Telogen Effluvium
Telogen effluvium is diffuse shedding that happens when a large number of follicles enter their resting phase at once, usually a few months after illness, surgery, stress or a nutritional problem.
Where you'll meet it
When hair comes out in handfuls over weeks, all over the scalp rather than in a pattern, often two to four months after something significant happened to your body.
Common triggers
Major illness or fever, surgery under general anaesthetic, childbirth, significant weight loss, iron deficiency, thyroid disease, and some medications.
Why it matters here
It is not androgenetic alopecia and it is not treated the same way. It usually recovers on its own over six to nine months once the trigger is gone, and it responds to fixing the cause rather than to blocking DHT.
Anyone with diffuse rather than patterned shedding should get ferritin and thyroid checked before buying anything. Finding a treatable cause is worth more than any product.
A transplant into an actively shedding scalp is a bad idea, and any clinic that offers one without asking why you are shedding has told you something about itself.
Related pages
Thinking about a transplant?
The Start Here guide explains why medical treatment comes first, how much donor hair you actually have, and what a transplant can and cannot move.
start here →