Optical Coherence Tomography for Planning of Follicular Unit Extraction

Abstract

As this angular distribution massively influences the transsection rate, the authors suggest such a method to be considered as a future improvement of preoperative assessment.

Two optical coherence tomography systems detect topical gold nanoshells in hair follicles, sweat ducts and measure epidermis

“…Efficacy and limitations of OCT diagnosis of skin disease has previously been established in studies of skin appendages, such as hairs and nails . However, various OCT systems with different axial and lateral resolution, different power on the skin and different imaging post‐processing software have been applied in these studies.…”

“…The diagnostic accuracy of OCT in Dermatology has been demonstrated as moderate to high . Several skin diseases have been studied clinically with OCT including disorders involving adnexal structures: sweating , dyshidrotic skin conditions , follicular keratosis , abnormal hair growth , hair transplantation and acne . Identification and measurement of hair follicle calibers, size/condition of hair follicles and sweat gland structures can be useful in monitoring these diseases.…”

Advances in optical coherence tomography in dermatology—a review

“…OCT has been applied as an assistance for planning and controlling various treatments, such as follicular unit extraction, laserassisted drug delivery through nails and skin, and for semiautomated localization of the DEJ. [80][81][82][83][84][85][86] OCT is able to visualize the nail plate, nail bed, and nail matrix, 87 and the method has been using for assessing effectiveness of transnail drug delivery using ablative fractional laser with OCT, suggesting the technology to be an effective tool for monitoring both depth of laser penetration and drug delivery efficacy in nails. 80,81 Measurement of nail thickness with OCT has been applied, showing lower degrees of variation compared to ultrasonography, 87 though lacking the ability to visualize single cellular structures compared to confocal laser scanning microscopy.…”

“…This evaluation was performed in order to minimize hair follicle transection and the authors suggest that the principle may be applied for automatized follicle unit extraction devices. 83 The epidermis is the easiest part of the skin to visualize with OCT and several studies on the ET were conducted. [89][90][91][92][93][94][95] Different methods for measuring ET with OCT were tested using A-scan based analysis, shapelet-based analysis, and manual observer-based analysis, the latter two being most precise.…”

Optical Coherence Tomography in the Evaluation of the Scalp and Hair: Common Features and Clinical Utility

“…OCT has been employed in the evaluation of frontal-fibrosing alopecia (FFA) to show that epidermal thickness is highest in inflamed regions of scalp and lowest in scarred regions, compared with control patients, whereas a paradoxical increase in deep vascular flow alongside a decrease in superficial vascular flow is observed as inflamed scalp progresses to cicatricial stages [19,20]. In the surgical field of hair transplantation, OCT may improve pre-operative assessment by accurately identifying the direction in which subcutaneous follicular units lie, effectively minimizing transection and optimizing procedure outcomes [21]. OCT imaging of hair follicles has even been instrumental in acne treatment development as OCT and RCM confirm transfollicular gold microparticle uptake and subsequent follicular unit destruction after diode laser exposure [22].…”