Hair follicle-counting software to aid hair care development
Developed by CSIRO’s Biotech Imaging team in conjunction with a leading UK-based personal care company, the software magnifies images and analyses them to work out the number of hairs in any specific area.
The system supersedes the time-consuming and repetitive process of having to count hairs manually, most commonly using a magnifying device.
Time-saving device
“It’s a boring job and results are prone to errors and variations between different people,” Dr Pascal Valloton, Leader of Biotech Imaging at CSIRO said.
The software images rely on a flatbed scanner which is pressed onto the area of hair and skin to analyze the hair ratios.
The system is based on a similar one developed by the same team for medical research, which relies on algorithms to determine the branching structure of nerve cells and to find the boundaries of fat cells.
CSIRO says that the results are almost instantaneous, not only giving the number of hairs, but also indicating the average length and thickness.
Making specific comparisons
Likewise the software also allows specific areas to be compared with previous results, to assess the effectiveness of any product that might have been used on the area.
But it goes even further than the naked eye ever could as it can account for hairs that the naked eye might find hard to see, or that might get lost amongst other larger hairs. Likewise it will not be confused by differing hair texture or skin type.
This comparison should prove extremely effective for hair care providers who are developing both hair re-growth and hair removal products as it can give clear results to determine efficacy.
