P#06  Color scanning electron microscopy of hair shafts

Kathy Teagno1, Jack Green1, 2, John Ward3, Mark Greaves3 and Rod Sinclair1, 2. 1Skin and Cancer Foundation, Victoria, Australia; 2Dept of Dermatology, St. Vincent's Hospital, Victoria, Australia; 3Forestry Division, CSIRO, Victoria, Australia

Scanning Electron Microscopy has been used to study details of hair disease for the last thirty years. Images are obtained when an electron gun produces an electron beam, which is focused into a fine spot of less than 4nm in diameter on the specimen. The beam is scanned over the specimen; secondary electrons are produced, and detected by a suitable detector. Secondary electrons are produced when the incoming electron interacts with an orbiting electron. Backscattered electrons are produced when the incoming electron interacts with the nucleus. A separate detector detects backscattered electrons. We sought to explore a new technique of using both secondary electrons and backscattered electrons combined in a software package to achieve a color image of the hair shaft. This involved combining the two separate images, and applying different color values to each. This serves to enhance both the shadow and highlight areas. Hairs were obtained from patients with Marie Unna Hereditary Hypotrichosis and Monilethrix. Hairs were analyzed with both standard and color SEM. Several combinations of colors were applied to the hair shafts to observe the most successful choices. Assessment of the images revealed greater depth and detail of the surface of the hair shaft. This facilitated a clearer representation of the hair shaft defects seen. This may be attributed to the ability of the human eye to be able to perceive a wider range of colors than the standard 256 shades of gray in black and white images. This method may have some applications in assessing hair shafts in the future.