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    Miniaturization and Hair Loss – More Than Meets the Eye

    Aug 31, 2006/by William Rassman, M.D./14 /Favorites, Other

    Here’s essentially a summary of what I’ve written in the past about miniaturization. This is just about as to-the-point as I can get with what the miniaturization mapping is and why it is important. For more in-depth text on miniaturization and mapping, please see: Miniaturization: Critical to the Master Plan for Hair Loss.

    —

    Miniaturization is part of the balding process where hair shafts become thinner over time before falling out. Thickness and the general health of hair can be measured by examining it under a special microscope, called a densitometer, for signs of miniaturization. Increased miniaturization in certain patterns, reflect a progression of balding. In addition, miniaturization and detectable hair loss is not evident to the naked eye until more than 50% of normal (non-miniaturized) hair is lost. As a result, many men/women do not seek help until significant miniaturization has already taken place.

    At New Hair Institute, we feel that mapping the scalp hair for miniaturization is critical in establishing the guidelines for the treatment of hair loss. Mapping measures the miniaturization and density on different areas on the scalp, providing us with a ‘roadmap of data’ to quantifiably measure the current health of the hair. When a medical treatment (such as finasteride or Propecia) is started we can document its effectiveness with the initial and periodic measurements for miniaturization.

    The responsiveness of each patient with drug treatment is different, so each patient must be diligent in acquiring follow up measurements to the degree of miniaturization and the location of the miniaturization by scalp area. Without quantifiable measurements for hair loss, there is no clinical science in the treatment, just hocus-pocus and blustering, a problem that is far too prevalent today.

    If you are balding, you should have your scalp hair mapped for miniaturization to (1) estimate the pattern of hair loss now and for future loss, and (2) measure the starting point for miniaturization so that changes measured over time, can be followed. These measurements are very fast and easy. It is today’s Standard of Care that should be available to every balding patient wanting a Master Plan, for treatments appropriate to their future hair loss.

    Miniaturization

     

    by Jae P. Pak, M.D., William R. Rassman, M.D.

    Tags: hairloss, hair loss, miniaturization, hair mapping

    Reader Comments14

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    1. Joris
      Joris says:
      Sep 3, 2006 at 10:55 am

      This entry is extremely valuable.

      Reply
    2. carla
      carla says:
      May 8, 2007 at 11:10 pm

      my hair and my boyfriends hair is shedding really bad. sometimes my scalp feels like is slightly burning and will have little patches of red. my hair that isn’t shedding is really getting scraggly. I have always had nice hair this is happening more and more daily really

      Reply
    3. anu
      anu says:
      Jul 21, 2007 at 5:03 am

      I am facing severe hair loss, in every 6months(since 2yrs) a phase comes when i start loosing hairs like anything…..now that i have lost substantial portion of my hairs…..i m really concerned what to do? plz help before its too late

      Reply
    4. Daniel Baker
      Daniel Baker says:
      Sep 5, 2007 at 4:04 pm

      I have diffuse thinning all over my head but a little more in the front than anywhere else. I would like to get my head mapped for miniaturization but I’m not sure where to go or who to see for this. My own dermatologist isn’t interested in doing this for me since he sees no change in my hair. It’s my hair and I know that there has been change. Please can someone help me with this. Thank you.
      Daniel

      Reply
    5. rob
      rob says:
      May 2, 2008 at 10:43 pm

      i’m 19 i might be going bald, my father is bald and his dad is bald. My mothers side of the family all have hair though, my mothers dad has a small bald spot on the right side of his crown and i also have a small bald spot on the right side of my crown. I dont have a receeding hairline but i have notice when i shower a hair or two fall out. What do you think?

      Reply
    6. scott
      scott says:
      Oct 9, 2008 at 5:06 pm

      ive only recently turned 20, but i noticed a reeceding hairline from when i was 18, i have receeded very badly in the past two years, and now ive noticed the hair around my crown is thinning too, the best and only good advice/ treatment for hairloss is, don’t start fashioning a combover, keep it short to show your not ashamed of it, and then wen theres no point in payin a barber, shave it all off, looks better than some guy desperate to keep every piece of hair he can, yeah your unlucky if u go bald, but get over it.

      Reply
    7. brian
      brian says:
      Dec 14, 2008 at 12:18 pm

      my son is 12 and has a bald patch my father is bald is my son going bald and what can i do to stop this thanks

      Reply
    8. Tasha
      Tasha says:
      May 15, 2009 at 3:25 pm

      Thank you! I’m printing this page to show my docter/dermatologist.This is exactly the problem i have!

      Reply
    9. meghnath
      meghnath says:
      Jan 27, 2011 at 11:11 pm

      hi i m meghnath. my age is 24 . i m lossing my hair from past 4 years . i took doctors treatment even after that i m lossing my hair till this days . so now i think within a year i will get bald . so i m in so stress. shall i get my hair back again

      Reply
    10. Andy
      Andy says:
      Feb 10, 2013 at 11:05 am

      Hey guys can u help me?, does this post says that if you have thinner hairs in your frontal side and in the back side are thicker, you are goin to get bald??? im not a native english speaker so i dont understand perfectly… please

      Reply
    11. Audrey
      Audrey says:
      May 25, 2017 at 10:28 am

      My 29year old son woke up with a bald patch this morning on the back of his head near the side any idea what the cause of this could be

      Reply
      • William Rassman, M.D. & Jae Pak, M.D.
        William Rassman, M.D. & Jae Pak, M.D. says:
        May 25, 2017 at 3:35 pm

        You should bring your son to a doctor to find out what the spot of missing hair is.

        William Rassman, M.D.

        Reply
    12. Mary
      Mary says:
      Aug 28, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      could you please provide a reference for “…detectable hair loss is not evident to the naked eye until more than 50% of normal (non-miniaturized) hair is lost”?

      Reply

    Trackbacks & Pingbacks

    1. Hairloss Info Blog » Hair Falling Out in Permanent Zone says:
      Feb 8, 2009 at 5:38 am

      […] I haven’t beat the following concept enough to a point of sounding like a broken record… a miniaturizationstudy would be helpful to see what is really going on. You can even map your own scalp using the […]

      Reply

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