hair Loss - Wig??

I have lost 130 lbs and a lot of hair. It has been 20 months and I guess I am a goal weight. I am thinking about buying a wig, hair piece, hats or whatever. Any thought about buying such. Also thoughts about how to get this stuff to grow back. It is thin, brittle, dry and fine.

Most postops who lose hair find it is a temporary situation. Usually after a few months it starts growing back and eventually is more or less back to normal (some find a change in texture). If you are still having this problem at 20 months I would discuss it with your WLS surgeon. How do your labs look? Are you getting in enough protein on a daily basis? Are you faithful at taking your vitamins, minerals, etc.? If your body is not getting what it needs this could definitely be a symptom. Hope you find out what's going on. Connie -147#

I have had good times and bad with my hair since all this got started. My primary is to check my protein in some blood work I am having done next week, but I drink a couple of protein drinks and have a bar most days even after 20 months. i am very faithful about vitamins, etc. In addition to mult vit, I take zinc, biotin, calcium. Seems I can just not turn it around. I lost hair after about 6 months and then it started coming back and then started coming out again. I am 61 and the weight lost has really taken a toll on my face. All the wrinkles show. I have just had a TT,BL & BA. I am considering having my arms fixed, but the PS was not a happy experience, so not sure I want to go there again.

Make sure your doctor check: iron and thyroid too. Stress and even other surgeries can cause hair loss. Kathy

My iron has been check. I will have my thyroid check. Thanks for the tip.

Nice to see you g/f.......by the way, my hair is coming out again at 6 years....go figure eh? Have a wonderful Holiday Season.. Darlene

Hey Sweetie--- It's hard to believe it's been about a year since I came out west to meet all you wonderful Californians!! What a great time we had!! Sorry to hear about your hair issues---hope it resolves soon. Hope you and yours have a fabulous holiday season, too!! Hugs, Connie

According to various articles I've found on the internet, you can have hairloss from trauma (surgery, emotional events), protein deficiency, hypo- or hyper-thyroidism, related to testosterone levels, iron or zinc deficiency. I've had trouble with hair thinning over the crown for the last 9 months or so. I eat plenty of protein, my hypo-thyroidism is well compensated (or so the doctor tells me). My lab levels have always been "normal" but my ferritin levels in June were in the low end of normal. I mentioned low ferritin to my WL surgeon, but he'd not heard that low iron is related to hair loss. I sent him a ton of internet links, hope he read them. If you do a search on "telogen effluvium" you'll find a bunch of articles on hair loss. My WL surgeon told me to double up on my vitamins last June, which I did. I started adding 2 daily Gentle Iron capsules to the regimen in late August, so according to all the labels tells me I'm getting >3x the RDA of iron. I just had blood work drawn today for my 2 year appointment, so we'll see if my ferritin is higher than 13 (June level). I have recently started to see some new baby hairs growin in at the outer edges of the thinning area. I also started coloring my hair, as it seemed that the brown ones were what was falling out moreso than the greying ones. There is Rogaine, also, but that works on specific types of hairloss due to an imbalance of testosterone in the hair follicles (or something like that ). I don't think it will work if your hair loss isn't caused by that problem. I'm hoping that I'm at the end of being done with this hair loss. The remaining hair is stiffer, brittle, just as you mention. I told my doctor that if it got any worse I was going to shave it all off and buy a wig. One woman in my support group did shave it all off, but hasn't gotten a wig. She looks good like that. Good luck finding what will help you. Sue O.

Sue, I am going to really hit the iron and vitamins in a week or so. I am on an antibolic, Cipro, right now because of complications from PS. I have to be careful not to take my vitamins in so many hours before or after taking the medicine. I decided to just not take the vitamins for the 7 days I am on the Cipro. thanks for your reply. Good luck in your quest for hair growth. Email me if you care to.

I bought a few wigs but they arent real comfortable. I went to a hairdresser who suggested Nioxen (sp?) I guess it worked, I dont have thin hair. I got mine at Penney's but most beauty shops carry it. I also have had to double up on Iron. I bought some Vitron C from vitalady. My labs came back low and a colonscopy and EGD showed clear. 5 years post op.