Why people think Covid is still affecting Boris Johnson – and his hair

Thousands of people around the UK anxiously tuned in to watch Boris Johnson deliver his three-tier lockdown speech to the House of Commons but, throughout the briefing, we were distracted by something other than the new restrictions. Johnson's shoulders were covered in silvery strands of hair, leading many viewers to speculate that he could be suffering from hair loss – a symptom that is associated with Covid-19.

Many users took to social media to express their concern for the Prime Minister. One Twitter user wrote: "Has  @BorisJohnson lost hair due to #LongCovid?"

Anther Twitter user said: "Looked very much like Boris Johnson is losing his hair in parliament earlier today. Jacket was covered in hair. Its a side effect of Covid. Many suffer along with memory issues and brain fog."

Indeed, given the Prime Minister's battle with severe coronavirus – which saw him hospitalised in an ICU back in April – it's possible that he could be suffering from Covid-related hair loss. In August, the actress Alyssa Milano, who contracted severe coronavirus back in March, shared a video that showed her brushing her hair, with large clumps falling out. At the end of the video, she says: "One brushing, this is my hair loss from Covid-19. Wear a damn mask!:

This wasn't the first time Milano documented her battle with Covid-19. Earlier this year, she shared an image of herself on Instagram using breathing equipment, with the caption: "I had never been this kind of sick. Everything hurt. Loss of smell. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest."

So, is hair loss the latest long-haul symptom of Covid-19?

The short answer is, we don’t know for sure. Like so much research on Covid, the science is still in its early stages. However, there is a pattern of emerging links out there. For example, a survey of patients undertaken by a doctor at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Covid-19 survivor group Survivor Corps identified hair loss as a potential symptom of the disease, with nearly a third of participants reporting it.

According to Dr Sharon Wong, a consultant dermatologist, someone who suffers from post-Covid hair loss is likely to have a condition known as telogen effluvium, where the body sheds hair as a result of stress. She says she has seen a number of patients who had viral symptoms in March and April – some but not all of whom tested positive for Covid – who experienced telogen effluvium a few months later.

"One of the trigger factors for telogen effluvium is an acute febrile illness," she says. "That’s typically an infection that’s giving you a high temperature – things like a bad flu, glandular fever, and of course Covid."

Dr Wong explains that the condition shocks hair follicles into leaving their 'growing' phase early and into their 'shedding' phase (known as telogen). Normally, you should have 90 per cent of your hair in the growing phase, and the remaining ten per cent in the shedding phase. "If you have upset that cycle, you're looking at 70 per cent of hair in the growing phase, and 30 per cent in the shedding phase," says Dr Wong. "You will suddenly have a greater proportion of hairs coming out at the same time."

Telogen effluvium generally occurs two to three months after the trigger, which could explain why medical professionals are starting to see the symptom appear now, several months after the first wave of Covid infections. However, Dr Wong sounds a note of caution: "It's early stages. We don't have any grounds to think Covid-19 would affect telogen in any other way than it being an infection associated with a high temperature. Only time is going to tell."

One complicating factor here is the fact that lockdown has caused increasing levels of anxiety, which in turn can be a cause of hair loss. A study conducted in Turkey found that alopecia has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, which researchers put down to the impact of short term stress. Often, it’s a vicious cycle. Once hair loss sets in, it can trigger even more feelings of anxiety and stress.

“There’s a big correlation between increased hair loss and feelings of stress and anxiety,” says hair loss expert Spencer Stevenson. “Given these uncertain times, when people are losing their jobs, experiencing financial stress and family bereavements, stress among the population has reached a whole new level.”

While dramatic hair loss is alarming, and can cause severe emotional distress, the good news is that it should be temporary. Dr Wong says that patients who have telogen effluvium usually start seeing improvement at the “six month mark.”

“The first sign of improvement is actually a slowing down of the shedding,” says Dr Wong. “To regrow and restore that lost volume, it’s going to take many more months after that. You could be looking at a year, or 18 months, before you get the full regrowth back.”

While it’s entirely normal to panic at seeing large clumps of hair in the shower, Dr Wong advises that this can actually make things worse, as stress and anxiety could delay the hair’s recovery. Rather, she advises mindfulness and meditation techniques to try and divert people’s attention away from their hair.

Stevenson agrees. He believes that lockdown has caused more people to be aware of bodily changes such as hair loss, which they may have not picked up on in everyday life.

“Everyone's got so much free time on their hands at the moment; as an indirect result of Covid, people might have had more of a chance to scrutinize their hair,” he says. “Once it’s on your radar, it becomes a self-perpetuating issue that causes a lot of anxiety.”