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Gastric Bypass Causes Hair Loss: Can It Be Avoided?
Surprisingly, hair loss is one of the reasons why preoperative patients sit on the fence before opting for gastric bypass surgery. Overweight people, especially overweight women, often have lush, beautiful hair. Of course they do - it's well fed and nourished! How many of us have been described as the woman with “nice hair and a pretty face”? What person in their right mind would give up one of their beautiful qualities? Hair loss usually occurs in the fourth or fifth month after weight loss surgery. During the rapid weight loss phase, calorie intake is low. This puts the body in a state of...
Gastric Bypass Causes Hair Loss: Can It Be Avoided?
Surprisingly, hair loss is one of the reasons why preoperative patients sit on the fence before opting for gastric bypass surgery. Overweight people, especially overweight women, often have lush, beautiful hair. Of course they do - it's well fed and nourished! How many of us have been described as the woman with “nice hair and a pretty face”? What person in their right mind would give up one of their beautiful qualities?
Hair loss usually occurs in the fourth or fifth month after weight loss surgery. During the rapid weight loss phase, calorie intake is low. This puts the body into a state of panic called hunger. Think about the pictures of prisoners of war. Most of the victims of this atrocity are hairless because they are literally starving. A healthy body typically sheds ten percent of hair follicles at any given time. When a body starves, approximately thirty to forty percent of hair follicles are killed as the body directs nutrition to more important areas. During this phase, hair loss is dramatic, with patients often finding clumps of hair on the shower floor. Remaining hair becomes monotonous and lifeless.
I knew hair loss was a potential result of weight loss surgery, but being a “half full” person, I didn’t believe hair loss would happen to me! It just happens to other people, I told myself! Imagine my surprise when my blonde locks lay on the bathroom floor like a hair salon. I shed a few tears over it.
The hair loss is a temporary effect of your gastric bypass surgery and will resolve as your diet and weight stabilize. When my hair was falling out, my husband, a lifelong advocate of vitamin supplements, found a vitamin specifically designed to build strong, healthy hair. The vitamin I take for healthy hair and nails is Silica Complex by Puritan’s PrideÒ. It contains calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, betaine and horsetail extract. Consuming this supplement almost immediately delayed my hair loss and renewed my dull lifeless hair. I will be taking this supplement throughout my life. Three years post-surgery, my hair is long, full and shiny – you would never know that I have suffered significant hair loss. In hindsight, I would certainly take this supplement before my surgery. At least I would start taking it soon after the surgery, before the signs of hair loss became apparent.
Copyright © 2005 Kaye Bailey – All Rights Reserved.
Inspired by Kaye Bailey