A Case Series and Literature Review of Telogen Effluvium and Alopecia Universalis after the Administration of a Heterologous COVID-19 Vaccine Scheme

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 444
• Main Authors: Hernández Arroyo, Jenny, Izquierdo-Condoy, Juan S, Ortiz-Prado, Esteban
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Adverse and side effects; Adverse events; Alopecia; alopecia areata; Baldness; Case Report; Clinical trials; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Drugs; Hair; Hair loss; Hematology; Hypertension; Immunization; Laboratories; Literature reviews; mRNA; Pandemics; Patients; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2; Schedules; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Vaccines; Viral diseases; Viral infections; Ecuador; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; adverse events; alopecia areata; vaccines
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11020444

COVID-19 vaccines have positively changed the course of the pandemic. They entered the market after only one year of the initial trials, which that yielded positive results in terms of safety and efficacy. However, after inoculating billions of people in the most extensive vaccination campaign worldwide, mild but common and some rare but potentially fatal adverse events have been reported. Among several self-reported adverse events, hair loss and alopecia have been linked to COVID-19 mRNA or viral vector vaccines. We tracked and followed a series of five cases with post-vaccine telogen effluvium and alopecia development in Ecuador. Here, we reported the clinical presentation of two women and three men with the diagnosis of post-vaccine hair loss. All patients received a heterologous vaccination scheme (mRNA and attenuated virus vaccine) with an additional viral vector booster associated with the apparition of telogen effluvium and alopecia universalis between 3 and 17 days after the vaccine was administered.