I am a male and I dyed my hair color the day before surgery. Could the anesthesia have done anything to my hair?

Question

Is there any way a day before my surgery, dying my hair that the anaesthesia could do any permanent damage to my hair. Being a male, I do worry about losing my hair but hope that won't be until my 40's and I'm just worried if the anaesthesia could have had any adverse effects on my hair a day after dying it. Should I mention this to my surgeon?

Gregory A. Wiener, MD, FACS · Answer

Hello, thank you for your question.  My first response would be, yes, always tell your surgeon any concerns you may have prior or post surgery.  As far as my knowledge, I do not believe there is a correlation to hair color and anesthesia.  The best thing would be to inform your surgeon, as well as speak with anesthesia.

R. Stephen Mulholland, MD (retired) · Answer

Dear Arsenal,

In answer to your question, dying
your hair the day before a surgical procedure does not put your hair, the hair
bulb, at risk specifically from the hair dye. 
However, a surgical procedure with general anaesthesia or any type of
local anaesthesia in the scalp, face or neck can be a stressful event and
stressful events can affect hair loss. 
It is relatively common for patients who undergo a stressful general
anaesthetic procedure and operation to have some degree of hair loss.  Generally, this hair loss, which is called
telogen effluvium or TE, is a temporary event. 
Usually the TE hair or shock hair, as it is also called, will grow back.

One of the ways to counteract this
in the pre and post-operative phase is to start using a topical Minoxidil, also
called Rogaine, which is a vasodilator that will increase the blood flow to the
scalp and minimize the shock hair loss. 
One can also attend a clinic such as SpaMedica, where high-fluence,
low-level light laser therapy used post-operatively can minimize the shock hair
loss effect.  There are topical medicated
shampoos and topical serum preparations that we deploy at SpaMedica that will
also minimize the risk of shock hair loss following any kind of
anaesthesia.

Mentioning your concerns to the
surgeon is important, but there’s nothing that your surgeon can do to prevent
shock hair loss. Most of the preventative steps need to be taken pre and
post-operatively at the aforementioned opportunities.In
the future, if you’re worried about ongoing male pattern hair loss, thinning or
shock loss, then preemptive, pre-operative and post-operative non-surgical
treatments with very low risk can help maintain the optimal volume of hair.I hope this helps. Best of luck.Sincerely, R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D., Certified Plastic Surgeon, Yorkville, Toronto

I am a male and I dyed my hair color the day before surgery. Could the anesthesia have done anything to my hair?

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I am a male and I dyed my hair color the day before surgery. Could the anesthesia have done anything to my hair?

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