Medical Hair Loss Evaluation
Medical Hair Loss Evaluation
$600
Complete medical exam
We perform a head-to-toe exam and we look closely at your scalp and the quality and pattern of your hair.
Pull Test and Tug Test
This test measures the severity of hair loss. During a pull test, we grasp small sections of hair (about 40 strands) from different parts of the scalp and gently tug. If six or more hair strands fall out, you have active hair loss, and you may have one of the following types of hair loss conditions:
- Telogen effluvium, in which hair falls out on the scalp
- Anagen effluvium, or rapid hair reduction resulting from medical treatment
- Loose anagen syndrome Androgenetic alopecia, also called “male pattern hair loss” or “female pattern hair loss”
- Advanced alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissues, including the hair follicles
During a tug test, we grasp a section of hair and hold it near the root and near the tip, then tug to see if any strands break in the middle. This test gives us information about the brittleness or fragility of your hair strands.
Card Test
We use a card test to examine the health of hair shafts and evaluate the number of new hair strands growing. The procedure is simple: We create a part in the hair and hold a small rectangular card against a section of the scalp. The color of the felt should differ from the color of the hair. New hair strands in this area are visible against the felt card and can be counted and examined. If you have thin strands, you may have telogen effluvium, whereas short strands with broken tips may indicate a hair shaft abnormality.
LAB WORK
Suppose we suspect the hair loss may be due to an underlying medical condition, a vitamin or mineral deficiency, or a hormonal imbalance. In that case, we may recommend one or more blood tests. For example, a woman whose hair is thinning all over the scalp can have hereditary hair loss, but the cause may be an iron deficiency.
Examples of Lab Work
- Thyroid function
- Hormone levels
- Ferritin and
- Hemoglobin levels
- Vitamin levels
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