Clients often ask us how they can prevent, or how they can stop hair loss after weight loss surgery. Hair is an important part of our appearance, however, whilst important to us, it is not very important to our body. Therefore when our body is under stress, our hair can be sacrificed for more important organs, like our heart and our brain.

Healthy human beings are constantly growing and losing hair simultaneously, generally we are growing more than we are losing, so we do not notice it. When there is extra ‘stress’ on the body, this can cause a shift in the normal balance and hair loss increases. Two stressors known to do this are major surgery and rapid weight loss. Therefore weight loss surgery is a double whammy! There can also be nutritional causes of hair loss.

Hair loss in the first six months after surgery is generally due to the trauma of the surgery and rapid weight loss. However, if you have a good nutritional intake it will settle and hair will re-grow as weight loss stabilises.

For hair loss that continues for over a year, or hair loss that starts six months after surgery, particularly in people who have difficulty eating or not taking the supplements recommended to them, there may be a nutritional cause. A low protein intake, iron or zinc deficiency can all play a role in hair loss.

You may have seen discussion on online forums or discussion groups recommending zinc supplements for hair loss. Interestingly, iron is actually the one nutrient that is most closely related to hair loss. This does not mean that if you are losing hair you should put yourself on iron supplements! Your team should have already recommended a supplement for you containing iron. If a particular supplement is recommended, it is generally recommended for a reason. We recommend supplements that contain more iron than a standard multivitamin after weight loss surgery. Standard multivitamins contain very little iron, far less than that recommended after weight loss surgery. You should also be checking in with your team for regular blood tests. Even if it is years since you had weight loss surgery, yearly blood tests are important to check not only your iron levels, but also a range of other nutrients.

As mentioned above, zinc is often associated with hair loss, but again, it is important not to rush out and buy zinc supplements! High doses of zinc can actually interfere with iron absorption and can also cause copper deficiency. Therefore high doses of zinc may actually cause you more problems and there is no solid evidence zinc supplements will fix your hair loss.

Protein, protein, protein! Sometimes it seems that is all we hear about after weight loss surgery. Protein is important for a range of reasons after weight loss surgery, but it seems it is also involved in hair loss. The current guidelines suggest a minimum target of 60g per day. Whilst this can be a challenge, with careful planning it can be done. We will look at how you can make sure you are getting adequate protein in upcoming Member Bulletins.

In summary, don’t try to treat your hair loss without some guidance from your team and blood tests to check your nutritional status. Speak to the dietitian in your team about making sure you are getting adequate nutrition both from your diet and supplements.

Great article! I experienced some hair loss after my lap-band about 3-6 months post surgery. I was diligent about getting my protein in ( even if I had to drink a shake a day to get it in) I take a multi & iron and feel pretty good. I didn't lose much hair and my hairstylist says it is common to experience slight hair loss after any surgery as well as when we age. I simply had a hairstyle change and didn't sweat it much.

Hair loss started at 2 months post op, was the worst at about 5 months post op and is slowing down at 7 months post op. Definitely due to surgical stress since I never lost hair with a previous non wls rapid loss many years ago. I also get plenty of protein every day. Just dealing with my long hair strands everywhere for now but it's turning around.

My hair loss started at about 2 months post-op, I am 4+ months out now and think that the hair loss is in a steady state, I am lucky that I have very thick hair - the huge wads of hair I pull from head every time I shampoo is quite alarming sometimes! But then I don't have any bald spots or thin areas (except for maybe a few spots right at my temples but that may be just panicking on my part). Recently, I warned my hairstylist not to freak out when she shampooed me and she told me "oh, this is nothing honey!, I have seen much worse!" So that made me feel better.

I am looking forward to noticing a decline in the loss - but one thing has me nervous. The comment in the article about iron levels, I have a genetic disease called hemochromatosis or "iron overload" disease. It means that my body holds on to too much iron and it must be removed medically. So I have one goal from my Blood Doctor and another from my Weight Loss Surgeon when it comes to iron. If iron also impacts hair loss (and I have been diagnosed for several years before my sleeve and never noticed hair loss like this), I am worried that it might taked me longer to come out of the hair loss period. Here is to crossing my fingers, because I can't take iron supplements!! My blood doctor was thrilled when I told him about getting WLS - he said, that is perfect for you! It will impact your iron levels in a good way for you!

Had surgery in Jan Snohogal and my hair loss has finally subsided and I got 2 hair cuts to boot! It is horrible to experience but it does get better. My hair stylist said we get a double whammy with the Anesthesia then the weight loss. There is a pot of gold at the end of our rainbow, we get to live a healthy happy life. We do go through some things but in the end the WL is well worth it hang in there! You got this.