Telogen Effluvium Condition Hair Loss: Diagnosis & Solution

If you ever underwent a surgery or had a shocking incident in life or some mental trauma, you may have experienced hair loss. This is telogen effluvium type of hair loss. Many people also experience this hair loss after child delivery or after drastic weight loss.

The condition indicates a longer telogen(resting) phase than normal. Your follicles go into the resting phase earlier than normal, which lengthens the phase. So, hair does not grow and is shed faster.

The rate of shedding increases to more than the normal 100 hair strands per day.

Telogen effluvium condition hair loss is generally reversible. The follicles that go into dormant stage due to surgery or trauma come back to normal after a few months. If hair loss continues for more than 6 months, you must consult a doctor and seek appropriate treatment or find out the underlying cause.

Diagnosis

Generally, the doctor examines hair strands that have been shed. They perform the following tests to diagnose this type of hair loss:
• Hair pull test: This is to determine how many hair strands are shed.
• Wash test: This is to determine the number of hair strands that fall off during shampooing. You must collect the fallen off strands so that they can be counted.
• Hair diameter and length test: The doctor examines length and diameter of shed strands to find out whether your condition is telogenaffluvium condition hair loss or alopecia.
• Blood test: This is to determine thyroid disorder or any nutritional deficiency that is causing hair loss.

Coronavirus and hair loss
There have been reports that show telogen effluvium type of hair loss in Coronavirus patients who recovered.

Doctors are not surprised. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of mental stress to people. Besides, any infectious illness that is accompanied with high fever makes follicles go dormant or in the resting stage quickly.

So, it’s not that the virus is causing hair loss. It’s the physiological and the psychological stress that comes with it that is causing hair loss in recovered patients.

Hair loss solutions
Keratin treatment for hair loss is good, suggests a hair expert. It strengthens hair protein bond. You can also use minoxidil-infused treatments like Keranique hair regrowth treatment.

Meanwhile, concentrate on eating a good diet. It’s a known fact that protein is indispensable for good hair. However, even a deficiency of a trace mineral like selenium can cause poor hair growth. Mind your vitamins and minerals AND protein.