I'm almost 4 mos postop and my hair is really starting to fall out. I remember my doctors telling me one of the reasons they want you to eat protein protein protein is so that you won't lose your hair. My protein intake is pretty good, probably not as good as it should be, but could there be another reason my hair is falling out? Is it temporary? Is there anything I can do to stop it? Please help!

This is only my own personal view but I really think its more to do with the shock your body suffers from big weightloss.

I have always been fairly loose (bandwise that is, lol) and I can eat 1800 to 2000 calories a day. I've lost almost all my weight at this level of calories and I eat carefully AND I take a multi daily. I really do not think I'm deficient in anything and my 12 month follow up bloodtests backed this up.

Yet I had excessive shedding but nothing too drastic until 12 months to the day it really increased and I began to notice the ends of my hair looking really ratty and thin (long straight hair).

My hairdresser and I determined it was not falling out at the scalp at all but breaking off, the hair around my head that would have been growing at the time of surgery and all the hair from that point to the scalp is really fragile and is simply snapping and breaking whenever I put any tension on my hair to wash or style it.

Two solid months of Protein treatments and deep conditioning treatments EVERY time I wash my hair and no blowdrying or straightening and this morning I looked down to see only 4 hairs on the basin, not 50 or 100.

So it is not necessarily falling out from the scalp (and I never saw any hairline issues or part widening), it can be really weakened and breaking off. Its important to determine which it is becuase the breakage is treatable with some work and a few good products.

Mine is definitely falling out from my scalp because my part has widened. My hair looks very healthy and shiney otherwise, and I do take a mutli-vitamin so I'm at a loss. Maybe it's happening because of what you said -that maybe my body was in shock. I won't freak out just yet and thank you for your ideas. By the way - congratulations on your weight loss. Sounds like you're doing a great job.

Thanks.

Hopefully it will settle down quickly for you. Its so disconcerting to finally be having success in the weight battle only for your hair to fall to pieces as a result.

Hi,

I'm only a little over a week post-op but I take this pill called BIOTIN its like a vitamin that is good for hair, nails and skin, my surgeon suggested I take it to prevent hair loss. You might want to try it, it is definitly worth a try, Especially if it keeps your hair from falling out. Good Luck!

Hi! my nutritionist advised me about hair loss before I had my band surgery and she was reccommending protein shakes. She said that she likes carnation instant breakfast, isopure, and myoplex light because they contain biotin which helps maintain healthy hair. She said that it's not so much the protein as the biotin that is important for hair loss.I agree with Mirissa. I hope this helps-Gigi

I guess you can only try it all. Everybody has their "cure" for hairloss, but many people eat all their protein and take biotin and still lose hair.

Thank you all so much for the advice. Tomorrow I'm going to buy Biotin...Hope it works! Thanks again.

I am 9 months out, and have less than half the hair I went into this with!! I have taken Bioten for the last 5 months, and I have ALWAYS kept my protein up (in fact I also lost hair on Atkins which was all protein). Not sure if it is going to stop or not. I take my Bioten along with a multi vitamin, B Complex and calcium each day--I take no prescription drugs that are new, in fact the only one I continue to take is my Nexium. I am off of all blood pressure meds, and my Metformin. My blood work just come back and my numbers were all good---my Dr. was thrilled----BUT, I am still losing TONS of hair! I damn near burned up the vaccuum! It was so wound up, and plugging the filter---it was an eye opener---I knew I was shedding, but this was more than I anticipated!

I lost all my hair once on Chemo---but it come out fairly quickly, once the drugs kicked in. I noticed the first of it coming out, and within 10 days it was gone---this has gone on for months, but has not slowed down, nor shown signs of stopping.

All those people who don't know I had surgery are going to see me losing all this weight and my hair, and think I relapsed!

I WISH I had a magic cure!!!!

When it fell out with chemo, it was blonde (light) and straight---it grew back in darker blonde---and curly!! Wonder if it grows back this time what I'll get????

Kat

I have also started losing my hair in fact had to get the back of my hair tapered really really close ,due to the way it came out.Started new vitamins today for hair,skin and nails.So hopefully that will work.I trust we will all eventually get our healthy head of hair back along with a healthy slimmer body : D

I was also having problems with increased hair loss for the 1st 4 months post op. Increased my protein intake and started treatment for low thyroid and it has been much better the last 2 months. K

I also lost a lot of hair, I agree with Jachut that its more about the shock than not enough of protein.

But the good news is the body will get used to it and I can say that the hair loss has stopped.Im 10months out:-)

This post has really, really worried me. I have been taken Atenolol for high blood pressure for the past couple of years and have hair loss with it. One of the reasons I want the band is to lose the weight, get the blood pressure under control and come off the tablets and stop the hair loss. No one told me that you could lose your hair with the band. It has really worried me as I have really, really thin hair to start with. I take Nourkrin which seems to have helped. Terrified of losing my hair.

This post has really, really worried me. I have been taken Atenolol for high blood pressure for the past couple of years and have hair loss with it. One of the reasons I want the band is to lose the weight, get the blood pressure under control and come off the tablets and stop the hair loss. No one told me that you could lose your hair with the band. It has really worried me as I have really, really thin hair to start with. I take Nourkrin which seems to have helped. Terrified of losing my hair.

Losing hair is one of the very first things I heard about with any WLS. Of course the likelihood is much higher with the bypass, but I have heard of it all along with the band as well. There's lots of good tips here in this thread, and you can use the search function and find other threads about it as well. There's also lots of good info out there on the net.

I totally agree with you! I'm terrified of losing my hair. Other than my awesome personality :biggrin1: , it's probably the most attractive thing about me. I have hair to my waist and if I lose it, I really don't know what I'd do. So I prefer not to worry about it and am taking all these suggestions and stocking up on the Biotin, Vitamins, Protein powders and Nioxin shampoo.

Just as a side note, are you self-pay for your band? At 163lbs, I would be surprised if an insurance company would pay for it. If they are, can I ask what you submitted? It might be helpful for those of us having trouble getting our insurace to pay. March 11th is coming soon, how very exciting! I wish you a speedy and easy recovery, good luck!!! :clap2:

Hi

hair loss has never been mentioned to me and this is the first time I have seen it mentioned. I might have not had it done if I'd known. I have nightmares about losing my hair [as I mentioned it is very fine already]

It really does terrify me.

I am in the UK - you have to be an extreme case to have the band on NHS. Even though I am 'only' 163 lbs I am only 4ft 11ins tall, have problems with hips and knees and have high blood pressure. I am going to private clinic to have the procedure so yes self pay. Not a lot of people in the UK have health insurance because we have the NHS. As you say not sure that private health insurance would cover this anyway unless you were extremely overweight. I am still classed as obese as I have a BMI of over 30

I too lost a great deal of my hair the first 4 months or so. I kept telling my doc about it and he didn't seem to concerned just told me to make sure to eat my protein. Now thank heavens it has stopped completly and started growing agan. Just hang in there it will get better.