Results of Minoxidil for hair loss treatment after bariatric surgery

So it starts…

At the beginning of the fourth month after the surgery, my hair started to fall. Exactly as expected. So no surprise here. I knew this would happen, so I was at peace with this new situation. What I was not prepared for was that this would be THIS bad in my case. I became in dire need of a hair loss treatment.

It didn’t start slowly, like two hairs here, three there. One day I washed my hair and I was in awe! Now what? I was already taking biotin and collagen for months, so I was naively expecting that it would help. It didn’t.

Pharmacy pills

I asked the pharmacy if they could recommend something to me. Obviously, they did. I bought one box, after another and then the next one. Results? Zero. My hair was falling out like crazy and it didn’t seem there was some end in sight.

Dermatologist

Good, I will have to be a little more thorough, so I went to the dermatologist. He checked my scalp, and was everything ok, so at least something positive. He gave me some new pills for strengthening my hair and nails. And surprise surprise… no change at all.

I was back in a month, quite desperate, it was already starting to be visible. Some parts of my hair were missing, and in the front, especially in the left corner, my hair was receding. It is not what you want as a woman in her early 40s. It felt horrible and quite desperate.

Why is it happening?

He explained to me one very important thing: hair loss after bariatric surgery is completely normal. It happens basically to everybody and somebody has it better, somebody worse. It is what it is. The body is lacking nutrients, vitamins, minerals, everything. It is undergoing a nasty transformation. They altered your digestion and the body is fighting this because it thinks it is dying. (We are not, but almost.)

That is why it is getting rid of everything that is not vital and absolute must for survival. And no, hair is definitely not a thing where the precious nutrients will go now. So it starts to fall. There is not much we can do about this. But the good part is that at some point it will stop. Usually, it is at 8-10 months after the surgery.

Minoxidil, the magic pill

I had a very long time to go… this was no good news for me. So we decided on the last resource, the strong fighter waiting among the backups. Minoxidil. These pills are really strong they are prescribed to patients with alopecia, regardless of their gender, and they tend to work to some extent.

Great! This will work, I concluded for myself. And rushed to the pharmacy to pick them up. I took one box, and I still didn’t see much change. Ok, I have to be patient, so I continued with the second one and then with the third and fourth. The results, you ask?

 

I was still quite positive in my mind, although my hair was catastrophic. I concluded at this point that it would be much easier and less painful for everyone if I got a buzzcut. And I did. The poor hairdresser was not at all convinced at first, but she did it anyway as I refused to change my mind.

Unexpected side effects

It all dawned on me one day when we were going in the car with my partner and the sun was shining from the back. He looked at me and told me: oh, you sprouted funny hairs on your cheeks close to the ears. They look golden in the sun. So funny 😀 WHAT??? What hair is there on my face??? No! I am not going to shave myself as if I were a man! Holly Jesus!

We got home and I started to search all over my face almost with a magnifying glass. It was really there. Not long, but much more than I normally have. It was like half a centimeter long, golden, and happily growing on my face. NO!

When I started to really focus on the state of all my hair all over my body… AHA moment happened. Ok… no, I didn’t sign to this at all and I strongly disagree with this outcome. My legs had somewhat more hair than usual. Well, who cares in November, right? 😀 but my arms were significantly more hairy than usual. From barely visible something, there were poking regular hairs, waving at me and looking quite happy.

This is not for me!

I was not. I stopped taking those pills from one day to another. It did literally nothing to my hair, it kept falling the same as before, and adding salt to the injury, I was turning into a Yetti. This was too much for me. I didn’t want this.

The next time I went to the dermatologist, I told him. And I was right. It doesn’t work only for hair, it works for every single hair that grows all over your body. So yes, every single hair on your body will be fortified and will come out stronger and longer than before. F.ck this! Luckily it is all only temporary and with time it went back to normal. Sigh of relief…

All in its right time…

So since then, I have kept my buzz cut. I got used to it and I started to like it. I bought a good hair trimmer and I use it every 10 days to keep my head in good shape.

Be aware

Lesson learned. If you are playing with the idea to start taking Minoxidil, be aware that there will be a lot more grooming all over. And your hair may stay the same. So the result is, at least in my case and personal experience, very questionable.

Maybe somebody else had a better outcome. I am happy for you if it works for you. In my case, I wasted literally hundreds of euros, swallowed hundreds of pills and nothing helped me.

With time the hair was slowly growing back. Very weak and thin at first but it got better. It also stopped falling that horribly. Also very slowly. But I can say that after the first year, it got to some kind of normalcy and it has been like that ever since.

I truly hope you had a much less traumatic experience with your hair loss 😂

https://bariradka.com/2024/07/02/bariatric-hair-loss/