Hair loss caused due to STD is one of the few symptoms not known to many. Thus people don’t generally not associated with the STD by any individual. Thus, this hair loss may be an important associated in finding and can provide clues to diagnosis. Often, we’d been asked if “chlamydia cause hair loss” or “can untreated std cause hair loss?” but in cases the hair fall alone turns out to be an STD.
There is no solid reason why you should suspect any STD, when you have a hair loss, but it’s always better to know the timing, the conditions or the symptoms of hair fall due to STD.
Can STD cause a hair loss? What kind of STD causes hair loss?
There are two ways STD’s responsible for the hair loss.
- Hair loss as a symptom
- Hair loss due to the treatments of certain STDs
Each state mentioned above exhibits a peculiar characteristic in hair fall. (some indicates hair loss in patches, also known as irregular alopecia* of the scalp), while some shows hair loss in conventional way. We will see each state in detailed manner.
*Alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disorder that often results in unpredictable hair loss.
A. Hair loss a symptom of STD
i) Hair loss due to Syphlis
In case of Syphilis, you can notice the hair loss in patches. Also, known as Alopecia, Alopecia due to Syphilis is also known as Syphilitic Alopecia.
Syphilitics Alopecia (Hair loss due to syphilis) is in the news lately because of the ever increase in the number of case of Syphilis in the United States as reported by the latest CDC report.
Hair loss mainly occurs during the secondary stage of Syphilis. Hair loss in the Primary stage syphilis occurs only when the chancre develop on the scalp. Untreated syphilis, that is, hair loss in the secondary stage syphilis report an incidence of 2.9% to 7%.
Referring to the above diagram it can be observed the following
There are 2 types of secondary syphilitic alopecia.
- The first is a Papulosquamous (kind of a rash on the body, refer diagram) kind, this type found in association with an actual secondary lesion
- The second is Syphilitic alopecia, which designates hair loss in the absence of visible syphilitic scalp lesions.
There are 3 types of Syphilitic alopecia:
1) The classic patchy “moth-eaten” alopecia, 2) A generalized thinning of the hair 3) The moth-eaten type in combination with general thinning of the hair.
Of these, patchy moth-eaten alopecia occurs most frequently. The diffuse hair loss of essential syphilitic alopecia as the only manifestation of syphilis is uncommon.
ii) Hair loss due to HIV
A study conducted by Smith et al with 10 patients for the clinical and histopathologic features of hair loss in them revealed the following change in the hair texture.
- Hair loss with straightening
- Sometimes associated with fine hair texture
- An increased tendency for broken hairs
As syphilis, these changes were reported during the later stage or advance stage of HIV. Nutritional deficits, often prominent in HIV patients, may lead to or potentiate telogen effluvium*
Telogen effluvium (TE) is a form of temporary hair loss that usually happens after stress, a shock, or a traumatic event. It affects the entire scalp area. In this, too many hairs stop growing for too long of a period. When new hair finally begins to grow, it pushes the resting hairs out, resulting in shedding.
As person associated from HIV is in stress, shock or traumatic event, it may trigger TE. At any one time, up to 10 percent of a person’s hair is in the telogen phase. TE generally lasts for around 3 months.
Another form of hair loss due to HIV is Autoimmune alopecia. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair to fall out in patches.This is baldness due to hampered auto immune system.
In this condition, hair follicles are damaged by a misguided immune system, including alopecia areata and alopecia universalis, can be seen in people in HIV. This may result in the loss of
- scalp hair
- loss of eyelashes
- eyebrow
- body hair
B. Hair loss in the treatment of STD
i) Hair loss in the treatment of HIV
It is common that an HIV medication can cause hair loss. HIV medications such as Atripla AZT, and Crixivan have side effects as hair loss. Although the usage of these drugs for the treatment of HIV has reduced, the modern day antiretroviral therapy doesn’t cause hair loss
ii) Hair loss in the treatment of Genital Herpes
Hair loss due to the treatments of Genital Herpes can lead to the hair loss. The case of drug-induced alopecia, or hair loss resulting from medication use.
People suffering from Genital Herpes are often prescribed the drug acyclovir (Zovirax). The side effect of the drug is hair loss.
Never take any symptoms lightly, if you are sexually active and if you observe the above stated symptoms, visit the STD testing Center near you. Its important to know if the hair fall is due to STD for timely diagnosis & treatment. Get tested today. !!
References
Image of Syphilitic hair fall: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1804118
HIV hair loss research document : https://mdedge-files-live.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/files/s3fs-public/Document/September-2017/076060361.pdf
Image of HIV hair loss due to medication : https://visihow.com/images/thumb/1/13/Tinea_capitis.jpg/630px-Tinea_capitis.jpg
