Post surgery hair loss and psoriasis

[RobotsInDisguise]

I had major surgery three months ago and also have bad scalp psoriasis. My hairdresser cut my hair shorter than she does normally and I've just noticed that my thin hair now has a really obvious scaly bald patch to one side.

I'm absolutely gutted. What can I do to make it better?

I want my hair back and I want my psoriasis to go away. I've been treating that with all sorts of stuff and it comes back as soon as I stop.

I didnt think I cared that much about my appearance but I'm sobbing, it looks awful.

There are no GP appointments for three weeks.

I had an 8 hour op last summer and 2-3 days afterwards I had a big lump on the back of my head. It went down after a few days and then 2-3 weeks later all the hair in a 5-10cm where the lump was literally fell out over night.

When I saw the surgical team at my follow up appt they'd not seen anything like it but after a bit of research they found it's a type of pressure induced alopecia. It's a rare complication of long surgery where your head isn't moved often enough or where you might be lying on a crease in the pillow. I can't remember the full medical term of it but search for surgery (particularly cardiac although thats not what i had) and hair loss as there seem to be a few articles around.

Luckily for me my hair grew back in around 4-6 months.

I don't know if that helps with regards to the bald patch, unfortunately I can't help with the psoriasis sorry

Thanks Minty, I'll look into that. I've just been reading about nioxin, but I don't know if that can be combined with psoriasis treatment.

I've just done a quick search myself and found something called telogen effluvium - hair loss typically occurring a few months after major trauma..... could that be it?

Thanks for searching :)
I think it could be. I've on going stresses too. Massive wake up call that I need to be looking after myself. I went back to work way too early after surgery.

I think we're often guilty of not putting ourselves first and getting back in to real life far too soon.

I hope that a change in diet and lifestyle can help turn things around for you. Good luck

Thank you. I really appreciate you taking time to talk about this and looking for info for me.

No problem

I had this after two majors surgeries insude a year. It's normal (as minty said it's called telogen effluvium). Mine took a while to get back to normal as I was extremely run down, but it did within about 8-10 months.

Thanks Gobbin.