Hair Loss Reports Grow Among Covid-19 ‘Long Haul’ Survivors

Robert Roy Britt
Elemental
Published in
2 min readAug 13, 2020

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Close-up of woman combing hair against white background
Photo: Wacharaphorn Phetpradub/EyeEm/Getty Images

Hundreds of Covid-19 survivors are reporting hair loss, sometimes dramatic, often weeks after recovering. Experts say the outcome is not a symptom, but a result of physical or emotional stress. And, they say, it’s not surprising.

“We are seeing patients who had Covid-19 two to three months ago and are now experiencing hair loss,” says Shilpi Khetarpal, MD, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Other people who have not had Covid-19 are experiencing hair loss due to the stress of the pandemic, Khetarpal says.

Actress Alyssa Milano, who wrote she was “acutely sick” with Covid-19 in April, showed her Covid-related hair loss on Twitter. Milano ran a brush through her hair, revealing gobs of her long hair. “Wear a damn mask,” she said.

Among 1,567 people who report “long haul” Covid-19 effects, 423 report hair loss, according to a new survey led by Natalie Lambert, PhD, from Indiana University.

The average human sheds 50 to 100 hairs a day. Excess shedding, called telogen effluvium, can be caused by both…

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Robert Roy Britt
Elemental

Editor of Aha! and Wise & Well on Medium + the Writer's Guide at writersguide.substack.com. Author of Make Sleep Your Superpower: amazon.com/dp/B0BJBYFQCB