Is Hair Loss The Latest COVID–19 Issues?

The world is going through one of the worst times. The outbreak of the deadliest virus COVID-19 has killed thousands of people around the world. It has been like eight months since the coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak started from the market of Wuhan, China. Since then, the infection spread more than 180 countries, infecting about 25 million people.

The initial symptoms of COVID-19 include runny nose, headache, fever, which then changes to nausea, tiredness, and diarrhea, which eventually become asthma, pneumonia, and can even cause death. Scientists all over the world are continually studying every day about the mechanism by which the virus infects the human body. And they are under immense struggle to develop vaccination or medication against this deadly virus.

Long term effect of COVID-19

Even though the patient leaves the hospital, the virus can remain in their body for the long term. Researchers found that the virus shows a long term effect in the body of the infected person.

People, even those who had a mild infection of the virus, were found to experience symptoms after their initial recovery. Generally, older people, people with other severe medical conditions like heart problems, asthma, etc., and people having low immunity are found to experience this lingering effect of the virus. Some of the issues or symptoms that prevail after the infection are

• Cough
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Pains, especially in joints
• Shortness of breath

Even though COVID-19 causes significant problems in respiratory organs, including lungs, it can also affect other organs like the brain. And this organ damage can lead to severe issues in the future. The main organs that get affected by COVID-19 are the heart, lungs, and brain.

• Lungs: Mainly, it causes pneumonia, a condition in which fluid gets accumulated in the region of the lungs. This will lead to breathing problems like shortness of breath, low vital capacity, etc.
• Brain: COVID-19 can increase the chance of stroke. This can happen even in younger people also. It can also cause Guillain Barre Syndrome, which may lead to partial paralysis. It can cause other problems like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s in the later stage of life.
• Heart: The virus COVID-19 is found to damage the heart tissues. This will affect the functioning of the heart, which leads to heart attacks. It can also cause long term damage to the heart by weakening the heart muscles.

Many of the long term effects COVID-19 is causing in the patients is still unknown. Even though it doesn’t cause significant problems like heart attacks or memory loss, it can cause mental problems in patients.

Studies say that the person recovers from the virus infection is likely to develop psychotic problems like depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, panic attacks, etc. It causes post-traumatic stress syndrome in some patients. The mental situation of the patient is as critical as the physical situation. The scientists are closely monitoring the patients to know more about the long term effects of coronavirus.

COVID-19 and hair loss

Besides other effects like nausea, tiredness, etc., researchers found that COVID-19 infections can also trigger loss of hair. The effect may remain temporary or even permanent. Through various studies and surveys, the researchers found that losing hair is one of the top 25 symptoms experienced by the patients who were infected and recovered from the coronavirus.

The survey was conducted on about 1600 patients who show long term symptoms. They are called long – haulers, and these long – haulers tend to show loss of hair largely. It is said that in these types of patients, hair loss is seen more than nausea.

One of the reasons for this hair loss can be the large stress patient experiencing while fighting the disease. This type of temporary hair loss condition is called Telogen effluvium. In this condition, more hairs will be in the resting phase, which is a non – active growth phase, resulting in more hair loss, especially from the scalp of the hair.

This is a painless condition and doesn’t usually show any symptoms like itchiness and scaling. This generally happens when the body of the person experiences immense stress, trauma, sickness, and extreme weight loss, a sudden change in the dietary plans, hormonal changes, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, iron deficiency, or any shocks. It can also be due to the side effects of the medicine the patient has taken during the treatment against COVID-19.

The right reason for this hair loss condition cannot be found out. It can also due to the inefficient amount of nutrients in the body of the patient. A disordered digestive process or loss in the appetite can also cause hair loss. In the period of infection of COVID-19, there will be high fever, which can trigger a condition called post febrile alopecia that may lead to hair loss. Other reasons can be vitamin D3 deficiency and ferritin.

Conclusion

Doctors say that this hair loss after the infection can sometimes be temporary, and reducing the stress of the body, taking the required duration of sleep, and taking a sufficient amount of water and nutrients can help to reduce the loss of hair.

Whether you experience hair loss condition after the attack of COVID-19 viruses is also determined by the response of the body and the immune system to the infection of the virus. People have also noted an unusual amount of loss in the virus even before the infection of the virus.

As a solution, the person can take hair loss supplements like hair serum or tablets, which help to restore the hair. Mainly taking nutritious foods and doing exercise can help to stop hair loss. You can add specific foods like yogurt, eggs, salmon, nuts like almonds, more leafy vegetables like spinach, vitamin providing vegetables and fruits to your diet.

And never forget to take water; it is essential not just for the hair but for the whole body. Keep your scalp clean by washing the hair at least two times a week; it will prevent the growth of fungus in the scalp. These are some of the things you can follow.