem has direct relevance to its treatment. In case of hair loss also, before recommending any best hair solution , one has to arrive at the diagnosis. There are some aspects that need to be evaluated before making any diagnosis :-

1. MEDICAL HISTORY- To determine the  cause of hair loss, your doctor can ask you variety of questions about when hair loss began , what the patterns of hairloss are , what kind of hair styles you usually wear , whether hairloss runs in your family and other details about your symptoms.

2. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION- Examination of your scalp to check for inflammation, redness, sores or scarring. Close view of your hair to determine how much hair is being lost , the pattern of hair loss etc. It includes :-

(a) PULL TEST AND TUG TEST - This test measures the severity of hairloss , during this test small sections of hair say 40 strands are grasped from different parts of the scalp and gently tugged , if six or more strands fall out , you have what's known as active hairloss.

(b) TUG TEST -  During a tug test, the doctor grasps a section of hair and holds it with two hands. one near the root and one near the tip, then tugs to see if any of the strands  break in the middle. This gives information about the brittleness or fragility of your hair strands. 

3. TRICHOMETRIC ANALYSIS - In trichometric analysis, a computerized tool is used to analyze characteristics of the scalp and hair. A digital assessment system called folliscope consisting of high definition microscopic camera. It gives information about hair coverage , including the total no of hairs on the scalp and the diameter of each strand of hair .

4. PUNCH BIOPSY - If there are lesions on the scalp that could be caused by more than one form of hairloss, you may require a scalp biopsy and this biopsy is called as punch biopsy . In this a small device is used to puncture the scalp and remove a small tissue sample . This sample is sent to lab for testing the type of hair loss.

5. BLOOD TESTS - There are some chances that there may be some underlying medical conditions involved in hair loss, this can be evaluated only through blood tests.