Hair Loss

[Tiffykins 673]

There is nothing you can do to prevent it if your body is going to experience. I can count on 1 hand how many WLS patients in general across all the surgeries that didn't lose hair. No amount of Protein, snake oils, shampoos, pills, supplements will stop the losing, but it does grow back, and you can take things Biotin, extra zinc, make sure you Iron stays stable, that will help with regrowth.

Here's 2 articles that explain it:

http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/telogen_effluvium.html

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1071566-overview

I personally lost half of my hair by volume. It started at 3.5 months post-op and lasted 3 solid months. It's all grown back in at this point. There's plenty of sleeve patients that got in their Protein from immediately post-op, and they lost more hair than I did and I didn't protein in until I was 6-8 weeks out.

So, protein is NOT going to keep your hair from falling out.

[KellyL 173]

I agree that it's going ro happen, I am more concerned with going into surgery already having a problem so I am just trying to get myself and my hair in better shape before hand. I fully expect to lose from the anesthesia and rapid weight loss. But increase in Protein has helped my regrowth pre-op. I just wanna insure it come back and stops at some point lol.

Thanks for the link Tiffykins I will read it when I get on my netbook!!

I have only seen 1 person in my 7 yrs research that lost a lot of hair and it did not come back in good but they had a DS, so i figure mal-absorption played a part in that possibly. But she still doesn't regret having wls and uses a lot of wigs and hats.

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

my hair is still growing in. I have different lengths of hair everywhere.

It took a long time to stop falling out, in spite of taking Biotin months before surgery and using nixoin Shampoo, and getting 100 grams of Protein since 3 days post op once I was home from the hospital.

[FlyGirl 18]

I am worried also. I am 3 weeks post op and I can not get enough Protein in through fluids or foods! I am taking a Multivitamin and a hair skin and nails Vitamin with 833% Biotin to try and prevent Hair loss as well. I sure hope that it helps because I can basically eat thin Soups, Popsicles and a very very very small amount of mushies like 6 bites at the most and I am extremely full. I also have bad gas and heartburn whenever I eat unless it is liquids. The Protein shakes in the can agree with me but I am only able to drink about a half of a can before I am too full. ALL of the powders make me gag and throw up!!! I've heard that the Isopure fruit punch bottled drinks from GNC are pretty tasty and pack a lot of Protein. However they are $50 for 12 (20 ounce) bottles, which for me is high for only a weeks supply if you consume two a day to get your protein in! Yet still I am thinking of investing in a twelve pack this month to see how well they work with me. Good Luck to you!!!! I hope that everything goes well with your surgery :-)

Hi, just a suggestion before you buy a whole 12 pack of the Isopure. They sell them individually so try a couple out first. In my honest opinion I think they are too protein tasting for me it made me gag and it had such a bitter taste. I tried the grape, fruit punch and blue one. Good Luck :-)

[NtvTxn 1,262]

I took a sip of the Isopure and dumped it down the sink! Way to Protein tasty for me! I got a free sample from Forest Park - they sent us home with free samples of everything, thank goodness!

Hi, just a suggestion before you buy a whole 12 pack of the Isopure. They sell them individually so try a couple out first. In my honest opinion I think they are too Protein tasting for me it made me gag and it had such a bitter taste. I tried the grape, fruit punch and blue one. Good Luck :-)

[PamelaAM 16]

It has nothing to do with Protein according to my doctor. The way it was explained to me was that when you remove 85% of your stomach which is a major organ, your body thinks it is dying and sends all of the signifcant energy to the major organs in an attempt to save itself. The hair follicles actually die at the time and right after the surgery. It simply takes about 3 months for the hair to work itself out and actually fall out during the 3-6 month period. If you look at the anatomy of your hair/follicle you will see the process. I take Biotin because I figure it might help with the regrowth but it doesn't help at all with the actual loss. Some people experience the loss and others don't. For me, I had significant Hair loss to the point that I had to cut my hair really short and am actually doing a "comb over" on the top to disguise the loss.

So it IS really important to get your Protein in, but not because of the hair loss - but because your body just needs to to heal and perform it's functions well.

[TijuanaPlication 87]

Hi y'all. Pamela's right. Check out this thread too http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/11433-hair-is-seriously-shedding/page__p__98719__hl__telogen__fromsearch__1#entry98719

The term you're looking for is Telogen Effluvium (see Tiffykins' and BlackBerryJuice's posts). If you search VST there are plenty of threads on Telogen Effluvium and hairloss (search is at the top right of your screen just below Gallery, Blogs, etc).