Noni18

Okay, I've never posted before, because I didn't feel I had much to add, but I guess I have some info on this one. At about 4-5 months post-op, I was having pretty significant hair loss, which was noted at one of my checkups. My surgeon told me that this is much more common in bypass patients and only happens to a small percentage of lapband people. Not much is definitely known about it, but it appears to be related to how your body reacts to extreme stress (the stress of the surgery, the stress of the very limited calorie intake for a few weeks after the surgery). Your body thinks you are in danger and switches off non-essential functions, and apparently, hair is, on the primitive level, not essential. So it turns off the making of new hair and stops "wasting" nutrients on growing the old hair...so after a period of 3-6 months, your hair starts looking pretty darn thin. There isn't much you can do about it at that point. The good news is, your body is now getting plenty of nutrients, and new hair will start coming in. It's supposedly not permanent, and by the end of a year, it will be back to normal. There seems to be some indication that taking a zinc supplement in the weeks immediately before and following your surgery may prevent this from happening, but by the time you notice hair loss it's really too late. So, if you haven't had surgery yet, it might be worth taking the supplement. For the rest of us...well, I guess we have to be patient. Mine appears to be slowly filling in again (I'm about 8 months post surgery now, and have lost 85 pounds total). Good luck, and try not to let it get you down. It won't be permanent!