If you got COVID and got completely over it, you may have, after a couple of months, realised you had massive hair clogs in the shower and hair on your pillow and hair in your hairbrush. Unfortunately, you aren’t imagining that – it’s the “new normal” of post-COVID symptoms and have been reported in hundreds of patients who experienced the illness.
Why Does Hair Fall Out After COVID?
The issue is not directly a virus that is killing the follicles. Rather, it is the physical stress you endured in order to defeat the virus. Fever, sickness, or even the emotional strain you endured due to isolation and anxiety can prompt the hair follicle to prematurely enter the resting phase. This is called telogen effluvium, and while a certain number of follicles typically reside in a resting state, a significant physical event, like contracting COVID-19, causes a multitude of hair follicles to enter the shedding stage at once.
The biggest complication with hair loss caused by COVID-19 is its timing, as the thinning usually manifests not while you are sick, but two to three months after you have recovered. So when your hair starts falling out, months after you test negative, you may be at a loss to connect it back to the disease your body bravely battled.
Other Factors That Make It Worse
Rarely is it only the virus! Nutrient loss after long illness, lack of sleep, prolonged bed rest, and the overall pandemic stress create a perfect storm. Deficiency in both iron and vitamin D levels, which often drop after a viral illness, affects hair follicle production and function.
Is This Hair Loss Permanent?
The good news is that, usually, shedding of this nature is temporary. Once your body adjusts and comes back into equilibrium, your hair cycle should reset on its own between six and nine months. “Usually” is not always the case, though, and others might need some extra help getting their regrowth cycle back in gear, especially if the hair loss was significant or long-lasting.
How to Recover Faster?
Patience, coupled with a diet emphasising proteins, iron, biotin and vitamin D – which, after you’ve been checked by a physician, means more than just a gut guess – is first. Scalp protection – avoid chemically treating it and styling it tight – are important while it recovers.
Those who desire quick results: If you need an effective way to make this happen quickly, some procedures trigger the scalp to jump-start the healing process. PRP therapy has gained prominence in this area. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy utilizes a person’s platelets in the blood to stimulate the damaged follicles back to activity to start rapid hair growth. If you wish to investigate the PRP hair treatment cost in Hyderabad, the costs are based on the number of sessions and how severe hair thinning has progressed.
When Should You See a Specialist?
Now, if you see this continue for more than nine months, or if you begin to see bald patches forming, don’t just wait and watch. Go see a qualified trichologist or hair expert. There are a few easy tests that a specialist will do to rule out the underlying cause – such as deficiency, thyroid issues, chronic stress, etc., which could all be masquerading as Covid-shedding. It’s the kind of problem that you’ll definitely get addressed if you get yourself to a good hair transplant clinic in Hyderabad – not that a transplant is necessarily your solution, but the initial consultation is.
Choosing the Right Clinic for Long-Term Care
Whether your hair can bounce back naturally on its own or needs assistance from PRP or other hair growth treatment options, it is important to have the condition of your hair evaluated correctly prior to opting for an invasive procedure. The reason many people are looking for the best hair transplant clinic in India is not that they are seeking out a transplant, but rather a genuine assessment from experts about the cause of their hair thinning or loss and the best treatment. While post-COVID hair loss may be concerning for a large segment of the population, rest assured that for the majority of them, the period of hair loss is only temporary. With the right nourishment, time, and, of course, the expertise of the professional, it is very much possible for hair to bounce back more than ever.
