Hair loss after FFS - tipps?

[anjaq]

Hi. After FFS 10 weeks ago, I seem to loose a lot more hair than usually. I was told it is from the anaesthesia and maybe shock loss near the incision and hair transplant sites.
I had a coronal incision with simultaneous transplants ot the hairline.
I can see hairless spots at the coronal scar but there also seems to be some diffuese hair loss.

I have now bought some minoxidil and will try that, although it says "for use by men only" . Someone suggested castor oil to me, but this is extremely messy. Any other good solid advice?

This is NOT about androgen related hairloss!!! So I dont think using something like finasteride or other DHT blockers - herbal or chemical - will have any effect...

Thank you

[Debra]

Yeah I've noticed shockloss from both FFS and hair transplants. I take hair and nail vitamins (not necessarily prenatal) and just give it time. The hair has always grown back for me. Just another struggle for us.

[Maybebaby56]

I'm in the same boat, Anjaq. I had a scalp advance about a year and-a-half ago and a few weeks/months later, big patches of hair fell out.  They filled back in after a few months, but then I had a hair transplant three months ago, and again I have big patches of hair loss. I look worse than before the hair transplant. 

I think Debra is right.  All you can do is wait.  My surgeon, Dr Zukowski, recommended taking 5 mg biotin every day and using Minoxidil for women (It's the same 5% concentration as Minoxidil for men, so I don't know how it's different except the canister is pink.)

~Terri

[Doreen]

I'm in the same boat, Anjaq. I had a scalp advance about a year and-a-half ago and a few weeks/months later, big patches of hair fell out.  They filled back in after a few months, but then I had a hair transplant three months ago, and again I have big patches of hair loss. I look worse than before the hair transplant. 

I think Debra is right.  All you can do is wait.  My surgeon, Dr Zukowski, recommended taking 5 mg biotin every day and using Minoxidil for women (It's the same 5% concentration as Minoxidil for men, so I don't know how it's different except the canister is pink.)

~Terri

Not really hair loss related, but you know that little scar line that marks the entire scalpline? Instead of getting more hair transplants to cover up the scar.. I just did microneedling with platelet rich plasma.  It has worked wonders on reducing my scar.  I had ffs with scalp advancement back Valentines Day, 2017.   My hairline is not something I'm scared of pulling my hair back anymore.  It worked wonders for me. 

Just an idea  

[MissyMay2.0]

I had some hair loss around my forehead incision when I had type 3 forehead reconstruction, and it grew back (I even have hair growth in the incision scar); I had mine done in 2007, and the scar is pretty much invisible now.

[anjaq]

Well I can see the area around the scar has lost hair, I guess that was to be expected and hopefully grows back in parts, although I have seen that in some cases it does not, leaving a bit of a hairless line across the scalp that can be hidden with good hairstyle or needs to be adressed. But I also seem to have diffuse hair loss - it seems like I am loosing some hair all over the head, not just near scar or transplant areas. It seems to be something that happens regularly with big surgeries,telogen effluvium or something, but still bothers me. I am not 3 months post OP and would have expected that by now the loss should have stopped and some regrowth would begin instead?
I already use 5mg Biotin and other supplements for hair and skin. I tried Minoxidil 5%, but it caused a lot of itching of the scalp and last week (about 10 days into the treatment) I had two days where I had a swollen face, itchy eyes, nose was swollen and so on - I figured it could be from the Minox as these are listed as potential side effects. So I stopped it - my impression was that maybe that experiment even increased the speed of the shedding a bit now...

I guess I just have to live with it - hope for a recovery in a year or two and find out some good hairstyles that work with less hair... I read some even needed a wig, I hope this is not going to be the case

[mistyjensen]

I had to cut a lot of my hair off after my hairline lowering because the hair knotted in large knots from being tightly under the medical bandages, and I couldn't get the knots out. I wasn't mentally prepared to cut my hair.

[Debra]

I had to cut a lot of my hair off after my hairline lowering because the hair knotted in large knots from being tightly under the medical bandages, and I couldn't get the knots out. I wasn't mentally prepared to cut my hair.

OMG that sucks....yeah I wouldn't be either. my hair is down past my bra line nowadays after growing it out for years and years and years......I really never want to cut it.

[anjaq]

Ah - I cut my hair by about 15 cm before the FFS as a precaution, being aware that it knots easily if it is longer and did not want to have to pull on it too much during healing of the scalp. Also I finally gave up on having super long hair generally. I tried for many years to grow it really long but my biological limit seems to be about the bra line and at that stage the hair is broken and thinned out because the hair from the top of the head never reach that length. So I decided I will probably have maybe shoulder long hair from now on. Possibly a bit longer or shorter at times. But I will not be foolish and try to let it frwo to my waistline or such...

[Debra]

Mine's slowed down a lot but it's still getting there

[anjaq]

Friends starting to notice I have less hair volume on the head. Still lossing for sure 40-50 hair in one visit to the shower alone, not to mention brushing hair... 

I have moved to mini hair clamps now to hold hair over the scar area - the small ones that other women would use 6 or 8 of them to fixate hair in a nice style.

Now I will try castor oil and peppermint oil, I think. Maybe it can help, if not I am afraid I will at some point move on to wearing hats most of the time.

[ilary83]

Hi, i'm 2 weeks post-FFS and i'm starting to lose a crazy amount of hair.. Did you solve the problem? Does the shedding end, and how long have you been shedding? Are you having regrowth?

[Dena]

Hi, i'm 2 weeks post-FFS and i'm starting to lose a crazy amount of hair.. Did you solve the problem? Does the shedding end, and how long have you been shedding? Are you having regrowth?

People have reported that the general can cause hair loss if the surgery is long. Given time you body will recover and hair growth will resume.

[anjaq]

7 months post OP now and still I am loosing more hair than usual. It is a bit less now compared to this summer though, so maybe it is just the time or any of my remedies actually helped a bit: Taking supplements - biotin, B-vitamins, zinc ; Using ahir oil twice a week, mixture of Vitamin E oil, Castor Oil, Peppermint oil and a bit olive oil for the viscosity.
Also I had my hair cut quite a bit shorter to avoid the hair to pull too much at the roots.
The transplants are growing well, the scar is also barely visible now, but I cannot really say if I had regrow of hairs I shedded, as I dont even know where the come from - very diffuse, I assume, so its hard to say

[Veronica J]

remember the body just went under massive surgical procedure.. its shock, at the moment its busy doing other things first, once the swelling, and other things are gone it will grow back. remember your body has only so many resources to do all the tasks it has to do. just give it time, it will grow back.

[Doreen]

Massage.. physical therapy to scars in the form of rolling or loose friction can help spur blood growth to the area & decrease scars.  Look up scar physical therapy