Can viral infections make my hair fall out? – GOOD SHAPE

Hair loss is one of the symptoms of some diseases / (iprogressman/Thinkstock/Getty Images)

Yes, we have recently noticed that patients infected with the virus that causes the disease Covid-19 may suffer from hair loss some time after the symptoms have healed. This manifestation is similar to hair loss caused by other infections, such as zika, chikungunya and until denguebut the drop observed in COVID-19 tends to occur earlier and is more pronounced.

The virus causes some changes caused by the infection in the body, with an inflammatory response and this changes the hair growth cycle. It is believed that it accelerates the telogen effluvium, which is the abrupt passage of hairs that are in the growth phase to the fall phase. It is also believed that psychological stress and even some medications used in the treatment can influence it. This causes a kind of “collapse” in our body.

Dropping is observed over the entire head, but it can exacerbate pre-existing conditions. For example, if there is already androgenetic alopecia, which is baldness, this situation will be more accentuated and more difficult to recover.

No difference was observed between females and males, however, in general, women will notice the fall more and take longer to notice the recovery because of the size of the hair. New strands that will grow take time to reach the fulfillment of others. The fall is self-limited and it can take about 3 to 6 months to recover the hair.

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