Hi everyone,

this is my first post! So I had my gastric sleeve on March 19th, and starting earlier this week my hair has been coming out in clumps! Everything I've read says the hair shedding happens usually after 3 months? Any ideas why mine has started so soon? I try to get at least 40-60 grams of protein a day and am taking vitamins. Not looking forward to being bald, by the end of 6 months!

I’ve read that just the stress of the preop diet, they surgery stress itself on the body, and the recovery period immediately following surgery can actually trigger hair loss early on. I’ve been reading that Biotin and Iron are really critical to help with it.

Thank you, that's good to know. I've started taking biotin along with the iron so hopefully that helps negate the loss a little.

38 minutes ago, Newlyfe2021 said:

I’ve read that just the stress of the preop diet, they surgery stress itself on the body, and the recovery period immediately following surgery can actually trigger Hair loss early on. I’ve been reading that Biotin and Iron are really critical to help with it.

some people claim biotin helps, many say it did nothing for them. If it does help, it's usually with regrowth rather than preventing the hair from falling out, because those follicles are already dormant.

I think I've read that iron deficiency can cause hair loss - so that might be what's going on. Normally hair loss after surgery doesn't start that early. The OP is right - it's usually around three months out (sometimes longer - mine started at five months out)

OP - did they do some baseline bloodwork on you before surgery? If so, they should have picked up on iron and ferritin deficiencies. Those levels don't deplete quite that quickly, so if you have a deficiency, I would think it would have shown up on pre-op blood tests.

I guess it COULD be due to the normal factors (stress of surgery, very low calorie intake), but that's really early.

Edited April 15, 20215 yr by catwoman7

It’s like the week 3 stall. For some it’s week 2 & others it ‘s week 6. It’s an individual experience but the hair loss is something almost all of us go through. It’s still a shock when it happens though.

Yes, it is the shock of the surgery & the restricted diet. It accelerates your natural hair loss cycle. You can’t stop it because the hair would have fallen out anyway just over a longer time frame. Biotin & other supplements won’t stop what is just a sped up natural process. Plus the hair on your head is already dead. The supplements may only help the quality of your new growth.

It will stop. In fact you already have new growth but it ‘s coming in at it’s usual rate - the part of the cycle hasn’t changed. How much you lose is very individual as is how long the hair loss will persist. I lost a lot but thankfully I had a lot of hair to begin. The loss persisted for about three months. At 23 months my hair is as thick as it was before. I did cut my long hair to just above my shoulders so the new growth wouldn’t have to grow as much to catch up to the rest of my hair.

I went through a similar experience about 12yrs ago during a very stressful period at work & in my personal life. My body reacted to the stress by more rapidly shedding my hair. I didn’t lose quite as much that time but it did last about 3 months then too. My hair grew back as well.

Yeah, I only recently started the iron so that could be a part of it. To be honest my surgeon only really advised me to consistently take a multivitamin, so I've been taking that with calcium and b12/bcomplex, and no separate iron. So hopefully that makes a difference.