Sepsis and hair loss

[Louielamb01]

I am very worried my 3 year old grandson was diagnosed with sepsis and then lost all of his hair, eyelashes and eyebrows. That all happened in May 2019. We can see signs of hair growing but white. He did have blonde hair. A dermatologist said yesterday just by looking at him that he has alopecia universal. We are devastated. He had a blood test back in may and no auto immune disorder popped up but doctor is saying now he's too young to test. We just need to know if hair loss was due to sepsis and will it fully grow back.

[Pandora8]

Hi Louielamb01,

It is indeed common to lose hair after Sepsis but it should only be temporary and grow back soon enough all being well. I also , amongst other conditions developed Severe Sepsis and lost handful of hair and found my hairline receded a bit but it all grew back within a few weeks after I went home...I also had weak fingernails for a while and drier skin ,(as well as losing 2 stones) which also went back to normal... Hopefully it won't take too long for your grandson's hair to grow back again.

Love, Catherine. XO

[Stayloose]

I'm sorry to hear you've all had such a stressful time. It sounds hopeful that there's signs of regrowth don't you think? Sometimes when all hair is lost hair regrows a different colour then re-ajusts. A difficult time of wait and see. I feel for you.

[Milo19]

Hi Louielamb01. Firstly, I am so sorry for what you and your family have gone through. I had severe Sepsis back in March and lost the majority of my hair on my head, arms, legs and a lot of my eyelashes. I was told that it is common that due to the sepsis and your body trying to recover, hair follicles don’t take priority so hence the hair falling out. Your body is trying to focus on your organs and more ‘vital’ parts of the body. It took about 3 months for me to see growth.

All I could see was it just coming out in clumps but no progress re growth.

Eventually, I could see small white hair growth (similar to what you’re describing). My doc said the hair pigment can sometimes be affected with the recovery. It is now growing back slowly and has changed to dark brown.

I thought I had the same, as alopecia was a side affect on my medication, so had assumed it was that. Now looking back, it was the trauma of the sepsis and just my body trying to recover.

I hope this helps, I completely understand how devastating and stressful it is and really hope you and the family are ok x

[Louielamb01 in reply to Milo19]

Ahh thank you Milo19 you have made me feel more positive. The dermatologist said nothing like that to us. Basically it is what it is. Never really acknowledge sepsis only said it could be a coincidence and louie might have an autoimmune and is too young to be tested. My daughter said he had a blood test and nothing showed up but he wasn't really interested. We were so excited about seeing slight hair growth but he still wasn't interested said it's too slow. He lost all of his hair only late July. How fast does he want it to grow ? Now my daughter has been reading up on alopecia universal and said omg this could happen all through his life until he might finally lose it all. She is so upset as we all are. Xx

[Catdancer01 in reply to Louielamb01]

It can be a reaction to the medication he was on while in hospital. I came out of hospital end of March this year & after a few weeks a lot of my hair started falling out. Only 1 bald patch though, now I have lots of ‘fluffy’ new hair growing back. It freaked me out a lot at the beginning as I thought it meant I was still ill. Just another side affect of being very ill, lots of medication & your body being under great stress. Give it time, it’s what everyone says, & is very annoying-but true.

[Louielamb01]

Ahh thank you for all your lovely comments. The doctor didn't seem to be positive. He didn't even check him all over. Just diagnosed by sight. Didn't even say it could of been the sepsis. He wasn't even bothered by the fine white blonde regrowth. He prescribed cream for him. When we Google alopecia universal it says it can happen all through his life and could eventually be bald forever. It is very devastating but thank God not life threatening. I know no one can give us answers but we are hoping sepsis was the link to it. If he never had sepsis we are wondering if this would of still happened.

[Sepsur]

I lost a great deal of my hair after 2.5 months after first admittance to ICU. I believe it is called Telagon Effluvium.

The body does this when in trauma.

All my hair grew back within 6 months

[Louielamb01 in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you. The dermatologist first said it was telegon effluvium mixed with alopecia areata now a few weeks later a different dermatologist said its alopecia universal and maybe the sepsis was a coincidence. So we just dont know.

[cskitchens]

I'm so glad your grandson survived. So many don't. I had severe sepsis and nobody told me about losing my hair. It started falling out and I learned everything on the internet. Thankfully I found this site. I am in my sixties and always had thick hair. Sepsis took about half of it but it grew back pretty fast and isn't any different than it was before. From of the stories I've read I was really lucky and thankful to be in the 25% that lived and didn't have incapacitating side effects. Good luck to your little one.

[Louielamb01 in reply to cskitchens]

Thank you. Sepsis is a really frightening.

[Bo75]

Please do not worry to much... I also lost my hair and eyelashes... if you look at his fingernails you may also be able to see dents... this would also be from Sepsis. Not to say there might not be something else, but it is very common, and they did not tell me to expect it, so I was in the same stage of shock as you are in right now. I was January 2019 and May and June mine fell out, so your timeline is consistent with the norm. Glad he came out of it ok!

[Louielamb01 in reply to Bo75]

Thank you so much Bo75 I hope you are on the mend. You have made me feel alot better.

[Louielamb01 in reply to Louielamb01]

Did your doctor tell you that? And is your hair growing back? All we have been told is alopecia. Were you told that? Our medical professionals have not been very helpful just negative comments not even linking it to sepsis. And have not bothered to look into why this has happened.

[Louielamb01 in reply to Bo75]

Did you lose all your hair and eyelashes and eyebrows? And was the growth really slow?

[Bo75 in reply to Louielamb01]

No I did not, I don't know for certain what percentage I lost as I shaved my head, it grew back thick and as healthy as ever, a bit softer as it was all new hair growth. My eyebrows thinned a little. sorry for the delay in response.

[Louielamb01 in reply to Bo75]

Thank you for getting back to me. I'm wondering now if the sepsis was coincidental with alopecia universal now . Just a waiting game. Was there a delay in regrowth or did it grow straight away?

[Milo19]

Yes, my doc said that. I also was told that during my follow up appointment with the intensive care team/consultant. If you have anything similar, do talk to them, as the consultant has probably had more experience with that than the dermatologist/GP in follow up appointments if you have any?

They said that it could have been alopecia, but most likely due to the sepsis - I think that is more common. That, alongside tiny little hairs coming back confirmed it.

That must be so incredibly stressful, I’m sorry to hear you are going through that.

[Louielamb01 in reply to Milo19]

Did you lose all your hair, eyelashes and eyebrows?

[Milo19 in reply to Louielamb01]

I probably lost about 80% of my hair, most of my eyelashes

[Louielamb01 in reply to Milo19]

Thank you for getting back to me.

[Louielamb01]

Did you lose all your

[Louielamb01]

Did you lose all your hair, eyelashes and eyebrows?

[Milmom]

My son had sepsis about 10 months ago. He lost at least 50% of his hair. It just kept falling out in clumps. Well just recently it has grown in darker and his hair is now curly. I would give it time.

[Louielamb01 in reply to Milmom]

Ah glad to hear his has grown back. Just makes me think now is my grandsons alopecia universal and not the sepsis. He has lost the whole lot including eyelashes and eyebrows. And is it coincidental. He has sparing eye growth but very fine and white.