Gunner had surgery in 2011. After the surgical shave, his hair never came back and his skin turned black. Daily Skin Rescue Lotion brought the lot back — pink skin, whiskers, fur and all.
What went wrong: a close surgical shave
Gunner went in for surgery in 2011. The surgical team shaved him close — close enough that months later, the crisp outline of the razor was still visible on his rear. The hair never grew back. The skin in the shaved area turned black.
This is more common than people realise. A close shave disrupts the follicles and breaks the skin’s natural defences. Yeast and bacteria move in, the hair-growth cycle stalls, and the area progresses to a localised version of Black Skin Disease.
The treatment: daily lotion, patience
Gunner’s mum Stacy ordered DERMagic Skin Rescue Lotion and started a daily routine in November 2011. Massage it in, every day, into the affected skin. No drugs, no steroids, no shaving.
The timeline
The progression of Gunner’s recovery is a textbook example of how the treatment works:
- November 2011 — starting point. Bald rear, fully blackened skin, crisp shave outline still visible
- February 2012 — about three months in. Pink skin returning. Stacy reports the skin feels warm now, where the old black skin felt cold and dead. Whiskers starting to appear
- March 2012 — fur coming back across the affected area. Almost a full recovery
Why warm skin matters
The detail in Stacy’s notes is the clinical clue. Old black skin felt cold; new pink skin felt warm. That’s the difference between dead, yeast-colonised outer tissue and live, well-perfused new skin growing underneath.
The lotion’s job is to penetrate the follicles, kill the yeast disrupting the normal cycle of hair and skin cell turnover, and let healthy skin push through. Once it does, the dead black layers shed and new pink skin appears — which then grows hair again.
The bigger lesson: don’t let your vet over-shave
Gunner’s story carries a warning. Never shave your dog close. If surgery is unavoidable, ask the vet to take off as little hair as possible. Close shaving isn’t medically necessary in most cases, and the damage it can do — as Gunner’s rear demonstrated for months — is real.
If your dog has been left bald and blackened after a surgical shave, the protocol is the same as for any localised Black Skin Disease: daily Skin Rescue Lotion, patience, and consistency.
Where to start
For a localised post-surgical area like Gunner’s, a single bottle of Skin Rescue Lotion is usually enough to get the recovery underway.
For specific guidance on post-surgical hair loss, email info@dermagic.eu or call 01624 829575.