- Live: last minute coronavirus
- Study. Antibodies 'disappear' in 14% of Spaniards
The dermatologist Sergio Vañó has been treating the same case in his office for days: patients -especially women- who arrive worried about a sudden and massive fall of their hair. They do not associate it with anything in particular, they only tell that in the brush, in the shower or even on the pillow they find more and more hair.
"I would say that the number of patients we are treating for that reason has multiplied by 10 in recent weeks," says Vañó, an expert in Trichology and member of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV).
"In most cases it is not a serious problem," he explains. This is what is called telogenic effluvium , "an alteration of the hair growth cycle that produces a striking fall of hair for a period of time limited and reversible."
For various reasons, the root of the hair follicles can suffer damage that interrupts their growth cycle, explains the dermatologist. But that damage does not translate into obvious hair loss until after two or three months, he stresses.
"It is known that circumstances such as infections, surgeries, food deficits or moments of high stress can cause this condition," agrees Pablo Fonda, a dermatologist at the Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid and also a member of the AEDV. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the moment "we are experiencing a true epidemic of telogenic effluvium," he points out.
Whether due to the SARS-CoV-2 infection itself or the stress associated with the weeks of confinement and the uncertainty of the evolution of the epidemic and its socio-economic consequences, the shadow of Covid-19 is behind most of these hair loss cases. Between two and three months after the peak of the crisis, the effects on the hair of the experience began to be palpable.
"Acute telogen effluvium is reversible and tends to disappear by itself when the initial cause also disappears," said Vañó and Fonda. But it can be very worrying for those who suffer it, they admit.
The normal thing is to lose about 100 hairs a day, but with telogenic effluvium, up to 20% of hairs can enter the fall phase, says Fonda. And that translates into a very marked loss, which leaves isolated hairs or even locks in the shower or comb. When the person has long dark hair, this fall is especially striking.
"The loss of about 250 hairs a day is no longer considered normal," says Vañó, who points out that it is being analyzed in particular whether the hair loss associated with Covid infection is especially intense.
"More than 95% of cases return to normal without doing anything, although there are treatments that can help speed up the process," says the dermatologist.
Contrary to what many people think, washing your hair frequently does not help to promote the fall, but quite the opposite: it can speed up the recovery. "In all cases, washing hair three or four times a week is recommended to remove all mature hair that is going to fall out sooner or later. This measure shortens the fall phase and accelerates the arrival of the regrowth phase. "Vañó points out.
Telogenic effluvium never leads to baldness on its own, unless the patient has another hair problem at the same time, such as androgenic alopecia, the dermatologists consulted point out.
According to Fonda, it is recommended to consult a specialist "if the hair loss lasts a long time and / or if the fall is causing a significant loss of hair density."
Anyway, even in very striking falls, if the cause is a telogen effluvium, "the problem will resolve itself and the patient will recover the lost hair in a few months," says Fonda.
Many of these massive hair losses are a consequence of what has happened in recent months, emphasizes Fonda. On many occasions, the hair reflects what we are experiencing. And just as it grows healthy when we have good nutritional reserves, it also suffers and resents infections or situations of high stress, he concludes.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Science and health
- Covid 19
- Coronavirus
This is what the first 30 autopsies of Covid patients in Spain reveal
HealthMore than 40% of coronavirus carriers in an Italian city were asymptomatic
SaludGilead sets the price of remdesivir, the first drug against Covid, at 347 euros a dose
See links of interest
- News
- Translator
- Programming
- Calendar
- Horoscope
- Classification
- League calendar
- Films
- Cut notes
- Themes
- Coronavirus