The technique gives important information on hair density, the composition of the patient’s follicular units and the diameter of their hair shafts. The new instruments give doctors vital information for making decisions about whether patients are candidates for hair transplant surgery, the amount of donor tissue needed for the hair restoration, and to help them better predict how the results of hair transplants will ultimately look.

For more information, please see Dr. Bernstein’s publication on densitometry, a podcast on hair transplantation that discusses densitometry, and the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration press release on the news below:

Baldness Detection Devices Featured in Medical Journal

Hair Transplant Forum International publishes new article on hand-held instruments used in hair loss detection and planning for hair transplants.

The lead article in the March/April issue of the journal published by The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) focuses on the latest tools available for assessing whether or not a person experiencing hair loss is a good candidate for hair transplant surgery.

The cover story: “Densitometry and Video-microscopy” written by Robert M. Bernstein, M.D. and William R. Rassman, M.D. explores the often overlooked diagnostic practice of analyzing the scalp under high-power magnification. Getting an extreme close-up of hair patterns at the base of the scalp allows hair transplant surgeons and dermatologists a chance to not only screen candidates for appropriateness for surgery, but can also predict future hair loss patterns.

Dr. Bernstein, founder of the New York based Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration, is known for his pioneering work in new hair transplantation techniques. When asked why he thought the article was given so much prominence in the Hair Transplant Forum, he suggested that “these simple hand held instruments should be essential tools of the hair transplant doctor.” He cautioned that without precise measurements doctors run the risk of performing surgery on persons who may is not suited for this procedure.

Dr. Bernstein has authored over 50 papers on hair transplantation including some of the most influential research on techniques used to repair badly performed hair transplants. In his seminal publications describing Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), Dr. Bernstein introduced a brand new method of hair restoration surgery which recognized follicular units (groups of naturally growing hair follicles) as the ideal element of donor tissue to be used in hair transplants. FUT is now considered to be the state-of-the-art in surgical hair restoration.

Dr. Bernstein and his colleague Dr. Rassman began utilizing the Densitometer to determine specific hair characteristics such as hair density, and changes in hair diameter that are important in both determining who are potential surgical candidates for the new hair transplant procedures and who may respond to medications.

The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), a non-profit organization of over 700 hair restoration doctors, publishes Hair Transplant Forum to keep the Society abreast of the most recent developments in the field of hair transplantation.

Dr. Bernstein is known to the general public from his appearances on NBC’s Today Show with Matt Lauer, CBS’s The Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Discovery Channel and other nationally syndicated programs.

A: The hair densitometer was introduced to hair restoration surgeons by Dr. Rassman in 1993. It is a small, portable, instrument that has a magnifying lens and an opening of 10mm2.

To use it, the doctor clips the hair short (~ 1-mm) and the instrument is then placed on the scalp. The doctor counts the total number of hairs in the field, looks at the number of hairs per follicular unit and assesses the diameter of the hair, looking in particular for abnormal levels of miniaturization (decreased hair shaft diameter caused by the effects of DHT).

The densitometer can increase the accuracy of the diagnosis of genetic hair loss by picking up early miniaturization.

It can also better assess a person’s donor hair supply, thus helping to determine which patients are candidates for a hair transplant.

Densitometry has helped us define the conditions of diffuse patterned and unpatterned hair loss (DPA and DUPA) and help to refine the diagnosis of hair loss in women.

A: If a person is to become a Norwood Class 6, the hair that we have available for us to transplant is only about 12% of what was there originally. This, of course, will vary from patient to patient depending upon one’s donor density and scalp laxity and a host of other factors.

We make the hair restoration look good by restoring 25-50% in the front, and proportionately less in the back. Logically one cannot restore 1/2 of ones original density to an entire bald scalp with only a thin strip of donor hair – there is just not enough hair, even with multiple sessions.

I transplant 25-35 FU/mm2 in one session, but this is the density created in the front, not overall.

Due to follicular unit graft sorting (placing the larger follicular units in the forelock area) this provides even more density than the actual numbers suggest. If someone is relatively certain to have more limited hair loss, then the numbers can be increased, but it is risky if you underestimate the degree of eventual hair loss.

Please carefully read the article on Hair Transplant Aesthetics.

It will answer your excellent question in greater detail. The article is a bit old, but the principles are the same.

A: Although the cosmetic benefit can be dramatic, a hair transplant only “moves” rather than creates new hair. In surgical hair restoration, a limited amount of hair from the donor area is transplanted to a much larger area in the front and top of the scalp, so that we can never reach the original density.

Achieving a cosmetically appropriate density in the front part of the scalp (which is around 1/3 to 1/2 of the original) generally takes two sessions and is the goal of most hair restoration surgery. Lower densities are used towards the back of the scalp.

A: Fine hair will give a thinner look than thicker hair, but will look completely natural. Thin hair doesn’t prevent one from having surgical hair restoration, providing your donor density and scalp laxity are adequate. These would need to be measured.