Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 4/19/2009

Question
I recently (two weeks ago) had throat surgery which required general anesthesia.  I was under anesthesia for no longer than one hour.  I now would like to go to get my hair dyed and highlighted, but someone told me that it would be too hard on my hair after the anesthesia, and that I might risk hair loss if I do so.  Can you please tell me if this is true, and if it is, how long should I wait before I color my hair?

Answer
I have answered this question several times before and as far as I know, there is no correlation between anesthesia and hair dye. I know there is a lot of info on the internet about this but I am not aware of any scientific study to support this claim. So the best I can tell you is not to trust everything you read on the internet as it is not peer-reviewed and people can say anything they want. Until I see a study in a reputable medical journal, I will continue to assume that there is no problem.


Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston