INTRODUCTION

The nature of hair transplantation, involving the assessment, harvest, and transfer of hundreds of individual hairs, practically mandates the use of technology at some point in the process. Also, because many different types of physicians perform hair transplantation, much creative genius is brought to the field. Techniques for documenting baseline hair growth, measuring changes in hair density and/or thickness, photographing the donor and recipient areas, and analyzing the scalp itself are very helpful. Furthermore, methods of magnification are essential for both graft and recipient site creation. In this chapter, we describe different devices that may be helpful in the medical or surgical treatment of hair loss. We have received no funding from any of these companies or their developers.

DERMATOSCOPY

Many different devices can provide simple magnification of the skin and scalp. They vary in their degrees of magnification and design in resting against the area of interest. A relatively recent development is the technique called dermatoscopy or epiluminescent microscopy (ELM). Original dermatoscope devices involved placing a flat glass plate against the skin or scalp, under oil immersion to eliminate surface reflection due to the refractive index mismatch between air and skin (Figure 10.1). They were marketed under such trade names as Dermogenius (Canfield Scientific, Fairfield, NJ) and Episcope (Welch Allyn, Skaneateles Falls, NY) (Figure 10.2). Some disadvantages of these devices were the need to autoclave the glass plates between patients and the inconvenience of applying an oil or gel beforehand. It is easy to see how this would be especially cumbersome on the scalp.