title: Is trichoscopy a reliable tool to diagnose early female pattern hair loss?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) presents with visible patterns of hair loss, thus making a bedside diagnosis possible. However, there are cases of FPHL presenting without any visible hair thinning, making it necessary to subject them to a scalp biopsy to make a diagnosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the following study is to determine if trichoscopy can be used as a bedside tool to diagnose Early FPHL in women presenting without any visible thinning of hair, using >20% hair diameter diversity - anisotrichosis, as the diagnostic criteria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trichoscopy was performed on 20 cases of early FPHL (biopsy proven), 63 normal controls and 29 Grade 2 FPHL Controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the biopsy proven FPHL cases, 75% showed anisotrichosis on trichoscopy. This finding was significantly higher in FPHL Cases compared to normal controls. As expected, 93% of Grade 2 FPHL controls also showed the same finding. Trichoscopy was found to be 75% sensitive and 61.54% specific in diagnosing early FPHL. Thus, a negative result would be more indicative of absence of disease, however, a positive result would not always indicate the presence of disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, T.N.M. College and B.Y.L. Nair Ch. Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Sana A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bhamla
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, T.N.M. College and B.Y.L. Nair Ch. Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Rachita S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Dhurat
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, T.N.M. College and B.Y.L. Nair Ch. Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Punit P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Saraogi
keywords: Anisotrichosis; female pattern hair loss; hair diameter diversity; trichoscopy