Hair Shedding After Illness, Stress or Childbirth. What Telogen Effluvium Is and Whether PRP Helps

Key points

• Telogen effluvium is diagnosed when diffuse hair shedding begins within about 3 months of a triggering event, and the acute form is self-limiting, lasting around 6 months. Shedding that persists beyond 6 months is classed as chronic telogen effluvium.

• After COVID-19, a 2022 study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found the median time from diagnosis to hair loss was 2 months, with 87.5 percent of cases acute and 12.5 percent chronic, and a cross-sectional survey of 160 recovered patients found 28.8 percent had experienced telogen effluvium, more often women.

• A 2023 randomised, double-blind pilot trial in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology gave 30 women with chronic telogen effluvium 4 monthly sessions of PRP or saline and found PRP better on pull test, density and satisfaction at 1 and 3 months, which is the only randomised evidence for PRP in this condition.

• A 2025 meta-analysis in Dermatology and Therapy of 43 randomised trials and 1,877 participants found activated PRP increased density in pattern hair loss, which is the condition telogen effluvium most often uncovers.

If your hair has started coming out in handfuls, message us on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com and a doctor will tell you whether it is shedding that will recover or something that needs treating.

What telogen effluvium is

Hair grows in a cycle. Around 90 percent of scalp follicles are in a growth phase that lasts years, and around 10 percent are resting before the hair sheds and a new one starts. A shock to the body, a high fever, an operation, childbirth, a crash diet, a bereavement, a new medication, a thyroid swing or a deficiency, pushes far more follicles than usual into the resting phase at the same time. Roughly 2 to 3 months later those hairs all shed together, which is why the shedding arrives long after the trigger and is often not connected to it.

The pattern is distinctive. Hair comes out diffusely across the whole scalp, in the shower, the brush and on the pillow, at several hundred a day rather than the normal 50 to 100. The scalp thins everywhere but does not go bald, and the hairline usually holds. It is alarming, and in the acute form it is temporary. The follicles are not damaged. They are resting, and once the trigger has passed they return to growth and regrowth appears within 6 to 12 months. When shedding continues beyond 6 months it is called chronic telogen effluvium, which is commoner in women, often has no single trigger, and can run for years in cycles.

What causes it, and what to check

The commonest triggers in a London clinic in 2026 are illness, particularly viral infection, childbirth, rapid weight loss on GLP-1 medication or a restrictive diet, surgery under general anaesthetic, severe psychological stress, and starting or stopping certain medications including hormonal contraception, retinoids, some antidepressants and beta blockers. After COVID-19, a 2022 study found the median onset of hair loss was 2 months after diagnosis, and a survey of 160 recovered patients found 28.8 percent had experienced telogen effluvium.

Underneath the trigger there is often a deficiency that made the follicles vulnerable. Low ferritin, the iron store, is the commonest and matters most in menstruating women. Low vitamin D, low zinc, low B12 and an underactive or overactive thyroid all cause or prolong shedding, and each is treatable. That is why a blood panel is the first investigation, not an injection. A ferritin below the level the follicle needs, corrected over 3 months, does more for a shedding scalp than any regenerative treatment, and no PRP course fixes a thyroid.

Send us a photograph of your parting and what comes out in your brush on WhatsApp and a doctor will tell you whether the pattern fits telogen effluvium and which tests to run.

What the evidence says about PRP for shedding

There is 1 randomised trial. Published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology in 2023, it enrolled 30 women with chronic telogen effluvium and randomised them to PRP prepared in specialised tubes, PRP prepared in ordinary laboratory tubes, or saline placebo, with 4 monthly sessions. At 1 and 3 months after the last session, both PRP groups did better than saline on the hair pull test, a visual analogue scale, patient satisfaction and trichoscopic density and thickness, and the 2 preparation methods did not differ. The authors described it as a pilot, and 30 patients across 3 arms is a pilot.

That is a promising signal in the chronic form, and it is a single small study. It does not show PRP shortens an acute shed that would resolve on its own within 6 months, and no trial has tested that, because there is no sensible way to demonstrate an injection speeding a recovery that happens anyway. The 43-trial meta-analysis in Dermatology and Therapy is evidence for pattern hair loss, and a clinic that quotes it for shedding is quoting the wrong condition. For acute telogen effluvium the treatment is the trigger and the bloods. For chronic telogen effluvium that has not responded to that, PRP is a reasonable option on pilot evidence, and a doctor should say so in those words.

