Not Just Thinning: A Case of Alopecia Universalis After Mild COVID-19
May 2022
in “
JAAD Case Reports
”
TLDR A woman lost all her hair after mild COVID-19, but it started to regrow after treatment with a specific medication.
The document presents a case of a 28-year-old woman who developed rapid-onset alopecia universalis, a condition characterized by complete hair loss, one month after a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite treatments including intralesional triamcinolone injections, methylprednisolone dose pack, and platelet-rich plasma injections to the scalp, she experienced near-complete hair loss. Treatment with oral tofacitinib 5 mg twice daily was initiated, which initially did not halt the progression of the hair loss, but at the 10-month follow-up resulted in fine, diffuse regrowth, with a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score <5%. At her 16-month follow-up, she had no hair loss, and the SALT score was 0. The case raises questions about the role of inflammation in diffuse hair loss following COVID-19 and suggests that further studies are needed to understand the relationship between alopecia areata exacerbations and COVID-19.
