Patients Must Always Remember That Protein Is Essential
Patients who undergo bariatric surgery are highly advised to increase their daily protein intake, as protein is extremely important for the body to generate new cells, especially the cells that make up their hair. In most cases, patients need to take a minimum of 60 grams of proteins every day. This can be achieved by adding high protein foods to their daily meals to ensure that their bodies are getting the minimum requirement of the daily protein intake. Some of the best sources for proteins that can be added to the meals include red meat, grilled fish, skinless chicken, some types of cheese such as cottage cheese and low-fat cheese, protein bars, and chia seeds.
Process Of Hair Loss After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Hair loss is an extremely common condition after bariatric surgery. This situation is seen in an average of 40% of obese patients. Patients want to lose weight and look beautiful after bariatric surgery. Therefore, hair loss is a condition that causes patients to be unhappy. The name of hair loss after gastric sleeve surgery is telogen effluvium. It is a type of normal hair cycle. In patients with the same quality as the hair loss seen in the first months of babies. This loss usually passes by itself in 6 months. The patients wonder how to stop hair loss after gastric sleeve surgery.
Hair loss in this way can be regarded as a normal condition due to stress, illnesses, and malnutrition. Stress, genetic factors, environmental factors, factors such as diet are a cause of hair loss. Hair loss is seen after obesity surgery usually occurs because patients cannot get the necessary nutrients and vitamins in sufficient amounts. The situation we are talking about here is not a vitamin deficiency, but a sudden change in the absorption of nutrients and calories after the operation. This sudden change creates a shock effect on the patients body and causes hair loss.
Tips For Minimizing Hair Loss
Although there are no proven methods to stop hair loss during this phase after surgery, there are supplements like biotin and zinc that help thicken or strengthen hair.
Following the bariatric diet and nutrition program, which calls for limited calories and diverse protein intake on a daily basis, is helpful in preventing long-term hair loss. Of course, you must be cautious not to add too much extra protein or you may not see the expected weight-loss results.
In addition to the nutritional recommendations, itâs essential to take a bariatric-specific multi-vitamin with adequate B vitamins, folate, zinc, and biotin. B12 and calcium citrate with a vitamin D supplement also are prescribed.
Regular follow-up appointments with your bariatric surgeon are important to ensure that your vitamin and mineral intake and your blood levels are normal. These visits also help minimize side effects, and theyre essential to long-term maintenance after surgery.
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Incorporate Zinc Into Your Diet
If all of your efforts fall short and youre still losing hair, you may need to incorporate more zinc into your diet. Zinc is an essential building block of healthy hair. Be careful with your daily doses, however. Taking too much zinc can have adverse side effects on your health. Foods rich in zinc include poultry, oysters, and red meat.
Reasons For Hair Loss After Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric patients should always be informed that one of the side effects of weight loss surgery is hair loss. It cannot be predicted whether you will experience moderate or extreme hair loss after bariatric surgery, so you need to be aware of any scenario. Such hair loss is usually temporary and should stop within a few months. But why is there hair loss after bariatric surgery?
Below, we present the common causes of hair loss after bariatric surgery.
Surgical trauma hair loss
Hair loss after surgery may be a symptom of a surgical trauma, which is both physical and emotional. Regarding the physical aspect, the body deals with cutting, incisions, sometimes it has a device left in , scars so it is understandable that all the nutrients aim at healing the affected body area and hair follicles need to wait to get nourished. As for the emotional aspect, surgery triggers much stress that is accumulated for weeks and revealed on the surgery day. The heavy and dominant thoughts about the surgery and its outcome may cause major psychological trauma. So, hair loss after surgery how long does it last? Well, usually patients notice hair loss a few weeks after the surgery, but for the most part, the loss stops after 5-6 months . Even if such a hair loss is temporary and should not do much harm, patients should know how to prevent hair loss after surgery.
General anesthesia hair loss
General anesthesia and hair loss are linked. The hair loss from anesthesia is telogen effluvium type
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Hair Loss After Gastric Sleeve Or Bypass Surgery Is Usually Temporary
Do not worry if you are undergoing post-weight loss surgery and are experiencing hair loss, you are not alone. As explained previously, this is very common and most often temporary. As stated above, speak to your doctor about vitamins and supplements you can begin taking before your surgery to help alleviate potential deficiencies.
