Telogen effluvium is a scalp disorder characterized by thinning/shedding of hair resulting from the early entry of hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

s into the telogen phase.

Emotional or physiological stressful events may result in an alteration of the normal hair cycle.

Telogen effluvium may be caused by eating disorder

Eating disorder

Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...

s, fever

Fever

Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

, childbirth

Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

, chronic illness, major surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

, anemia

Anemia

Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...

, severe emotional disorders, crash diet

Crash diet

A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. It is meant to achieve rapid weight loss and may differ from outright starvation only slightly. It is not meant to last for long periods of time, at most a few weeks. ...

s, hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone.Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide but it can be caused by other causes such as several conditions of the thyroid gland or, less commonly, the pituitary gland or...

, and drug

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...

s.

Diagnostic tests, which may be performed to verify the diagnosis, include a trichogram, trichoscopy

Trichoscopy

Trichoscopy is a method of hair and scalp evaluation and is used for diagnosing hair and scalp diseases. The method is based on dermoscopy and videodermoscopy. In trichoscopy hair and scalp structures may be visualized at many-fold magnification...

 and biopsy.

See also

• Anagen effluvium
  Anagen effluvium
  Anagen effluvium is the pathologic loss of anagen or growth-phase hairs. Classically, it is caused by radiation therapy to the head and systemic chemotherapy, especially with alkylating agents....
  
  
• Noncicatricial alopecia
  Noncicatricial alopecia
  -Causes:Causes of noncicatricial alopecia include:*Alopecia areata*Anagen effluvium*Androgenetic alopecia*Dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis*Telogen effluvium*Trichotillomania...
  
  
• List of cutaneous conditions

Vitamin D

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. In humans, vitamin D is unique both because it functions as a prohormone and because the body can synthesize it when sun exposure is adequate ....

levels may also play a role in normal hair cycle.