Questionnaire

First, a trichologist gathers some personal info that includes the health history. An expert would pay particular care to any health ailments you ever had experienced within the last couple of months such as: illness, starting or coming to an end of any medications,
childbirths, breastfeeding, dietary habits, stresses, and regular menstrual periods, in case you are female. An expert would also ask about the family’s overall health history and whether any of victim’s relatives faced any significant hair loss or not.

Next, a trichologist would ask how one cares for the hair: what kind of products one is using and how often, whether one chemically processes the hair, swims regularly, or wears the hair in any tough hairstyles.

Physical Examination

A trichologist would then perform physically examination of the hair along with the scalp in order to detect any signs of patchy hair losses, scaling, swellings or redness. Once an expert has ruled out such symptoms, they would begin examining for some condition called diffuse hair losses - thinning due to the hair loss from all over the scalp. A trichologist will run hands over the hairs for checking any signs of thinning. Then, the hairs would be gently pulled in several different areas to checkout if it indeed comes out easily and in quantity.

While performing such tasks, trichologist may ask when you had your last head-bath or washing or brushing of the hair and explain that it is perfectly okay losing up to 150 hairs a day, many of them during shampooing or combing. The trichologist will save the hairs he or she has gathered in an envelope marked with patient’s name while explaining that these hairs are for special examination them under a microscope to evaluate hair structure and a cause for hair fall. The expert might take several digital photos of the hair to upload onto the computer for records.

During the last session of the initial appointment, a trichologist will explain if there is any suspicion of diffuse hair losses (Telogen effluvium). It would set you at ease by narrating that one would not go bald with this kind of situation and that this might be able to correct the cause and reveres the situation of hair fall. There are treatments available that can restore the hair’s thickness. A doctor would schedule some follow-up appointments at which time the reports would be ready with prescriptions.

Making The Diagnosis

If a trichologist determines that a patient was suffering from breakages and shown to have no outstanding health and/or nutrition related problems, they would recommend gentle care for the hair at home and in the salons, as well as keeping them out of reach of UVA/UVB rays. The breakage because of signs of fungal infections or inherited defects may require further investigations and some gentle explanations that there is no remedy for that.
If the hairs shown to have fallen off in the active growth phase (called anagen) and one has undergone cancer therapy (such as radiation and/or chemotherapy), or might have been exposed to toxic substances, a trichologist would tell you that the hair loss will be stopped 2-3 months after either the treatments are being over stopped or a doctor cured you for the toxic substances.

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