Pandemic Associated Hair Loss?
Dr. Lopresti and I hope that you and your families are doing well during these difficult times.
I wanted to report that we have been receiving an increased number of calls and emails from existing patients who had been perfectly stable their therapies for male or female pattern hair loss…until this worldwide pandemic set in over the last three months. Now they are losing hair again. Please understand, I am not saying that the coronavirus itself specifically causes hair loss!
What I am suggesting, however, is that the unprecedented and significant stresses thrust upon all of us from all that we now have to do (and, more importantly cannot do) these days have set the hair growth cycle into havoc.
The devastation to our daily lives has, indeed, precipitated very significant distress from job losses, having to shelter in place, having to care of children all day—every day—who otherwise would be in school, from not being able to be with loved ones who are in hospitals or nursing facilities, from really worrying about our health and safety, and generally, from having our lives, as we knew them, being totally turned upside down!
During normal times, everyday stress typically does not cause hair loss. However, the kinds of stressors during this pandemic noted above truly cause physiologic stress—the kind that affects our hair follicles.
So, if you notice more hair shedding on your clothing or in your brush or in your shower drain these days or if the beneficial effects of your hair loss therapies seem not to be “working as well” as they had been, it probably is due to this significant physiologic stress due to the turmoil this pandemic has had on us.
What to do:
- For Your Hair: Begin proven, effective medical therapies that we offer such as the Auxo A300 Laser cap, Platelet Rich Plasma with ACell treatments, hair loss medications as Propecia (in men), and Rogaine Foam. Particularly if used in combination, these hair-saving treatments provide the best overall treatment results.
- For Your Mental Health: Utilize meditation techniques, prayer, consult your family physician or psychiatrist for medical intervention or a psychologist for behavioral therapy.
We are here for you!
Dr. Robert Leonard