title: An evaluation system to enhance patient selection for alopecia-reducing surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The author presents an evaluation system that helps optimize the chances of achieving good results with alopecia-reducing procedures.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To help hair restoration surgeons select patients properly for alopecia-reducing procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty criteria are scrutinized by the hair restoration surgeon during the initial consultation and given a score of one to five. The scores are added together and divided by 20. A patient with a score greater than four is considered a good candidate for alopecia reduction in most cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This evaluation method has significantly decreased the number of patients undergoing alopecia-reducing procedures while helping the author achieve consistently good results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An evaluation system is presented that helps determine who is a good candidate for alopecia reduction and who is a poor candidate. This selection technique has helped the author achieve more consistently good results by eliminating poor and borderline candidates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Dominic A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Brandy
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000505:Alopecia / Q000145:classification* / Q000601:surgery*; D006197:Hair / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D018579:Patient Selection; D012535:Scalp; D014945:Wound Healing