Hi all! I had decompression surgery almost 4 weeks ago (doing great so far=WAY better than before the tripaning anyway:) my question is this, has anyone else noticed either or both of the following? 1) insanely dry hair where it was very healthy before? And 2) periods of insane, possible shingle like scalp pain either in isolated spots or all over?
My husband owns hair salons and is baffled by how insanely dry my hair has become. I told him it was probably the first week and half of daily hair washing to keep the incision clean,as I have Looong hair and need the oils from only once weekly washings. -Don’t ask me out on Wednesday night, I’ll be washing my hair ;)but he is not buying it. He is French and they are stubborn <3 so I was chalking it up to that, however I am wondering if anyone else noticed this…
Regarding scalp pain. I’m not speaking near incision I’m talking full head or large patches. It is not from dirty hair, or from having my hair up too long. The pain is so bad when the wind blows my hair it hurts, forget my daughter gently touching my hair. It is also not constant. I used to get this with a high fever occasionally or right before I would get sick. Read: Rarely. Now it’s like once a week, without fever or illness. My theory on both of these things is that with the healing and changes going on up there post op, my hair follicles are in full on neglect and protesting… Any thoughts??
Sorry for the long post-feeling chatty from the muscle relaxers.
I don't know about the dry hair, but the scalp pain is actually quite normal I hear. My son had cranial revaulting (they removed his skull broke it apart and put it back) due to his bones being fused at birth (craniosynostosis of the saggital suture), when he was five months old. He is now 5 years old and still complains about hair brushing. He really hates when they do the scalp cleaning for the electrodes for his EEG's. Eventually the nerves should grow back to where they belong and most of the pain should subside. You will still have occasional problems, but not near as frequent as you do now. I believe it takes a full two years for the nerve endings to find each other an repair. In the mean time you will probably experience the pain, then numbness and then, hopefully it will subside as the nerves finally heal.
Good Luck and I hope your nerves are quick healers!
I experienced the same as you & I asked my surgeon about the pain & he put it down to nerves & it was also discovered that I had Psoriasis. This was possibly caused by the stress of the surgery etc... I thought it was Shingles but nope. Your hair being so dry could be a result of the Anaesthetic. Anaesthetic totally messes with hair follicles. Once your body settles down from the surgery & the Anaesthetic leaves your body entirely, your hair should go back to normal. Hope this helps. :-)
I normally have healthy, bordering on oily hair and have to wash every day if I’m leaving the house because it gets gross if I don’t. For the first couple months after surgery it was insanely dry and I lost handfuls every day. Its gone away with time and several hair cuts and my hair is back to normal. Especially in this heat… ew.
