Hair Loss after Weight Loss Surgery

After weight loss surgery, there are some difficult side effects that you must be prepared for. One of the biggest side effects is the dreaded hair loss. Hair loss happens after weight loss surgery because of the changes in your body. Telogen effluvium is the culprit behind hair loss and it has to do with the normal hair growth cycle. Telogen effluvium happens when there is a change in the number of hair follicles growing hair. Surgery puts a lot of stress on our bodies, and therefore there are less follicles producing new hair. This causes there to be shedding of the hair. Research suggests that it is normal to lose 5-15% of your hair due to the stress of surgery and weight loss.

Hair loss after weight loss surgery tends to happen around 3-6 months post-op. This can be frustrating, especially if you are a woman. I remember I cried when my hair first started falling out. I would take showers and chunks of hair would just come out after brushing my hair. It was very traumatic at first. It didn’t last though. It took about 3 months, but once I was around 6 months post-op, the hair loss slowed down.

Hair loss is one of the main reasons people don’t want to have the surgery. It scares future patients when they hear they might lose a good amount of hair, but it is important that they know this is a side effect of the surgery. There are things you can do to help make the hair loss more manageable. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do that will prevent the hair loss from happening, but you can change a few things to help make it not so devastating. The first thing you can do is make sure you have a good shampoo and conditioner. This helped me tremendously. At the time I had very long hair, and when I started using better hair care, it helped me manage the hair loss better. It felt better when the hair fell out, instead of having it come out in chunks of tangled hair. The next thing you can do is make sure you are eating nutritious foods. Hair loss happens because our bodies aren’t getting as much nutrition, so ensuring you are following a healthy diet is critical. Another thing you can do is take biotin. Biotin won’t stop the hair loss, but it will make your hair stronger when it starts to grow back. By doing these things, it will calm your nerves when you start to lose your hair.

It is important to remember that the hair loss won’t last. It is something that you will have to face as a side effect after the surgery. There are some lucky people out there that do not experience a heavy hair loss, but it does affect a great deal of patients. Remember to be patient and realize that your body just went through a very traumatic surgery. It is going to take a toll on your body, but it will not last. The hair loss will slow down and you will continue on the path towards a healthy you. You are beautiful! Don’t forget that.