DEAR Dr. Fritz,
Good day to you. I have heard that if you are male and you are bald, you will have more severe Covid-19? How true?
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Frankie Ch
***
Dear Frankie Ch,
Yes. You have heard it right. Research shows that bald men are the ones who are more likely to die after getting the coronavirus. Scientists claimed that it's possible that androgens -- male sex hormones like testosterone -- may increase the ability of coronavirus to attack cells. This opens the possibility that treatments for baldness, which suppress these hormones, might fight off the coronavirus.
As a matter of fact, Carlos Wambier, the Brown University professor who conducted the studies regarded baldness as a perfect predictor of severity. He also thinks that androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway for the virus to enter our cells.
This risk factor is now called the "Gabrin sign," named after Frank Gabrin, a bald doctor who was the physician in the United States to die of Covid-19.
There is also a small study in Spain which found that 79 percent of the men admitted to three Madrid hospitals with coronavirus were bald.
This androgen link was also found in a prostate cancer study from Italy, which showed that patients who were given androgen-deprivation therapy were only a quarter to contract Covid-19 as men with the disease on other treatments. This suggests that androgens would make the virus more virulent and that this increases the severity of disease in men.
Good luck and please don't forget to pray.
Dr. Fritz
(Dr. Fritz Legarde Espedilla is an aesthetic dermatologist and surgeon and a clinical sexologist. She is also trained in hypnotherapy and Medical Acupuncture. She is the anchor of Secrets of Dr. Fritz, of Hugyaw.com. She has been in the broadcast media for more than a decade and has written a book based on her 15 year stint with her radio program, "Healthy is Sexy Secrets ni Dr. Fritz.". For your questions, you may e-mail them to dokfritz@yahoo.com. If you don't wish your letter to be published, we regret that we cannot answer them. Thank you for your understanding.)