Hi everyone, I had coiling and stent placement on 5 MM aneurysm in the ICA 11 weeks ago. I started to experience hair loss 2-3 weeks after surgery. I’m am now having even more hair loss, it’s freakin me out. How have other people dealt with this and how long did it take to come back?
Thx
I was coiled after rupture, no stent. Almost a month in ICU. My hair started falling out but was told it was stress, my body getting used to foreign material in my brain, diet or lack there of. I would call your doc and ask the triage nurse, she may have a great answer or can get the question to your surgeon. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Thanks Moltroub, prior to surgery my surgeon told me this would happen because of the radiation from X-rays during the surgery. I’ve read that this is common. I’ve also ready that some people weren’t told this could happen. In my case I was told and was informed to was temporary. Im just saddened by this.
Moltroub said:
I was coiled after rupture, no stent. Almost a month in ICU. My hair started falling out but was told it was stress, my body getting used to foreign material in my brain, diet or lack there of. I would call your doc and ask the triage nurse, she may have a great answer or can get the question to your surgeon. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
The coiling is not a surgery but is done in an emergency situation via a Angiogram up through the groin and the radiation is higher than that of a CT.
I also experienced some hair loss when I suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage and had coiling done. It doesn't go for long and eventually stops so don't worry too much about it. Hope that helps. :-)
Sky...
there is a discussion on radiation set up by member Sherri Long...you may want to review...
Thanks Ronnie for the feedback. I hope it stops soon. It was a big shock for me when I found out that I had the aneurysm and needed this procedure done. And the after effects are not pleasant either. I’m learning to live with all of this and thank a god everyday to be alive.
Ronnie said:
The coiling is not a surgery but is done in an emergency situation via a Angiogram up through the groin and the radiation is higher than that of a CT.
I also experienced some hair loss when I suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage and had coiling done. It doesn’t go for long and eventually stops so don’t worry too much about it. Hope that helps.
Hi Patioplans, thanks. I’ll look at that for more info.
patioplans said:
Sky…
there is a discussion on radiation set up by member Sherri Long…you may want to review…
Hi,
I am now nine months post-clipping and my hair on the side of my clipping, by my temple and not that close to the incision, is much thinner than the untouched side. It's quite bizarre to see the difference on the two sides. I don't really understand what would cause the thinning away from the incision, which also has patches of baldness. Thankfully, I have a lot of thick hair, and so I can part my hair to cover up the baldness pretty well.
Does anyone know what would explain the baldness nine month after the operation?
THanks,
Michele
Coiling is considered a surgery and it definitely fits the legal definition of "surgery" and is not always done in an emergency situation. The patient is put under anesthesia, there is an incision made, and in my case, it was done by a neurosurgeon who also called my coiling/stent a surgery.
Ronnie said:
The coiling is not a surgery but is done in an emergency situation via a Angiogram up through the groin and the radiation is higher than that of a CT.
I also experienced some hair loss when I suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage and had coiling done. It doesn't go for long and eventually stops so don't worry too much about it. Hope that helps. :-)
I'm sorry you are going through this. The amount of radiation that we get during coiling can cause hair loss, but so can stress on your body. I am not aware if I had hair loss after the surgery because I was so used to it happening years before. When I was going through cancer treatment for 4 years, my oncologist told me that the reason I was losing so much hair was the result of the stress that the meds were putting on my body. My hair was much thinner throughout treatment, but after some of the meds were finally out of my body, my hair recovered fairly fast.
It is hard to see hair falling out when you have already gone through so much already. I had long hair and also found that pulling my hair back would hurt my scalp later even when I didn't pull it back tightly. I would remove the band and have to message my scalp because it hurt so badly. I hope this doesn't happen to you.
You should call your surgeon's office to touch base to see if they recommend anything. I do believe in drinking water in adequate amounts to speed up removal, but again, ask the office if this helps. I hope your hair loss stops soon and starts reversing itself. Take care, Sherri
Thank you Sherri for your feedback. I was reading that Plavix may cause hair thinning/loss as well. This may be another culprit. I will wait until I can get off of Plavix to see if anything changes.
Sherri Long said:
I'm sorry you are going through this. The amount of radiation that we get during coiling can cause hair loss, but so can stress on your body. I am not aware if I had hair loss after the surgery because I was so used to it happening years before. When I was going through cancer treatment for 4 years, my oncologist told me that the reason I was losing so much hair was the result of the stress that the meds were putting on my body. My hair was much thinner throughout treatment, but after some of the meds were finally out of my body, my hair recovered fairly fast.
It is hard to see hair falling out when you have already gone through so much already. I had long hair and also found that pulling my hair back would hurt my scalp later even when I didn't pull it back tightly. I would remove the band and have to message my scalp because it hurt so badly. I hope this doesn't happen to you.
You should call your surgeon's office to touch base to see if they recommend anything. I do believe in drinking water in adequate amounts to speed up removal, but again, ask the office if this helps. I hope your hair loss stops soon and starts reversing itself. Take care, Sherri
Michele...I somehow thought (read somewhere?) ...that angios are done during open surgery...for expanded "visualization" during the procedure...Because you brought it up...it may be one more questions for the neuro-docs ???
Also for the diagnostic angios....and, for 'completion" angios... and, if there were any other CT/As or other? .
It perhaps would be a good question for anyone in their "decision" presentations/recommendations from the docs? .
Michele said:
Hi,
I am now nine months post-clipping and my hair on the side of my clipping, by my temple and not that close to the incision, is much thinner than the untouched side. It's quite bizarre to see the difference on the two sides. I don't really understand what would cause the thinning away from the incision, which also has patches of baldness. Thankfully, I have a lot of thick hair, and so I can part my hair to cover up the baldness pretty well.
Does anyone know what would explain the baldness nine month after the operation?
THanks,
Michele
I had a very large patch of hair fall out, not very long after coils/PED but I knew it would happen (though not from those docs - from a previous consult). It was still quite disturbing how it just came out in my hands in clumps!! I sat in the bathroom and just kept running my hands through my hair until all that was loose came out. I had longer hair so it was doubly disturbing! Luckily it was mostly covered by the rest of my hair (bottom left rear of my skull, a few inches from any hairline). My hairdresser was careful with my haircuts for a good two years until it finally grew to the length of the rest of my hair, and I kept my hair longer until that point. It came back super curly (it had fallen completely out, smooth bald spot), but after it grew out and started to be cut with the rest of my hair it stopped being curly and I can't even find it now (my surgery was in March 2012). I was coloring my hair then and my hairdresser and I joked about dying that patch a special color lol. I just blended it in in the end. I do remember when the wind blew though I was really self-conscious about it blowing up and the bald patch showing!
Hi Everyone,
Many thanks for your insights. I'm not sure it makes a difference, but I had a clipping. I don't know if there was less radiation to that part of the head than a coiling. Does anyone know? I suppose this is quite a technical question.
Sarah -- I'm very glad to hear that your hair came back after a few years. That means there is hope that my hair will return too!
Best,
Michele