Hair Loss After Surgery
Have you heard stories about hair loss after surgery? It is true that hair loss and surgery tend to go hand in hand, but it doesn't last forever and can be minimized with proper nutrition.
In order to understand hair loss in general and hair loss after surgery, it might be helpful to look at the way hair grows (this description won't prepare you for a degree in the sciences, but I've tried to make it short and simple!):
On your skin, all over your body, but most concentrated on your head, are tiny indentations. In these indentations are little glands called sebaceous glands, which produce sebum (a waxy, oily substance). These sebaceous glands are attached to follicles. The follicles pack together old cells which magically (or not so magically, it's a bit complicated!) turn into hair. As more cells pack together, the previously packed cells get forced up and out of the skin, and voilá! We have hair. The sebum coats the hair as it's coming out, giving you either shiny hair or greasy hair, depending on the amount and on your point of view. Different people produce different amounts of sebum, which explains why some people seem to need to wash their hair three times a day to keep it from looking limp and dirty.
We're getting to the hair loss part - bear with us
There are several phases in life of a hair:
- follicular morphogenesis: The follicle is preparing to grow a new hair
- anagen: The growth phase, lasts two to three years
- catagen: The hair has stopped growing and is forming its root, lasts two to three weeks
- telogen: The hair is resting - neither growing nor shedding, lasts about three months
- exogen: The hair has served its purpose and now sheds, a nice way of saying it falls out.
Something to remember is that not every hair on your body is in the same phase at the same time. Up to 90% of your hair at any moment is in anagen, while 1-2% is in catagen, and 10-14% is in telogen. When the telogen phase of your hair is finished, the hair falls out and the follicle prepares for the next cycle.
Every day we have hair loss. Surgery can accelerate the process though, resulting in the dreaded hair loss after surgery. Remember that though 10-14% of your hair is in telogen at any given time, and that the hair falls out at the end of this phase, not all telogen hairs are at the same stage. Today one hair may have just entered the telogen phase, meaning it has another three months to live on your head, while another may be right at the end of this phase, and ready to do its swan dive.
Why do gastric bypass and hair loss seem to go hand in hand?
When many more hairs than usual are in the exogen phase at once, you notice lots more hair on your hairbrush. There are lots of things that can cause a disruption in your hair's cycle: hormonal changes (a dramatic change in diet can cause your hormones to think things are a bit difficult in the world, and they try to adapt), blood thinners (remember the heparin shots you got at the hospital right after surgery?), and the stress of undergoing surgery. Anesthesia is a possible risk factor as well. It is very common for people to notice more hair loss than usual about three months after having general anesthesia.
Ok, I don't care WHY it's falling out - just make it stop!
If we had the solution for this, we'd be on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, using cash as napkins at the dinner table.
We do have some suggestions that may help though. Check out our page on gastric bypass and hair loss after surgery.
Here are some other pages you may find interesting:
- Anesthesia Complication
- Deep Vein Thrombosis
- Dumping Syndrome
- Gastric Bypass and Hair Loss
- Septicemia
Return to the Gastric Bypass Guru from Hair Loss After Surgery
