Telogen Effluvium Revisited: A 2014 Review

The 2014 review "Telogen effluvium revisited" discussed Telogen effluvium (TE), a heterogeneous hair loss disorder. TE was classified into three main categories: premature teloptosis, collective teloptosis, and premature entry into telogen. The latter could be further divided into drug-induced TE, TE due to dietary deficiencies, and "autoimmune" TE. The majority of TE cases observed by dermatologists were of the autoimmune type. The typical patient was a woman in good health, who had been in an anxious state for some months and experienced sudden hair loss. The course of the disorder was chronic but intermittent, with irregular remissions and relapses. The shed hairs mostly exhibited exogen roots, not telogen ones. This type of TE shared similarities with alopecia areata, including the triggering role of emotional stress and the frequent association with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In the absence of a documented etiopathogenesis, no treatment could be endorsed, but a course of topical corticosteroids could be tried.