Hairloss ?Who ,How much and when it got better?

I don't have a sugery date or even know which insurance company my job is switching to or if WLS will be covered but I have been researching extensively all of the aspects of this surgery. I want to be as prepared as possible for anyhting that may come up. My question is about hairloss that may come with WLS? Will as many people as possible ,please tell me their experiences with the hairloss ? When it happended , to what extent and when it got better. My hair is pretty fine and hairloss will not keep me from getting this done if (God help me) I get the opportunity. I just want to know as much as possible about this aspect of WLS. Thanks, Dannielle

I just had surgery so haven't gotten that far yet. But I had c-section 10 years ago and went through some thinning about 4-5 months out. It only lasted for a little while and because my hair was so thick then it didn't affect it much. I did notice though that my hair overall has thinned alot over the past 7 years or so. Could be my diet, health, stress, or maybe my kid has made me pull it out! But everyone is different. You may not experience much. Get on vits, and protein quickly again and it should help some. As I understand it simply the stress of surgery on your body can casue this to happen. But you never know it might skip you. Good Luck and keep researching.

Danielle, There are a number of factors about hair loss. First, hair loss is the result (as you found out with your previous surgery) of anesthesia. Some post-ops swear by taking biotin to assist in minimizing hair loss. Make sure to get in your protein and that will also help in minimizing hair loss after surgery. Another safeguard against hair loss is to take your vitamins regularly as directed by your surgeon. The good news is that hair loss/regrowth is in three months cycles. Most people start to notice hair loss at around the three month post-op timeframe. You will notice regrowth at five to seven months post-op. I have worked with many patients and no one has gone bald!!! If you have thick hair, you'll notice the hair loss more. I have thin, thin hair and I lost some hair but the only people that noticed were me and my hair stylist. That is the case with most people too. With thin hair, you won't notice it as much. I also know of people that when their hair grew back in, they liked it better due to the texture so you just never know. Trust me, I promise, in the end whatever hair loss you may (or may not) experience, it is all worth it!!! Cathy ObesityHelp Support Group Specialist

I started losing hair at four months, and it continued for several months. It stopped for a while, and then started up again a few months later, only not nearly as bad. I'm almost two years out, and I'm STILL shedding worse than I did pre-op, BUT I have a known zinc-deficiency that I have to take a supplement for...so I don't know, maybe it will eventually stop. However, I have TONS of hair, so no one, including myself, can even tell that any of it has disappeared. I do know a woman, though, who lost the majority of her hair. By the time she reaches a year out, she will have gone from 330 to 155 or so...so it's been extremely quick. Her hair is very sparse and wiry now...very similar to what cancer patients look like when they start chemo. Honestly, though, shaving my head would have been worth it to have surgery. I may not be near goal yet, but I have my life back...so what's a little hair?

My wife and I never lost any hair. My dietician said if you get some healtly oils in your diet you may not lose any hair. Too many post ops worry about oils and our bodies need oils. I ate a little butter from the first week or two and used a little vegetable oil and regular peanut butter, my wife ate about the same as I did. I have thick hair anyway and thought I would lose some but never did . My wife has thin hair and was afraid she would lose hair but did not. I think a little healtly fat is the key to keeping your hair. An extremely low fat diet in my opinion is not healtly at all. We do need lots of protien but we also need some healthy carbs and fats.

I've not had weightloss surgery as of yet but I did have a major surgery in '95 and I don't remember having any hair loss. I know it may sound horrible of me but hair loss is one of my major worries. Like you, it will not influence my decision to follow through with my surgery but I want to find out everything I can to be prepared. What I have found out is that some people do have hair loss do to reactions from anesthesia and some people say it's from the necessary nutrients lost after surgery. I read a profile of girl who is a hair stylist, she posted a link for a shampoo and conditioner that is specifically made for bariatric patients, it's supposed to help replace the nutrients lost. She said because of the cost, something like $13 dollars a bottle, you can wash with your normal shampoo then again with a smaller amount of this shampoo. I'm not guaranteeing this shampoo works but I am definitely going to look into it a little more, the name of the shampoo is Bari-ssentials. If you do a search on the name I'm sure you can find the website. I'm a new poster on this board so I'm not sure if we can post the web sites or I would have. Hope I have been able to help Lia