How Long Does Hair Loss Last After Gastric Sleeve
How long does hair loss last after gastric sleeve? On average, your hair loss after gastric sleeve may last for about six months, but individual results will vary. The hair thinning and gradual hair fall may begin within three to four months after your sleeve gastrectomy. In a few cases, the gastric sleeve hair loss may continue for up to one year after surgery, but with an increased focus on nutrition supplements your hair cycle may normalize faster.
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Hair Loss After Bariatric Surgery: Why It Occurs And How To Prevent It
The decision to have bariatric surgery shouldnt be taken lightly. Your medical team will help you determine whether its right for you once youve made several sincere efforts to lose weight through diet and exercise. Along with speedy weight loss, patients will experience additional side effects of which they need to be aware to prevent distress. After having bariatric surgery like a gastric sleeve, hair loss is a common, and sometimes unexpected, occurrence. Its best to be prepared for the occurrence and know what you can and cant do to prevent it.
Understanding the Cycle of Hair Growth
Hair grows in two phases: anagen as the growth phase telogen as the resting phase. The telogen phase includes the period when normal hair loss occurs. Most strands have a life of between 1 and 6 years, and the duration of the shedding period is an average of three months. Factors that have an impact on the hair growth cycle include the following:
- Childbirth
- Severe dieting
- Certain medications including anti-coagulants and beta-blockers
While most of the time, a person has 90% of his or her hair experiencing growth and 10% resting, when this proportionality changes, obviously noticeable hair loss can occur.
What causes hair loss after bariatric surgery?
How to prevent hair loss after gastric sleeve?
The Vitamins That Could Affect Hair Loss
Micronutrients And Hair Loss
Micronutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals, are vital to overall health and it cannot be emphasized enough how important they are in your long-term health after bariatric surgery.
But to place even more importance on micronutrients, it turns out they play a roll in hair growth, too.
You see, vitamins and minerals are major elements in the normal life cycle for hair follicles. The hair follicles need the micronutrients for healthy cell turnover.
Just like skin cells, there is a constant turnover of old and new cells in the follicle bulb. Vitamins and minerals support natural cell turnover
Research has found that providing proper amounts of micronutrients plays a significant role in genomic stability.
Here are the most impactful micronutrients that support hair health:
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Can I Prevent Hair Loss After Bariatric Surgery
While there is no way to totally prevent your body from experiencing hair loss due to shock or nutrient deficiencies after bariatric surgery there are certain things you can do to mitigate risks. The general plan should be to ensure you are getting the right amount of protein, vitamins, and other nutrients your body needs without sabotaging your weight loss goals and daily calorie take.
Hormonal Changes And Hair Loss
Hormones are the most common cause of hair loss for both women and men. The table below taken from this study illustrates well the dramatic changes in the hormonal profile after bariatric surgery.
Its these hormonal changes that occur after bariatric surgery that have the most significant impact on weight loss however, it does stand to reason that they can contribute negatively to short-term and long-term hair loss after bariatric surgery.
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The Hair Growth Cycle
The hair growth cycle has a three-stage cycle. Anagen is the growth phase which can be influenced by age, genetics, hormones and metabolic factors. Between 80-90% of hair will be in anagen at any given time.
At the end of the anagen phase hair enters a transition period called catagen. This phase contains cutting off the nutrient supply to the root. This is the shortest phase lasting 1-2 weeks and only 1% of the hairs are in this phase at any time.
Telegen, is the last of the phases known as the resting phase.The hair is inactive for 1-4 months until the anagen begins again. When the new hair growth begins it causes the hair to detach.
Most healthy human scalps have 100,000 hairs, and remain in the scalp for 1-6 years. Typically 100 of these hairs will shed daily. When normal shedding occurs continuous hair growth replaces what is lost.
Nutrition And Hair Loss After Bariatric Surgery
And as it turns out, prioritizing your nutritional intake isnt just important for your overall health and healing. If your hair loss continues after six months, I suggest looking into your nutrient intake as this may be contributing.