The condition shedding uncovers

The situation in which PRP most often belongs after a shed is the one nobody wants to hear. Telogen effluvium strips away the cover from pattern hair loss that was already there. A man with early crown thinning, or a woman whose parting had been widening slowly, loses the diffuse volume that hid it, and when the shed recovers the pattern loss does not. That is a different condition, driven by hormone sensitivity in specific follicles, and it is the one PRP treats.

The distinction is visible with a dermatoscope. In telogen effluvium the hairs are of normal thickness and there are many short, regrowing hairs of the same calibre. In pattern loss the hairs at the crown or parting are of mixed calibre, with many miniaturised, fine, short hairs among thick ones. A doctor who sees the second pattern will treat it with minoxidil, finasteride where appropriate and PRP on top, because the 43 trials apply to those follicles. A doctor who sees the first will tell you to fix the trigger and wait, and that advice is worth more than any course, because it costs nothing and it is right.

A shedding self-check before any treatment

Work through this before booking anything, including here.

• What happened 2 to 3 months before the shedding started. Illness, childbirth, surgery, weight loss, a new drug or a major stress. If something fits, that is your trigger.

• Is the loss diffuse across the whole scalp, or concentrated at the temples, crown or parting. Diffuse fits shedding. Concentrated fits pattern loss.

• Pull gently on a bunch of about 60 hairs at 3 sites. Losing 6 or more at any site is a positive pull test and fits active shedding.

• Look at the hairs that come out. A small white bulb at the root fits telogen shedding. Broken hairs without a bulb fit breakage, which is a different problem.

• How long has it been going on. Under 6 months, expect recovery. Over 6 months, it is chronic and worth a doctor's assessment.

• Have you had ferritin, vitamin D, zinc, B12 and thyroid function checked. If not, that is the first appointment, whichever clinic you see.

• Are you a woman with a slowly widening parting that predates the shed. That is the pattern loss underneath, and it is the thing PRP treats.

Our doctors put it this way. Shedding is the scalp reacting to something that happened months ago. Find it, fix the bloods, and let it recover. PRP is for the pattern loss the shedding uncovered, and a clinic that injects a resting scalp is treating the calendar.

Message us on WhatsApp with when it started, what happened before, and photographs, and a doctor will give you a straight answer.

What PRP does not do for shedding

PRP does not shorten an acute telogen effluvium that will resolve on its own, and no trial has shown it does. It does not correct a low ferritin, a thyroid problem or a deficiency, and it does not remove a medication trigger. Its evidence in chronic telogen effluvium is a single 30-patient pilot, and its 43-trial evidence base belongs to pattern hair loss. It is not available on the NHS for any hair condition. A clinic that sells a PRP course to someone 3 months into a post-viral or postpartum shed is selling a treatment to follicles that are about to recover anyway, and will take the credit when they do.

What treatment costs, and what the unnecessary one costs

Flagship Harley Street and Mayfair clinics commonly charge £600 to £850 or more per session of hair PRP, with a course of 3 taking a plan past £2,000. A hair loss blood panel, covering ferritin, vitamin D, zinc, B12 and thyroid function, is available privately at a fraction of that through The Online GP by The Wellness and elsewhere.

The reframing is timing. Acute telogen effluvium recovers within 6 to 12 months of the trigger. A PRP course sold at month 3 finishes at month 5 and the hair recovers at month 8, and the patient is invoiced £2,000 for a result the calendar delivered. The blood panel that finds a ferritin of 12 and corrects it is the purchase that changes the outcome, and it is the cheap one.

Care at The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness is doctor-led and priced below flagship rates, with your exact figure confirmed at the free suitability review, which for shedding starts with the trigger and the bloods and, for most people, ends there.

Ask about a hair loss assessment on WhatsApp and we will explain what the review covers.

