The Hair Shedding Visual Scale: A Quick Tool to Assess Hair Loss in Women

The study introduced a hair-shedding visual scale to assess hair loss in women and validated its effectiveness. The scale, which was tested on 154 women, showed that those with Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL) had significantly higher mean shedding scores compared to those without FPHL, with scores of 7.25, 7.0, and 7.14 for short, medium, and long hair, respectively, in the FPHL group versus 2.5, 2.35, and 2.4 in the non-FPHL group. The scale demonstrated strong correlation with manual hair counting and high inter-observer reliability, making it a quick and effective clinical tool for evaluating hair shedding severity. The study also noted that psychological factors can affect the perception of hair loss and that the scale, while designed for Caucasian women with thick hair, may need adaptation for other ethnicities. The scale's potential for assessing treatment response was not validated but suggested for future research. The study followed ethical guidelines with informed consent and did not receive external funding. Data is available upon request.