Hair loss rampant after Covid, say Bengaluru trichologists

BENGALURU: Bengalureans are tearing their hair over their receding hairlines. Covid-19 is to blame for their loss of hair, according to city trichologists' observations over the past two years.
A trichologist and dermatologist set out to learn the link between contracting Covid and its effects on hair. She found that 80% of her 2,525 patients over the past two years, mostly below 40 years of age, were infected by Covid and losing their hair in various forms. Thinning of ponytails and receding hairlines were seen in three months of catching the virus.
Upon investigation, the researcher, Dr Kala Vimal, trichologist & dermatologist, Hairline International Hair & Skin Research & Treatment Centre, inferred that post Covid, many people suffered acute hair loss and shedding. The reason could be the disturbance of the hair cycle.
Dr Vimal explained that a hair cycle is a growing phase of three years, transition phase of three days and resting phase of 30 days. She told STOI this cycle was disturbed during the stressful Covid viral fever. Hair went prematurely into the resting phase, leading to shedding.
Dr Sunil Kumar Prabhu, consultant dermatologist and aesthetic physician, Aster RV Hospitals, who saw 450 patients in the last year, agreed that just like any infection that is accompanied by fever for a week to 10 days, hairfall takes place after Covid too.
He also pointed out that after two to three months of the event (Covid), people visit with hairfall incidence as the hair growth cycle would be arrested till then. Once hairfall starts, it stops in 6-8 weeks, he added.
However, if the treatment for hair loss has to be continued after that, it could be due to other underlying problems too, the doctor said.
Vax also caused hairfall: Doc
Dr Shruthi Chikkaiah, dermatologist and director of Skin and Recon, said she too witnessed quite a few patients coming in with hairfall in the past two years. She said not only Covid, but vaccination for it also caused stress-induced hairfall. She said patients came to her with balls of hair they were losing anywhere between three weeks and four months after the infection.
She said the hairfall was a self-limiting condition and once the body is supplied with enough rest, diet and nutrition, it was arrested.
According to Dr Vimal, patients went through various treatments to reverse this reduction of hair due to the disturbed hair cycle, a process which is known to take about nine months. They were administered topical serums, oral antioxidants, low-level laser therapy, platelet-rich plasma treatments, among others. These patients continued to be treated for hair loss even up to a year since they were affected by Covid.
Dr Vimal believes that the number of patients with hair loss she saw would have been more if it had not been for mobility issues during the pandemic years.