Wondering if anyone has any suggestions or ideas on how to prevent excessive hair loss. I've always had longer hair and I'm not sure what I should do if it happens to me. Thanks!

The hair loss is something you can't really prevent. It occurs due to a process called telogen effluvium. Bariatric surgery shocks our systems, resulting in temporary trauma to the hair follicles.

Basically, the hair follicles go dormant for a while and the hair sheds.

The hair shedding due to telogen effluvium usually starts at 3 to 4 months post-op and stops before the 1-year mark. Some swear that biotin supplementation and Progaine shampoo works. However, the only proven treatment is time and healing.

Edited June 3, 20179 yr by Introversion

13 hours ago, Introversion said:

The hair loss is something you can't really prevent. It occurs due to a process called telogen effluvium. Bariatric surgery shocks our systems, resulting in temporary trauma to the hair follicles.

Basically, the hair follicles go dormant for a while and the hair sheds.

The hair shedding due to telogen effluvium usually starts at 3 to 4 months post-op and stops before the 1-year mark. Some swear that Biotin supplementation and Progaine shampoo works. However, the only proven treatment is time and healing.

I think what a lot of people see as working for the hair loss is actually just those products making the remaining hair appear thicker. That being said, products with castor oil can help plump up what you have to help making hair loss less noticeable. I'm planning to get the castor oil line from Shea Moisture as soon as my current/regular stuff runs out. I'm at the one month mark post-op right now and I figure it can't hurt to try a little preventative hair care

Hair loss usually happens a few weeks to months after surgery because of the 2 different phases that your hair can be in at any given time. Each phase lasts a certain amount of time and depending on how much hair was in a certain phase DURING surgery determines how much you will lose. Biotin will help with regrowth, but it won't prevent hair loss. This explains it well:
https://www.drdkim.net/ask-the-dietitian/understanding-hair-loss-after-bariatric-surgery/#

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using BariatricPal mobile app

There is Dr. Matthew Weiner on youtube talks about hair loss and how to combat it after WLS.