Hair Loss and Slow Regrowth

I know hair loss is fairly common, and I definitely got a big dose of it. I had thin, fine hair to begin with, and lost a lot. My issue is I have been very patient because I did the research and I knew this would happen. However, I'm nearly 18 months post surgery, and my hair is not getting any thicker. I see some regrowth around my hairline, but the rest of my head doesn't really show any improvement. I've seen some people say by year 3 they have regrowth...am I just destined to wait it out? Is there ANYTHING I can do (short of wasting my money on Rogaine) that will speed up the process?

I didn't have thick hair, but I sure miss what I had!!!

That's what's happened with me too, and sadly-almost 5 years out, and it's not any better than it was at around two years out. I did get some back around my face and my crown, but it is still much, much thinner than it was pre-surgery. The back and the bottom half have never really filled back in.

It's like I had a ton of those stupidly fine, wispy baby hairs growing in right on schedule at around 7 months out, and then they just stopped. I've still got those, but they're still short. I'm starting to resemble Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" because what did grow back in is silver and gray. It grew back in curly, and gets frizzy and scraggly if it gets too long.

I look at my pre-surgery pictures and get a little bit sad because I had really great hair. The rest of me was a mess, but I had fabulous hair. Oh well.

I haven't tried rogaine, and probably won't, because I just don't trust it. With my luck, the shampoo would only work on the backs of my hands or give me really luxurious ear hair or something; maybe eyebrows for dayyyyys.

I guess I drew the short straw hair-wise, because I've never slacked on my vitamins, and I've always gotten plenty of protein. I tried biotin-it helped me grow a lovely mustache, but that was it.

Hopefully yours will end up bouncing back better than mine did.

Don't know how old you are, Cathy, but my hair has changed so much in the last couple of years, it's coarser and wavier (I've always had dead straight hair) and not nearly as thick as it used to be (I loved my hair!)

Could this just have coincided with an age change? I have just started biotin to see if it helps. I lost no hair with surgery all those years ago!

I'm 58, so some of it could be age related, but I lost so much post surgery, from about 3-6 months after. I kept hoping it would be filling in by now, but no luck. Strategic combing and keeping it short is helping, but I miss my long hair. I'm not ready to give up on being able to let it grow longer yet...I hope I'm not stuck with super short hair forever!!

I just had a thought, I also just had a complete hysterectomy in November...gaaaaahhhh...I guess that huge hormone change hasn't helped either!!! I haven't lost any more, but I'm guessing that isn't helping the regrowth either.

Geeeeez, at this rate I'll never get my hair back!!!

Bingo! Your hysterectomy will likely cause telogen effluvium all over again.

Aside from that, though, the next thing I would look at is your nutrition levels. When was the last time you had a full 14 vial (give or take) blood draw to check your nutrition levels? There might be something sliding that may be affecting your hair.

I am almost 19 months out and my once thin hair has not come back very much. Oh well.

Beside the obvious things that helps hair growth is of course some with often don't think about. Zinc, collagen, iodine (for thyroid), Biotin, other B's ...plus iron. Iron is so critical for our system, that when that starts dropping - it can affect our hormones (thyroid need iron).

One of symptoms of my low iron this year was the decline of my hair health. My hair got thinner and brittle- looking dead. Last year we had to trim and thin my hair out (styling) every 4 weeks. This year - every 6 weeks was too often. And I could not style it properly.

This was one of my "symptoms" I overlooked and allowed my iron (ferritin) to drop too low. I am finally getting iron infusions and I hope that this will also help my hair.

I actually did just have my levels checked, and everything was normal, including iron and B12. I'm on Synthroid for my thyroid and those levels are normal as well. I was reading that complete hysterectomy can cause hair loss as well due to hormone changes, so at least I haven't lost any more. I might just have to bide my time for another year and hope for the best :)

Before you sink money into Rogaine or anything of the sort, if you are truly concerned see a dermatologist for a scalp biopsy. For me it was useful to know there were no hair follicles, so no treatment would have been useful. My issues preceded WLS though-- but of course hair changes over time so knowing just what you're dealing with saves a lot of trial and error.

Oh, wow, peachpie, that's a great idea! Thanks, I'll do that!