Early-Onset Effluvium Secondary to COVID-19: Clinical and Histologic Characterization

The document discusses the occurrence of early-onset telogen effluvium (TE), a type of hair loss, following COVID-19 infection. The authors reference a study of 30 patients with post-COVID-19 acute TE, noting that hair shedding began 45 days after infection on average, with the earliest case starting 18 days post-infection. This early onset was also observed in two multicentric studies, one of which evaluated 214 cases of acute TE after COVID-19 and noted hair shedding began on average 57.1 days after infection. The authors' own assessment of 203 hospitalized COVID-19 patients found that 11 (5.4%) reported hair loss starting less than 30 days after infection. The authors suggest that the cytokine storm, severe hypoxia, oxidative stress, microthrombotic events, and the toxicity of multiple drugs used for COVID-19 treatment could contribute to early-onset TE. They call for further studies to explore the pathogenesis of early-onset effluvium elicited by COVID-19.