What is telogen effluvium?
Telogen effluvium is a type of temporary hair loss caused by a stressor or change to your body. Your hair has three stages of growth and loss (shedding):
- Anagen (growth): This is the most active stage of your hair growth cycle. The cells in the lower part of a hair follicle rapidly divide. Once new hair has formed, it pushes the hair out of your follicle and elongates your hair shafts. A hair follicle can grow hair in the anagen stage for up to four years. Around 80% to 90% of your hair follicles are in the anagen stage at any given time.
- Catagen (resting): This is a transitional stage of your hair growth cycle. The lower portion of your hair follicle regresses and the hair stops growing. Around 5% of all hairs are in the catagen stage at any given time.
- Telogen (shedding): This is the resting stage of your hair growth cycle. The hair follicle is inactive, and there’s a white bulb of keratin at the root (club hair). The bulb of keratin keeps the hair in the follicle until it sheds, which then starts the hair growth cycle over again. Around 5% of all hairs are in the telogen stage at any given time.
Telogen effluvium affects your hair when it’s in the telogen stage. After a stressor or change to your body, up to 70% of your hair in the anagen stage prematurely enters the telogen phase, which causes hair loss.
Advertisem*nt
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
What’s the difference between acute telogen effluvium and chronic telogen effluvium?
Acute telogen effluvium lasts fewer than six months, and your hair loss tends to happen two to three months after a stressor or change to your body. In 95% of cases, acute telogen effluvium goes away (resolves).
Chronic telogen effluvium lasts longer than six months. It affects your entire scalp and may not have a clear cause. You may lose your hair in handfuls during the early stages of chronic telogen effluvium, but it won’t cause total baldness.
Who does telogen effluvium affect?
Anyone can develop telogen effluvium. However, your chances of developing chronic telogen effluvium without a detectable cause increase if you’re a woman or assigned female at birth (AFAB) and are between 30 and 60 years of age.
Advertisem*nt
How common is telogen effluvium?
Telogen effluvium is one of the most common causes of rapid hair loss. It’s also one of the most common causes of hair loss in women and people AFAB.
How does telogen effluvium affect my body?
Telogen effluvium causes hairs to enter the resting stage from the growing stage prematurely. Most people who are healthy lose up to 100 strands of hair per day. If you have telogen effluvium, you may lose up to 300 strands of hair per day.
Telogen effluvium may affect the hair all over your scalp, but it most commonly appears on the top of your head rather than the back or sides of your head. It usually won’t affect your hairline or cause total baldness, but severe cases of telogen effluvium may affect other areas of your body, including your eyebrows and body hair. Occasionally, the hair-thinning can mimic male- or female-pattern hair loss. Telogen effluvium has heavy shedding and rapid loss. Male- and female-pattern hair loss has slow thinning.
Telogen effluvium won’t affect your physical health, but it can affect you psychosocially (how society and social groups affect your thoughts and emotions) and psychologically (how you think about yourself and your behavior). You may experience emotional stress, anxiety and depression.
