Multifactorial Classification of Male and Female Androgenetic Alopecia. Dermatol Surg, 2000 ; 26 : 555-561.
Male or female androgenetic alopecia induces a relatively early hair loss phenomenon of varying incidence and extent. Several intermediate evolutive stages exist between minimal thinning due to a decrease in hair density (frontotemporal recessions, crown or vertex) and the stage where only a narrow horseshoe-shaped band remains. Classifications of baldness require a more objective, precise and detailed approach for the different modifications determined by the evolutive process. This is equally true for all the experimental, medical and surgical approaches of alopecia. Therefore we propose the combined use of two classifications, one of the various simplified or detailed classifications, and a dynamic, detailed, multifactorial classification in which we have accurately integrated several parameters: extension of the bald and hair-bearing areas, the elasticity and density of the scalp, and hair characteristics such as diameter, length, shape, color and growth rate that confer the covering power of hair.