Development of a Standardized Photo Guideline for Online Hair Transplantation Consultation.

Background: Telemedicine has rapidly advanced in plastic and aesthetic surgery, but obtaining high-quality images during online hair transplantation consultations remains challenging, impeding doctors' visual evaluation.

Objective: To investigate patients' attitude and satisfaction with online hair transplantation consultations, and to develop a standardized photo guideline to help patients capture high-quality images.

Methods: We surveyed patients' attitudes and satisfaction with online hair transplantation consultations from November 23, 2023 to May 3, 2024. Meanwhile, five surgeons developed a standardized photo guideline and assessed its effectiveness by comparing image quality between two patient groups: those using the photo guideline and those not using it.

Results: We collected 570 responses to the attitude questionnaire, with 76.66% of participants expressing a willingness to undergo online hair transplantation consultations. The patient satisfaction survey yielded an overall satisfaction score of 4.44 ± 0.72 out of 5 for online hair transplantation consultations. Furthermore, all five surgeons rated photographs taken by patients following the photo guideline as higher quality compared to those taken by patients who did not use it.

Conclusion: Patients show high satisfaction with online hair transplantation consultations. The standardized photo guideline proves effective in helping patients take high-quality photographs for online consultations.

Level of evidence iv: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .