JAAD OnlineTechnology pearlPanoramic trichoscopy
Section snippets
Technology challenge
Trichoscopy is a useful tool in the diagnosis of hair loss and follow-up of patients. A current limitation of the method is that only small portions of the scalp can be photographed.1 This may pose some difficulty when trying to analyze large areas, such as the entire hairline in patients with frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA), or when attempting to compare the same field of view in posterior evaluations. To overcome this problem, we propose panoramic trichoscopy: the use of a smartphone camera
Solution
To perform panoramic trichoscopy, first attach a handheld dermoscope to a smartphone. Select the panorama (or similar) mode with the camera app of the phone. To obtain the best image in FFA, tie the hair back into a ponytail, hold the hairline with a flexible comb, and start scanning the hairline. A steady and continuous movement of the hand is necessary to avoid the formation of visual artifacts. Panoramic trichoscopy allows visually matching of hair shafts in before and after pictures (Fig 1
References (2)
- et al.
Wide area digital dermoscopy
J Am Acad Dermatol
(2019) - et al.
Distinct trichoscopic features of the sideburns in frontal fibrosing alopecia compared to the frontotemporal scalp
Skin Appendage Disord
(2018)
Cited by (4)
Panoramic dermoscopy
2023, Journal of the American Academy of DermatologyRecent advances in diagnosis and therapy of androgenic alopecia
2023, Medical Journal of Wuhan UniversityThe importance of linear trichoscopy
2022, International Journal of TrichologyPanoramic imaging in dermoscopy
2022, Hautarzt
Funding sources: None
Conflicts of interest: None disclosed.
Reprints not available from the authors.