Many people are under the impression that biotin is the most important nutrient in terms of hair loss prevention and regrowth, but this isnt necessarily true.
While biotin can certainly play a supportive role, there are a few other nutrients that are more important to minimize hair loss. Biotin has only been shown to be helpful in preventing hair loss if you have a biotin deficiency. I typically dont suggest a biotin supplement following surgery because there is not much evidence to support it and I would rather you focus on your multivitamin.
If you would like to eat biotin rich foods you can include foods like salmon, egg yolks, nuts and spinach in your diet.
Instead of biotin there are several other nutrients that have been shown to affect hair loss, including iron, zinc, and protein.
If youre taking a bariatric multivitamin youre likely taking the suggested amount of iron and zinc. But just to make sure you can check out this article here that I wrote about vitamins.
As always, including foods that are high in these nutrients is also suggested. Foods can include poultry dark meat, red meat, light tuna, quinoa and beans.
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Incorporate A Protein Source At Every Meal
Protein after surgery is imperative for recovery, healing, sustained weight loss, and prevention of muscle loss.
Some sources of high-quality protein include eggs, fish, poultry, legumes, or dairy, as long as you can tolerate them well. Your stomach size is smaller following surgery, making it important to eat a solid protein source at every meal throughout the day. Find some of my recommended protein-rich, bariatric-friendly recipes here.
Generally speaking, protein intake should be between 60-100 grams per day, but your surgical team and registered dietitian will offer personalized guidance for your recovery. Its possible that supplemental protein drinks will be recommended to help you meet your needs temporarily.
When To Be Concerned About Hair Loss
Although far less common, hair loss can also be a result of nutritional deficiencies after bariatric surgery. You should be suspicious of this possibility if:
- Hair loss persists beyond the first year of surgery
- Hair loss first begins more than six months after surgery
- There are significant ongoing issues maintaining adequate food intake due to severe difficulty swallowing, nausea or vomiting
- Blood testing demonstrates persistently low iron, zinc or protein levels
- Other symptoms of vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies exist
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Why Does Hair Loss Happen After Bariatric Surgery
Telogen effluvium can be triggered by several things but it is not the same as alopecia areata which causes permanent hair loss and scarring. With telogen effluvium, large amounts of hair may fall out but it is usually temporary and will grow back. Events that often trigger telogen effluvium are stress, major life event, illness, childbirth, severe trauma, scalp issues, medication, hormones, deficiencies, marked weight loss, or extreme dieting. Bingo!
Experiencing hair loss after bariatric surgery can be attributed to the stress of the surgery, the quick loss of weight, and possibly, aggravated by vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. All types of bariatric surgery alter the size of the stomach and some also change the way nutrients and vitamins are absorbed through the digestive system. When the body is lacking certain vitamins and nutrients this can further trigger or prolong the phase of excessive hair shedding.
How Often Does Hair Loss Happens In Patients Undergoing Gastric Sleeve
Hair loss after gastric sleeve surgerycan happen in 30% to 40% of patients. However, this situation is something merely temporary if the patient follows the advice of the bariatric surgeon.
Speaking specifically of patients with gastric sleeve surgery, this situation arises in them less frequently because it is a pure restrictive procedure, in other words, the absorption of ingested nutrients is not affected as in malabsorptive procedures such as the gastric bypass, minigastric bypass, duodenal switch, etc.
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What Is Gastric Sleeve Surgery
How To Stop Hair Loss After Gastric Sleeve One of the most applied and preferred gastric surgeries today is tube stomach surgery and it is commonly referred to as stomach reduction surgery.
In sleeve gastrectomy, the stomach roughly takes the shape of a banana. Up to 80% of the stomach is removed with laparoscopic surgery. Thus, food intake into the stomach is restricted.
Gastric sleeve surgery is generally applied to those whose body mass index is above 40 kg / m². Another application is for those who have a body mass index between 35 and 40 and have diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea due to obesity. This surgery is not necessary for people to look aesthetically weak, but for their health. Gastric sleeve surgery can be performed on patients between the ages of 18 and 65. For obese individuals under the age of 18, parental consent is required for the operation, and for patients older than 65 years of age, their health conditions must be suitable.