Alopecia Areata Occurs within 1-16 Weeks After Vaccination.
A new study set out to describe 24 patients who developed alopecia areata after receiving COVID 19 vaccines. The 24 patients included 20 females and 4 males. A variety of different vaccines were used including mRNA and non mRNA vaccines although the most common vaccine was the BNT162b2 vaccine in 15 patients, the Moderna vaccine in 5 and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in 4 patients.
50% of patients had coexistent autoimmune disease including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 9 patients, celiac disease in 2 patients and undifferentiated connective tissue disease in 1 patient.
Hair loss occurred 1-16 weeks after vaccination. It was fastest with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (mean 2.2 weeks) followed by 5.7 weeks with the BNT162b2/ Pfizer vaccine and 6.4 weeks with the Moderna vaccine. In 14 patients, the alopecia areata was a patchy form. In 6 patients it was alopecia totalis and in 4 patients it was alopecia universalis.
16 patients improved with treatments such as topical steroids, oral minoxidil, cyclosporine
Conclusion and Summary
This is a number of a growing body of studies supporting the notion that COVID vaccines may trigger alopecia areata in a subset of people.
REFERENCE
Tassone F et al. Alopecia Areata Occurring after COVID-19 Vaccination: A Single-Center, Cross-Sectional Study. Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Sep 5;10(9):1467.
Dr. Jeff Donovan is a Canadian and US board certified dermatologist specializing exclusively in hair loss.
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