Mapping Your Own Scalp for Miniaturization, Part 1

What’s the Point?

For some years now, I have been advocating the use of video magnification for the purpose of:

1. Detecting the presence of miniaturization to establish the presence of genetic balding in men.
2. Examining the extent of the miniaturization as a predictor of just how far the balding pattern might go if left untreated.
3. Using the estimate of measurements for the degree of miniaturization to establish reversal or progression of the balding process.

The medical community has been less than enthusiastic about accepting this approach for reasons that I never have and still do not understand.

Do It Yourself!

People interested in getting this study have been unable to find cooperative doctors willing to make this service available and many doctors just laugh when they have been approached by blog readers asking to get the study done. Many doctors don’t even understand what it means to analyze the presence and degree of miniaturization. I have realized for some time that performing these determinations is not rocket science, so I have made the decision to enable those interested readers to perform their own miniaturization study. It requires an adequate video imaging system (a computerized version of my original U.S. Patent issued in 1994) which I’ve found available over the internet for under $100. For the informed patient who is interested in getting this analysis and can not find a doctor to do it, they can purchase the handheld unit from one of the sources referenced below and perform the testing themselves. The cost of the video imaging system is often less than the cost of the physician’s visit and it will allow the interested person to repeat the study yearly, accumulate a set of photographs of their balding area and compare the results over time. For those on medications like Propecia, it will enable the user to see if he is getting control of his hair loss over the course of 8-12 months.

Take a good look at the defined Norwood balding pattern classifications and you can clearly see that quantifying miniaturization in the areas of balding will give you a tool to determine just how far your balding might progress.

What Do I Buy?

The hardware required is a Celestron 44300 handheld digital microscope, and what I particularly like about this (aside from the sub-$100 cost) is that you can plug it into your computer’s USB slot to save the images in JPG format. That will make it easy for you to upload the saved images so that physicians can analyze the results. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself just yet (wait until Monday)! This microscope works for both Windows and Mac computers. I’ll be providing a tutorial video next week on our new sister site, BaldingForum.com, that will show you how to use this microscope and how to map your scalp.

Here are some sites that sell the microscope; I have no preference of which site you purchase from:

• Buy it at Amazon.com
• Buy it at JR.com

Click here to read part 2!