COVID‐19 induced telogen effluvium

COVID‐19 is a febrile, infectious illness that has previously been associated with telogen effluvium (TE). However, to date, no study has been conducted to determine the incidence of TE in those who have had COVID‐19. To assess the frequency of TE in post‐COVID‐19 patients and the correlation between the development of TE and the severity of COVID‐19, to understand whether emotional stress or medications are responsible for the development of TE. Totally 204 patients with a history of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in the last 3 months were included in the study. The diagnosis of TE was made by history of excessive hair shedding, hair pull test, diffuse or bitemporal thinning, and absence of anisotrichosis in trichoscopy. Patients who did not have any TE cause other than COVID‐19 and whose hair loss started after COVID‐19 were considered as “COVID‐19 associated TE (CATE).” We found TE in 75 (36.7%) cases and androgenetic alopecia (AGA) in 85 (41.7%) cases. CATE was present in 27.9% of cases and developed on average 53.76 (± 23.772) days after COVID‐19 real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) positivity. The proportion of patients with CATE was numerically higher in hospitalized patients compared to outpatients (31.7% vs. 24.3%; p = 0.238); and significantly higher in women compared to men (42.3% vs. 6.2%; p