Among the many side effects of COVID-19 that have arisen, hair loss can be one of the most unexpected. “It took me a little while,” says Dr. Pedram Yazdan, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. “I think it allowed me to appreciate how stressful this infection can be on our bodies.”
Technically known as telogen effluvium, temporary hair loss can be triggered by many things, from weight loss to severe infection and psychological stress. Yazdan, who specializes in hair loss, says all three may play a role in the hair loss reports he sees. One such report, a survey of more than 1,500 survivors released in late July, lists hair loss as among the top 25 symptoms experienced (out of nearly 100 total) by COVID-19 survivors.
Taught by Dr. Natalie Lambert, a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Survivor Corps, a grassroots movement of COVID-19 survivors, found in the survey that more people experienced hair loss than nausea or runny nose – two characteristic symptoms of COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey is not the only place to highlight the problem. A study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in April reported a “high frequency” of “male pattern hair loss” among COVID-19 patients in Spain. A July 30 post from the Cleveland Clinic noted an increase in COVID-19 patients reporting the condition. And in an interview with USA Today, in late July, a doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York said she saw patients receiving “bags of hair” that they lost after recovering from COVID-19.
Yazdan has also seen cases of it. “I see patients in the clinic for hair problems and recently we had a couple of patients who, during – and even after – infection with COVID, started to make their hair quite noticeable,” says Yazdan. “And in principle, there was no real assigned reason other than the infection that could have caused her to forget her hair.”
It is known that Telogen effluvium leads to other infections, including malaria and syphilis, the latter of which can result in what is called syphilitic alopecia, says Yazdan. But for these COVID-19 survivors and others with temporary hair loss, there is probably no single mechanism behind it. “It can be infection, it can be nutrients, it can be a lot of stress on the body – physical stress and medical stress,” says Yazdan. “Some patients with a lot of emotional stress … if they have a lot of anxiety or just some situational event in their life, which is very emotionally stressful, that can lead to hair loss.”
The ongoing stress associated with this pandemic, he says, probably plays a big role – and can even cause hair loss in those without the virus. “I’ve also done a lot of telehealth visits and some of my patients have not received COVID, but they have their hair cut,” says Yazdan. ‘I can not really figure it out, but then as I investigate further, just the fact that they’m in lockdown, sitting at home or worrying about losing their jobs … life emphasizes that it attracts people I’m attracted to. think contribution. ”
On top of the mental pain, changes to the physical body – such as weight loss – can also affect this. “Some of these patients, their appetite is impaired and they are not nutritionally optimized as they were before the infection. And one of the most important things with healthy hair is proper nutrition and having a well-balanced diet, ”he says. “Many of these patients, they do not want to eat, they have no appetite and they lose weight. And so the hair is pissed for those reasons too. ‘
One positive aspect of this type of hair loss, says Yazdan, is that it is temporary. ‘The good thing is, it’s over. Of all the hair loss conditions you can have, this is the best form to have, because it is always decreasing, ”he says. “They say, ‘This is going to happen, too’ and that’s something that’s going to happen.
For those who experience it, he says reducing stress and optimizing nutrition are both important, but the most important advice he gives is just to stay calm. ‘People say,’ What can I do to treat it? “And I think the best thing is just the tincture of time,” says Yazdan. “I spend a lot of time with patients to ensure that this is a temporary condition … so all hairs that were removed from telogen effluvium would theoretically, over time, slowly return. That I say them, just be patient. ”
For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow together to https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised remain the most at risk. If you have any questions, please refer to the GGD‘s and WHO’s resource guides.
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