Background. Diagnosis of hair diseases often requires the use of a biopsy that is invasive and limited in widespread use. An alternative can be 3D optical tomography (3D-OCT), which allows assessing skin morphology in real time to a depth of 2 mm.

OBJECTIVE

To study the possibilities of using 3D-OCT for the in vivo study of healthy skin and hair apparatus of the scalp.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study involved 20 healthy volunteers (mean age 31 years). In this work, we used an optical coherence tomography for non-invasive study of the internal structure of human surface tissues. Skin areas were scanned in the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital regions of the head. To identify the components of the sebaceous-hair complex in the ex vivo experiment, we compared 3D-OCT images and parallel histological preparations of a healthy scalp sample.

RESULTS

When analyzing the obtained images of vertical sections of healthy scalp the possibility of 3D-OCT visualization of the epidermis, the upper part of the dermis with vessels, the main components of the sebaceous-hair complex (which was confirmed during the ex vivo experiment), as well as empty follicles in the telogen stage was established. It was found that images of horizontal sections could significantly supplement information about the state of the hair apparatus during 3D-OCT examination due to visualization of transverse sections of hair follicles and hair shafts with the ability to determine their diameter and growth density.

CONCLUSION

The first studies results indicate that 3D-OCT is promising tool for intra-vital assessment of the structure of the skin and sebaceous-hair complexes of the scalp. The similarity of the information obtained during 3D-OCT with data of histological studies, the simplicity and availability of devices, the possibility of analyzing multiple lesions, as well as conducting multiple studies are undoubted advantages that make it possible to recommend it for implementation in clinical practice.