Question:
Is there any vitamins that I could start taking now, to keep from losing hair later?
Forgive me for being superficial but, I notice that a lot of members have lost hair, and I was wondering how, if at all, it could be avoided, by taking supplements before surgery. — Gail A. (posted on June 29, 2001)
June 29, 2001
My primary care physician suggested taking prenatals prior. You can buy
over the counter at wal-mart. They make your finger nails and hair grow. I
am only 21/2 weeks post op so not sure or not if it worked yet.
— Jackie S.
June 29, 2001
Gail, my surgeon suggested taking Zinc for hair loss. I experienced some
hair loss about 3 mths post op (nothing real noticeable) so I started
taking Zinc and after a couple of months the hair loss seemed to stop.
— Cristy K.
June 30, 2001
I started taking Biotin at the height of my hairloss and it really seemed
to help.
— C. G.
June 30, 2001
There are many theories on what causes the hairloss after WLS here is
mine!!!! .. Thyroid hormone abnormalities, and certain surgical procedures,
which place a lot of stress on the body, can also cause hair loss. A high
fever that lasts several days, severe infection, rapid weight loss,
protein- and iron-deficient diets and some medications... So if you look
at that list, already we have three strikes there!!! WLS (a surgery
procedure) and Rapid Weighloss (self explanatory) & protein & iron
deficiencies (Yep again) .. Medications can also be a reason (such as
anticoagulants, isotretinoin, etretinate, lithium and birth control pills)
can cause hair to fall out, too. Generally, hair loss associated with
telogen effluvium stops two to three months after its cause is pinpointed.
If a specific medication caused the condition, your doctor may be able to
recommend a substitute drug.. When my hair started raining down, which by
the way is around the 3rd month post-op, I talked to my surgeon about my
hair loss and he recommend Z-Bec and Biotin (Both are at Walmart) and
protein, that combination slowed my hairloss at 6th month post-op and at 10
months post-op started getting new growth... I recently added Selenium to
the mix as I was having abdominoplasty surgery and didn't want to start
loosing hair again... So far so good and even more hair really coming back
in now :) http:www.angelfire.com/ok3/vbowen
— Victoria B.
June 30, 2001
My father's surgeon stated the reason for hair loss is the minimal amount
of protien ingested post-op. He said usually the hair folicals are 10%
non-working, but when we are post-op, our hair folicals shut down to about
60% working to keep the protien where it is mostly needed. I am planning
on taking some of the suggested vitamins and taking a protien supplement
until I have surgery, continuing after if my surgeon states I can.
Hopefully, that will help reduce the amount of hair loss. I know stress on
a body causes hair loss too, I've been there done that before. As far as
your question being superficial, don't be silly. It is a big concern and
one of the only deterrants for me not to consider the surgery. Who wants
to lose their hair? Certainly none of us. Good luck and pardon the
spelling errors, it isn't my strongest asset.
— Jennifer F.
June 30, 2001
My surgeons now start the pre-ops on protein supps & mutli vites as
much before surgery as they are willing to start. Makes the healing go
more easily, too. When I went in for revision, I upped my protein supps
sky high, took more C, more Hair Skin Nails, and did OK. Still some
post-anesthesia hair loss, but not radical. The more recent WLS candidates
I've seen, those who started on protein supps, multis, C & a hair
preparation have had far less "hair trauma" then the rest of us
did back in the olden days.
— vitalady
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