A practical guide to the standardisation of hair loss photography for clinicians.

Abstract

Background: Global and trichoscopic photography are fundamental in the clinical assessment of hair loss. Standardised protocols in this respect are lacking.

Objectives: To create novel, pragmatic and flexible standardised photography protocols for hair loss, which are practical to use for clinicians and medical photographers alike.

Methods: Published disease severity scales for a variety of hair loss conditions were utilised to create standardised photography protocols. There were reviewed and refined by a national clinical working group of consultant dermatologists specialising in hair loss.

Results: Three main presentation-based protocols are presented, defined by the type of hair loss a patient may present with; including pattern loss, frontal fibrosing alopecia/traction alopecia and alopecia areata and other patchy hair loss disorders. Additional supplementary protocols facilitate further specific views for a variety of individualised clinical scenarios, based on user discretion.

Conclusions: We present novel, pragmatic, standardised photography protocols for hair loss disorders. These can be used by clinicians even where formal medical photography units are unavailable. Standardisation allows high-quality, informative images for objective assessment and monitoring of hair loss in clinical practice, as well as in research settings.