Can Anesthesia Change Hair Color?

Anesthesia is used when a person undergoes surgery. There are different types of anesthesia, and depending on the procedure, the anesthesiologist and the doctor decide which one to use. It is not unusual for side effects to occur after anesthesia, but changes in hair color is not one of them.

Types

• Local anesthesia numbs a small area of the body. Patients are awake and alert during application. Conscious or intravenous anesthesia relaxes and relieves pain. Regional anesthesia blocks pain in a particular area of the body, such as an epidural anesthesia used during childbirth. General anesthesia puts a person to sleep. Patients don't feel or remember the procedure.

Side Effects

• It is possible for a person to feel minor pain because the anesthetic may not have numbed the area enough. However, this is rare as qualified anesthesiologists typically take great care to make sure a patient is adequately and safely sedated.

Risks

• Some patients may develop an allergic reaction (hives or difficulty breathing), sore throat, nausea, confusion or an irregular heartbeat. Rarely, a person may suffer a stroke, brain damage, heart attack or even death.

Expert Insight

• Dr. Ronald Levy, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston says that anesthesia typically leaves the body in 24 hours and that there is no relationship between anesthesia and hair color.

Changes in Hair Color

• Most changes in hair color are due to chemicals, either in hair products or in swimming pools. Changes in hair color also occur as a natural part of the aging process, through stress and sometimes poor diets.