Has anyone experienced hair loss after an ostomy?

Thanks so much for replying. The stress of what we have been through has played havoc with our whole bodies and our poor hair has taken a beating too. Mine is starting to come back. Hope your’s fully recovers.

I do some grant writing for the local Area Agency on Aging, and since I am 82, I have asked that the staff fro the CEO on down do not refer to us as elderly. Call us seniors, or older people, whatever. But not the elderly, please. It is pejorative.
Back to hair. Mine was coming out by the could after my colostomy in March, and it went from straight as a pin to curly and was fragile. I stopped coloring it for a few months because I didn’t want to damage it, and I started using a biotin shampoo and taking a biotin tablet every day. I had my hip replaced a week ago and I was concerned that I might have some hair loss again. I even spoke with the anesthesiologist about it, and she said she had never heard of anesthesia being a cause of the problem. My hairdresser said she had seen this before many times in patients experiencing major surgery, and that it is definitely caused by stress on the body and mind. Makes sense to me.
Anyway, so far so good with the hip surgery, although the pain this past week was greater than I had been led to believe by everyone I had talked to. My surgeon said that mine was an extreme case of bone on bone—one of the worse he had ever seen, so that was probably why the pain was so awful. And my hair seems to be okay—and it is definitely growing back enough so that I will need a haircut in a couple of weeks
My ostomy has been cooking along throughout this whole thing. I have discovered that I like disposable pouches, so that is what I have been using. The pain meds have made my stools very hard—they are like pebbles you could skip across a pond. But I am weening off the drugs, so should be back to normal soon. So that’s it. Pain is decreasing and the hip surgery was a success ( saw the X-ray of the “after”, my hair is growing back, and don’t call me elderly🤗

I've been following this topic with some interest because my hair thinned out tremendously due (I have always believed) to an overdosing of sulfa many years ago. I'm old (84) now and my hair is very thin... however I couldn't say whether it thinned out more because of the colostomy .

However I would say that my skin has changed after I had the colostomy becoming quite granular, especially on my face and neck. I wonder if the ostomy had anything do with it. I've also undergone general anesthesia a few times since the ostomy for a variety of causes. From what I've read recently that this is particularly problematic for the elderly (which apparently is what I now am). Any thoughts?

I lost a lot of hair after my colostomy. It didn’t start growing back until after my reversal 6 months later. I think the shock to my body, all the antibiotic, and 40 pound weight loss contributed to the loss. It was if my body was using all its energy to heal me and hair and skin suffered. It was almost a year before all my hair grew back and my skin returned to normal. Biotin and a multi vitamin helped with the recovery.

Yes, I have always been wondering if I just experienced this same condition. It didn’t seem real major, but it was enough to wear. I could tell my hair was thinning considerably and seeing it in the sink and on the towel as I dried my hair concern me. I am post six months from surgery and seems that the issue has slowed somewhat. But I do directly related to the surgery an anabiotic’s and everything else that went on.

Oh, dear. Are you restored now?

My situation was different in that I went in to have appendix removed.... and wound up right before discharge septic--toxic and required 5 consecutive days of surgery to 'clean me out' and they had to perform ileostomy or I "would die" I survived at least 3 cardiac arrests ( pulmonary doctor told me more than that) one of which I was under (being resusitated for 10 minutes & husband was called to see if they should continue resusitation in middle of the night, thankfully he said yes!) There is more to this story but belongs in another discussion subject I think. Anyway I do believe God brought me through it all. Catelynn

YES I absolutely experienced hair loss -- esp. after the surgery, it was as if I had chemo.... And for years after surgery! Catelynn

That is a relief--thanks for sharing. My only concern is that I am having hip surgery with more anesthesia in early September. Hopefully, my poor hair won't take another hit. My plan is to live at least to 100--18 more years, and I really would like hair throughout. Fingers crossed. I didn't go to rehab, but was in the hospital for 2 weeks--terrible situation, but I have recouped well. Hope you have many more years with your curly hair! Bette

Yes, I lost nearly all my hair by the time I returned home from rehab. I was told it was the trauma from the surgery.
I took a biotin supplement daily for a couple of months. It took about 6 months before my hair was grown back enough to look ok. Now, 15 months after, I have a full head of hair with curls that I didn’t have before.