Septic Shock hair loss

[cici2024]

Hi i’m a 19 year old girl who suffered septic shock at the end of March of this year. I luckily am thriving now in June but a few days ago I started losing a bit more hair than usual (exactly 2 months after i was released from ICU). I got on google and looked it up and now see that the sepsis has caused it. I’ve accepted i’ll lose a lot of hair but I just want to know how long the hair will fall out and how much of it will fall out. Some people are saying they lose 50% and it can last up to 6 months. But my hair is falling out rapidly, will i lose it all? does it fall out the whole 6 months?

[Sepsur]

cici2024 - everyone is different.

I lost about 2/3 of my hair over a period of a month or two. It grew back eventually - changed colour & texture. Some people just get their hair cut really short or opt for a temporary wig.

If you look at telagon effluvium - it explains what has happened.

[BigH63]

Hi. IAM sorry to hear this and understand that being a young woman it’s devastating. But I’m and older man and left ICU Feb last year. I lost a lot of hair on top and like Sepsur says mine has grown back but it completely different to what I had. It was curly and thick, now it’s straight and lighter/ thinner I’m still very light in some area but I’m hoping it will all grow back. Some people find they can loose all their hair others a bit. There’s no rhyme or reason to how much and how long it takes to come back. All I can say is keep getting it cut and look after it and see what happens. Depending how long you were in you might find your bails have a drip where they stopped growing.

Sepsis make you’re body redirect it’s energy to the main organs to keep you alive, I was lucky and it sound like you were to thank god. So although it’s hard things could have been a lot worse. All of us ICU survivors have to look at what could have been and try to live with our new normal. It’s sounds like you’ve bounced back remarkably well ? Keep going and I hope it grows back

Keep well

Look at the stuff Sepsur has mentioned.

[downthemoor]

I didn't have sepsis but ICU did it to me anyway! Exactly same time frame as you ...as a female I too was devastated. But had it cut short and after a few months it started to grow back ..oddly curlier . Thibk prob lost 50% of it. I had thick hair to start with so none thought much of it...they didn't see the handfuls on the pillow every morning ...so distressing.

[Sleepalotmore]

I too had severe hair loss 2months after spending time in icu, on a ventilator and ECMO machine for weeks. As a email, it is very distressing and not what you need after being so poorly. I know we should be grateful we are still here to be upset about something that dome people say is a small price to pay. But it really is heartbreaking to go through. 4years on from my time in hospital, my hair I'd still not the same as it used to be. My already fine hair is thinner and more fragile than it was. I've tried all kinds of treatment. But being on blood pressure tablets limits what I can safely take! I hope that because you are so very young, your hair will recover do much more than mine ( I'm now 60!)

Good luck and try, hard as it is, to not stress too much!