For those facing male-pattern baldness, the pandemic both accelerated and accentuated the progression, some dermatologists say. The last thing men with fragile strands needed was extra anxiety and countless hours of inspecting their own images on video calls.

Mr. Carroll says he sometimes fixates on what he has dubbed “the landing strip”—a linear section in the middle of his scalp that isn’t as densely populated as it once was. He accepts that certain styles he sported as a younger man, including dreadlocks and an Afro, are out of the question. But seeing gaps in his current high-and-tight hairdo sets him off…

The blow to a person’s confidence can be especially painful now, as offices reopen and in-person business gatherings resume. Seeing colleagues for the first time in months or years can mean making a debut with an expanded forehead—cruelly juxtaposed against the slimmer waistlines and toned arms that certain co-workers sculpted while working from home.