Question:
Is there any vitamins that I could start taking now, to keep from losing hair later?

Forgive me for being superficial but, I notice that a lot of members have lost hair, and I was wondering how, if at all, it could be avoided, by taking supplements before surgery.    — Gail A. (posted on June 29, 2001)

June 29, 2001
My primary care physician suggested taking prenatals prior. You can buy over the counter at wal-mart. They make your finger nails and hair grow. I am only 21/2 weeks post op so not sure or not if it worked yet.
   — Jackie S.

June 29, 2001
Gail, my surgeon suggested taking Zinc for hair loss. I experienced some hair loss about 3 mths post op (nothing real noticeable) so I started taking Zinc and after a couple of months the hair loss seemed to stop.
   — Cristy K.

June 30, 2001
I started taking Biotin at the height of my hairloss and it really seemed to help.
   — C. G.

June 30, 2001
There are many theories on what causes the hairloss after WLS here is mine!!!! .. Thyroid hormone abnormalities, and certain surgical procedures, which place a lot of stress on the body, can also cause hair loss. A high fever that lasts several days, severe infection, rapid weight loss, protein- and iron-deficient diets and some medications... So if you look at that list, already we have three strikes there!!! WLS (a surgery procedure) and Rapid Weighloss (self explanatory) & protein & iron deficiencies (Yep again) .. Medications can also be a reason (such as anticoagulants, isotretinoin, etretinate, lithium and birth control pills) can cause hair to fall out, too. Generally, hair loss associated with telogen effluvium stops two to three months after its cause is pinpointed. If a specific medication caused the condition, your doctor may be able to recommend a substitute drug.. When my hair started raining down, which by the way is around the 3rd month post-op, I talked to my surgeon about my hair loss and he recommend Z-Bec and Biotin (Both are at Walmart) and protein, that combination slowed my hairloss at 6th month post-op and at 10 months post-op started getting new growth... I recently added Selenium to the mix as I was having abdominoplasty surgery and didn't want to start loosing hair again... So far so good and even more hair really coming back in now :) http:www.angelfire.com/ok3/vbowen
   — Victoria B.

June 30, 2001
My father's surgeon stated the reason for hair loss is the minimal amount of protien ingested post-op. He said usually the hair folicals are 10% non-working, but when we are post-op, our hair folicals shut down to about 60% working to keep the protien where it is mostly needed. I am planning on taking some of the suggested vitamins and taking a protien supplement until I have surgery, continuing after if my surgeon states I can. Hopefully, that will help reduce the amount of hair loss. I know stress on a body causes hair loss too, I've been there done that before. As far as your question being superficial, don't be silly. It is a big concern and one of the only deterrants for me not to consider the surgery. Who wants to lose their hair? Certainly none of us. Good luck and pardon the spelling errors, it isn't my strongest asset.
   — Jennifer F.

June 30, 2001
My surgeons now start the pre-ops on protein supps & mutli vites as much before surgery as they are willing to start. Makes the healing go more easily, too. When I went in for revision, I upped my protein supps sky high, took more C, more Hair Skin Nails, and did OK. Still some post-anesthesia hair loss, but not radical. The more recent WLS candidates I've seen, those who started on protein supps, multis, C & a hair preparation have had far less "hair trauma" then the rest of us did back in the olden days.
   — vitalady