The free suitability review

Every enquiry here starts with a free, doctor-led suitability review rather than a booking. A GMC-registered doctor takes a history that goes back 3 to 6 months looking for the trigger, examines the scalp with a dermatoscope, arranges the blood panel, and gives one of two answers. Either you are approved for treatment, because chronic shedding has not responded to correcting the trigger or because pattern loss is present underneath, with a clear plan and realistic expectations, or you are not approved, with an honest explanation that the shed will recover and what to do while it does.

We decline a meaningful share of the people who enquire. For shedding that share is most of them, because the right treatment for acute telogen effluvium is not one we sell.

Why people choose The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness

• 87% of hair restoration patients at The London PRP Clinic show visible improvement at their week-16 photo review.

• Every treatment performed by a GMC-registered doctor.

• 100 supervised treatments completed by every clinician before they treat a patient here unsupervised.

Frequently asked questions

What is telogen effluvium

Diffuse hair shedding that begins 2 to 3 months after a trigger such as illness, childbirth, surgery, rapid weight loss, severe stress or a new medication, when many follicles enter the resting phase at once. The acute form is self-limiting and usually resolves within 6 months. Shedding beyond 6 months is chronic telogen effluvium.

Does PRP help telogen effluvium

Not the acute form, which recovers on its own and has never been tested against PRP. In chronic telogen effluvium a 2023 pilot trial of 30 women found PRP better than saline at 3 months, which is promising but small. PRP's main evidence, 43 trials, is for pattern hair loss, which shedding often uncovers.

How long does telogen effluvium last

Shedding typically starts 2 to 3 months after the trigger and lasts around 6 months, with regrowth visible over the following 6 to 12 months. Shedding that continues beyond 6 months is classed as chronic and warrants a doctor's assessment and a blood panel.

How do I know if it is shedding or pattern hair loss

Shedding is diffuse across the whole scalp with hairs of normal thickness. Pattern loss is concentrated at the temples, crown or parting with many fine, short, miniaturised hairs among thick ones. A dermatoscope examination separates them in a minute, and the treatments are different.

What blood tests should I have for hair shedding

Ferritin, vitamin D, zinc, B12 and thyroid function as a minimum, with a full blood count and, in women, hormone levels where the history suggests it. A low ferritin is the commonest correctable cause of prolonged shedding, and correcting it does more than any scalp treatment.

Does hair grow back after telogen effluvium

In the acute form, yes. The follicles are resting, not damaged, and once the trigger has passed they return to growth, with regrowth visible within 6 to 12 months. Where hair does not fully return, it is usually because pattern hair loss was present underneath, and that is treatable separately.

References

• Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, 2023. Ezz El-Dawla et al. Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of female patients with chronic telogen effluvium, a randomised, controlled, double-blind pilot clinical trial of 30 women. https://ijdvl.com/?p=22802

• Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2022. Koç Yıldırım et al. Evaluation of patients with telogen effluvium during the pandemic, including median onset of 2 months and the proportion of acute and chronic cases after COVID-19. https://avesis.usak.edu.tr/yayin/46fc087f-7a73-4bc3-8958-50c3803fadaf/evaluation-of-patients-with-telogen-effluvium-during-the-pandemic-may-the-monocytes-be-responsible-for-post-covid-19-telogen-effluvium

• Cross-sectional survey of 160 post-COVID-19 patients finding telogen effluvium in 28.8 percent, more often in women. https://tressless.com/research/Axj9

• SKIN, 2021. Wei et al. Telogen effluvium in patients recovering from COVID-19, including the timing and self-limiting course of acute telogen effluvium. https://jofskin.org/33014/index.php/skin/article/download/1293/pdf/7616

• Asian Journal of Research in Dermatological Science, 2023. Prevalence of telogen effluvium after COVID-19 compared with postpartum telogen effluvium, including the definition of shedding within 3 months of a trigger and a self-limiting course of around 6 months. https://repository.unmul.ac.id/handle/123456789/55737

• Dermatology and Therapy, 2025. Platelet-rich plasma in the management of alopecia, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 43 randomised controlled trials and 1,877 participants. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13555-025-01542-8

• London clinic price lists for hair PRP, accessed September 2026.

This article is for general information and does not replace a medical assessment. Speak to one of our doctors before deciding on any hair loss treatment.