After recovery from COVID-19, some people returned to normal health.
However, some COVID-19 survivors are experiencing effects that could be said to be long-term. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the long-term effects that affect the organs in our body include the following:
- Cardiovascular: Inflammation of the heart muscle
- Respiratory: Lung function abnormalities
- Neurological: smell and taste problems, sleep issues, difficulty with concentration, memory problems
- Psychiatric: depression, anxiety, changes in mood
- Dermatologic: rash, hair loss
Dr. Dendy Engelman, a dermatologist at Manhattan Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery, said “There’s been at least a 25 percent increase in people coming in with hair loss, and that’s from a place of already being busy dealing with hair disorders. It’s not yet documented on major medical sites as a symptom, but patients show me their positive test results.”
Here’s why COVID-19 survivors suffer from hair loss:
Stress and Anxiety
There isn’t any scientific evidence that the virus itself directly causes hair loss. Doctors believe that the cause of hair loss is most likely due to the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 disease.
This is also known as “Telogen Effluvium”. It is a kind of hair loss that occurs when a person is experiencing emotional distress, trauma, and sickness.
Stress will drive hair follicles into a “rest” process so that they don’t grow new hair strands. Over time, your hair will fall out more quickly, even though you just wash, comb or touch it.
On the bright side, telogen effluvium will go away completely without any treatment needed after about 3-6 months.
The recovery time depends on diet, daily lifestyle and stress.
Nutritional Deficiency
Nutritional deficiency can be another cause of hair loss as well.
During the time you were ill, you may experience loss of taste and loss of appetite. Therefore, you don’t consume as much food as you normally do. That leads to lack of vitamins for your body. To improve your diet, here are 4 foods that may help prevent or slow hair loss:
How to cope with it?
Experts claimed that hair loss for COVID-19 survivors is temporary and it can be recovered.
You can get treated with hair treatments or shampoo that helps with hair loss. At the same time, it is essential to exercise or do meditation to reduce your stress and have a healthy diet.
Not sure if your scalp is healthy? Click on this article from our contributing doctor to find out more about your scalp:
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