New software is able to analyze exactly how many hairs there are in a patch of skin and could help in testing the effectiveness of baldness  treatments and depilatory  creams, say Australian researchers. Researchers from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences in prefix = st1 /Sydneyreport their findings in the November issue of the journalSkin Research and Technology. The software, developed with a UKcompany, will make it easier for researchers developing hair removal creams to accurately assess how well they work, says Dr Pascal Vallotton. "Up to now they were counting the number of hairs that survived after treatment by hand. That's hard work and it's difficult because you may count a hair twice or you may miss it." he said. The software relies on images captured by a small flatbed scanner  pressed onto the skin. Using a mathematical algorithm , the software then identifies and traces each individual hair based on an understanding of a hair's unique features, such as its   straightness.  The software is able to distinguish between hairs and other features on the skin such as wounds or moles .  "Our skin irregularities  make it difficult to say this is a hair or this is a mole," Dr Vallotton said.  Comparison between earlier and later images can also determine if hair is growing quickly or slowly, he says. Unfortunately, to check the accuracy of the software, the researchers still had to adopt the old-fashioned method of counting hairs, helped by volunteers from neighboring labs who put their skins on the line for science. "We had 12 volunteers, mostly from neighboring labs, and we acquired images of hair before and after treatment," Dr Vallotton said. To ensure an accurate count, the individual hairs had to be marked off as they were counted, but after such a laborious process, the researchers were pleased to discover the software results were comparable to the manual  count. Dr Vallotton says the software could also be useful in testing the effectiveness of balding  treatments and counting or tracing substances other than hairs, that are long and thin and otherwise difficult to image. What do we know about the new software?
It has replaced human labor completely. It is mainly used to detect hair problems. It can be used for develop new medicine. It can be used to test medical treatments.