Anaesthetic and Hair

[Redhead Rebel]

I have heard and know from experience that having anaesthetic can cause a shed and can stall hair growth for a bit. . .

I want to be an Anaesthetic Technician and was wondering if being exposed to small amounts of the anaesthetic gas everyday would cause the same effect as actually being under anaesthetic?

[lydiajo]

Not true. I have been an anesthetist for 30 years. Haven't known anyone to have a shed. Maybe stress caused the shed.
Good luck.

[winship2]

I have had a general anaesthetic about 5 times and have never had a shed associated with it.

[Redhead Rebel]

Thanks :)

I should have worded my post a bit better, I have never shed anymore after anaesthetic but each time i've had it i've noticed slower growth for around 2 months after.

[lydiajo]

I'm not sure why anesthesia get blamed for everything. Surgery = Stress...physical and emotional. Laying about in bed, inactivity and less good nutrition also contribute to slower hair growth. My hair growth has been constant even after having general anesthesia twice. I did a search of some of my professional sites and found no proof that anesthesia effects hair growth.

[torrilin]

Having a shed when you're under a general anaesthetic is not a rare side effect. But if you're going under with a general anesthetic, usually they're doing something tricky where you must be as still as possible. That usually means a pretty serious or invasive procedure. (not always... I had hand surgery last summer, and because of the location the doctor needed me absolutely still or I could have ended up with serious nerve damage affecting my fingers. so I had general anaesthesia. all for a 3" incision...)

Add in that general anaesthetic is hugely disruptive to your body, and well... it's not surprising that all sorts of stress related effects can happen.

No drug ever does just one thing. Our bodies are really complex systems, and even tiny nudges like eating a bit different one day can have obvious physical effects. Don't believe me? Try eating nothing but fruit for dinner ;). And we don't all have precisely the same reactions. We've all heard of people who get hives from strawberries or peanuts. So it'd be tough to say accurately how you'd respond to work exposure levels of anaesthetic drugs. Logically, they'd want you to have the absolute minimum exposure possible, since a sleepy technician is one who is going to make lots of mistakes. You'd probably do better to talk with people in the field about what research has been done about the long term effects of the job on your health.

[WaitingSoLong]

Thanks :)

I should have worded my post a bit better, I have never shed anymore after anaesthetic but each time i've had it i've noticed slower growth for around 2 months after.

I have had general anesthesia several times and a couple times since I began taking monthly measurements of my hair. I can definitely say that I had no reduced growth after my procedures.