Clinic Notes

Measurement

14 October 2026

Why we will not call a change before 90 days

A follicle that has switched into telogen does not announce itself on a Tuesday. The shaft can sit in the opening for weeks, then shed, and the new anagen hair — if there is one — still has to grow long enough and thick enough to be distinguished from the last generation. Photographing the same part at week three therefore tells you about styling, lighting and mood. It does not tell you about the cycle.

We chose 90 days as the shortest interval at which we will read density or calibre as a change. That figure is a clinic rule, not a law of biology. Some shafts need longer; a Density program therefore builds in a second review at 24 weeks. What the rule prevents is a more common error: rewriting the plan every time the drain looks busier after a single wash.

In-clinic sessions still happen inside those 90 days. Barrier work, scaling and light therapy are for the scalp you have now. They are documented, and they can make the next 90 days more tolerable. They are not allowed to overwrite the baseline. If a client asks “has it worked yet?” at week six, the honest answer is that we do not yet have a comparison that we are willing to defend.

There is an exception, and it runs the other way. If the scalp becomes painful, patchy or systemic symptoms appear, we do not wait 90 days to refer. Speed belongs to medical red flags. Patience belongs to cosmetic comparison.

Jinfujeos provides cosmetic trichology services. We do not diagnose medical conditions and do not prescribe medicines. Where findings suggest a medical cause, we recommend review by your GP or a dermatologist.

Diagnostics

2 September 2026

How we count follicular density so the number can be repeated

Follicular density is written as follicular units per square centimetre. The number is only useful if the centimetre is the same centimetre next time. We therefore mark the field on the first visit — vertex, mid-scalp, frontal, occipital control — and return to the mark, not to “the thin bit” as remembered by eye.

A unit is not the same thing as a hair. Several shafts can leave one opening. Counting shafts alone inflates a busy field and under-reads a miniaturising one, because the thin hairs are easy to skip. We count units first, then note calibre variation inside those units. The two figures answer different questions: how crowded is the zone, and how evenly are the remaining shafts built.

Lighting and product change the count. Oil fills the space between shafts and makes a field look richer; dry shampoo dust can be mistaken for scale; a freshly washed scalp can look emptier simply because the hair is lying flatter. That is why we ask for an unwashed, unstyled day. It is also why we refuse to compare our number with a screenshot from another device at an unknown magnification.

Close imaging of the scalp — The same marked field is what makes a later count a comparison

When two of our practitioners count the same stored field, we expect the figures to sit close. Internal calibration is how we keep the method from drifting into one person’s optimism. If a later count moves by a margin we would call noise, we write “stable” and we do not sell the noise as progress.

Add-on

21 July 2026

What a phototrichogram actually records

A phototrichogram is an unglamorous test. We clip a small patch, photograph it, and ask you to come back in 48 to 72 hours. Hairs that have lengthened in that window are read as anagen. Hairs that have not are read as telogen. The ratio is a statement about that patch in those hours. It is not a percentage for the whole head, and it is not a prediction of how you will look in a year.

We charge A$240 because two visits and a clipped field are real work, and because the number changes the plan only in a subset of cases. If trichoscopy already shows a clear miniaturisation pattern, the phototrichogram rarely adds enough to justify the clip. If the history is of a dated, heavy shed and the first images are comparatively even in calibre, the ratio can tell us whether the field is still emptying.

Clients sometimes hope the test will name a vitamin or a medicine. It will not. Anagen and telogen shares do not identify a deficiency. They tell us how the patch is cycling. Causes that need blood tests or a prescription sit with a GP. Our use of the test is narrower: decide whether a Recovery-length cosmetic plan is reasonable, or whether we should wait and re-image without loading the scalp with extra steps.

If you decline the clip, the rest of the assessment still stands. We would rather skip the add-on than take a poor field from hair that was washed, oiled or coloured in the interval.

Concerns

18 May 2026

Telogen timing: the shed you notice is often the late chapter

People date a shed from the week the drain filled. The trigger is often two or three months earlier — a fever, an operation, a crash diet, a birth, a medicine started or stopped. Hairs that left anagen together take their time to loosen. By the time the shed is obvious, the event that organised it may already feel finished, which is why “I feel fine now” and “I am losing more hair than ever” can be true in the same month.

This lag is why we ask for a calendar, not only a feeling. We also ask what else changed in that earlier window, because telogen effluvium is a description of timing, not a complete explanation. Iron, thyroid disease, a new antihypertensive, and a number of other medical pictures can sit underneath a timed shed. Those questions are for a doctor. Our part is to record whether the remaining shafts are of even calibre, whether the scalp is quiet, and whether a second process — pattern thinning, traction, breakage — is also in the field.

Trichoscopic imaging in progress — A dated history and a quiet field change what we are willing to treat

Cosmetic work during a telogen wave is mostly subtractive. We reduce heat and chemical load, keep the barrier intact, and avoid needling a scalp that is already emptying. A Recovery program of 16 weeks exists for the cases where that support is wanted and a GP has no outstanding concern. It is still a comparison exercise at the end, not a promise that the pre-trigger density will return on a timetable we choose.

If the shed is patchy, painful, or accompanied by fatigue, joint pain or other systemic change, the calendar exercise stops and the referral pack is written the same day. Timing notes are useful. They are not a reason to wait when the picture is not cosmetic.