Hairloss

Yup they say hair loss starts at about 3 months with VSG and starts coming back somewhere about 7 months post-op. My hair is coming out like CRAZY still at 6 months. Hoping it ends soon. Lots of people take biotin or silica - they won't help with the hair loss (and you have to take them for at least a month/month-and-a-half for them to help due to cell renewal time), but they will help with the hair growth apparently when your body decides it's time to re-grow what it lost. Most people find that it does come back though... some theorize it's the anesthesia (that hair loss like this will happen with any major surgery), some say it's not getting adequate nutrition (say month-long liquid phase anyone??). I ended up cutting my long hair shorter to help with my panic about it coming out and it has helped my anxiety. Amazing how much we rely on hair for our self-image....

a product i used pre op was called florasil, i think its the silica mentioned above, great stuff!!! another option is nioxin shampoo, i hear that helps alot, i have some but have yet to use it, using up old stuff 1st. and its not cheap. not sure where to get it, my mom picked mine up for me. the hairloss has a name its called teffulum something another, they mention it often on the rny forum. i had 2 surg 7 weeks apart, so i got a double hit. my dietitician at the weight wise clinic says low protein will definatly contribute to even more hair loss, so make sure your getting that protein in!

niki

Just as a side note also..I have lost hair after each baby, many operations over the years and one time in my life where trauma/stress was very real in my life..the hair always came back and it came back very curly!! So now I have naturally curly hair (albeit thin) but go figure..i straighten it everday  And I also use a product called Eufora that is a tinted dry shampoo. It covers the glaring scalp and adds texture to the top of the head..no one can tell that Im trying to cover anything.

I am one of the very few that had no hair loss, I have had several surgeries before my sleeve and never lost any hair. Did I do anything different? Or is it just me? I don't know for sure. Here's what I did, I started taking biotin and silica once a day for several months before my surgery, about 2 weeks after the surgery I started biotin again, my hair never looked better, I have always had thin hair. I did not have unwanted hair growing all over the place, the leg and arm hair did not change. I am a year and a half out and take biotin once a day.
Hope this helps

I also didn't have any hair loss and I did absolutely nothing different, didn't take any supplements at all. I'm obviously just one of the extremely lucky ones. I have really thick hair so I wasn't too worried about it happening. I lost weight quite slowly compared to many of you, so maybe that's part of it.

I'm trying Biotin now for my nails. They are peeling and chipping and flaking like crazy, but that only started a couple of months ago and I had surgery 9 months ago. I've only been taking it for a couple of weeks. I know it will take longer to see any improvement if there is any. Anyone have any suggestions for that? I don't use nail polish and my hands aren't in water much (ie, washing dishes, just hand-washing).