Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2022 Aug;191(4):1677-1681.
doi: 10.1007/s11845-021-02754-5. Epub 2021 Aug 31.

COVID-19 infection is a major cause of acute telogen effluvium

Khalifa E Sharquie  1 , Raed I Jabbar  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

COVID-19 infection is a major cause of acute telogen effluvium

Khalifa E Sharquie et al. Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Acute telogen effluvium is a non-scaring hair loss, usually occurs 3 months after the stressful event that causes hair shedding, and lasts up to 6 months. It can be associated with post COVID-19 infection.

Objective: To study the possible effects of COVID-19 on the hair growth cycle and the relationship between COVID-19 and acute telogen effluvium.

Patients and methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study that had been conducted during the period from September 2020 to March 2021 years. Thirty-nine patients with post COVID-19 hair loss are confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or antibody testing. Hair pull test was carried out to confirm the diagnosis and severity of telogen effluvium.

Results: Thirty-nine patients were evaluated; their ages ranged from 22 to 67 years with a mean and SD of 41.3 ± 11.6 years with 36 (92.3%) females and 3 (7.69%) males. All patients with a diagnosis of ATE were enrolled in this study and had a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection; 15 (38.46%) patients reported mild symptoms, 24 (61.53%) patients presented with moderate disease, and no patient required hospitalization. They all experienced excessive hair loss within 2-3 months after infection. Pull tests were strongly positive (> 10-50% with a mean of 35% of pulled hair away from scalp).

Conclusion: COVID-19 infection is now a frequent and a common cause of acute telogen effluvium. Hence, clinicians should be aware about the relation between this infection and this pattern of hair loss. Drugs that have been used for the treatment of COVID-19 were excluded as a cause of acute telogen effluvium.

Keywords: Acute; COVID-19; Drugs; Hair loss; Telogen effluvium.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Thirty-two-year-old female patient with severe acute telogen effluvium (diffuse) where the hair pull test is > 40%
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Twenty-two-year-old female patient showing acute telogen effluvium (bitemporo-frontal) where hair pull test is around 20%
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Twenty-eight-year-old female with acute telogen effluvium (diffuse) and hair pull test around 25%
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hui DS, Azhar EI, Madani TA, et al. The continuing 2019-nCoV epidemic threat of novel coronaviruses to global health—the latest 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. China Int J Infect Dis. 2020;91:264–266. doi: 10.1016/2Fj.ijid.2020.01.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jewell NP, Lewnard JA, Jewell BL. Caution warranted: using the Institute for Health metrics and evaluation model for predicting the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173:226–227. doi: 10.7326/m20-1565. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Galván Casas C, Català A, Carretero Hernández G et al (2020) Classification of the cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19: a rapid prospective nationwide consensus study in Spain with 375 cases. Br J Dermatol 183(1):71–77. 10.1111/bjd.19163 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Malkud S (2015) Telogen effluvium: a review. J Clin Diagn Res 9(9):WE01- WE03. 10.7860/2FJCDR/2F2015/2F15219.6492 PMID: 26500992 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Torres F, Tosti A (2015) Female pattern alopecia and telogen effluvium: figuring out diffuse alopecia. Semin Cutan Med Surg 34(2):67–71. 10.12788/j.sder.2015.0142 PMID: 26176282 - PubMed

Publication types

Supplementary concepts