Dog did not regrow hair after surgery

My PWC, Pixie, had TPLO surgery on both knees in November of 2005. It's now been over a year and she has not regrown her hair on her thighs. About one week after surgery, the pink skin of her legs turned black and no hair has grown. Her vet says he has never seen anything like it. I've tried to research it on the Web, but can find very little information. Would like someone to direct me to information about this condition. Has anyone else experienced it? If so, did the animal EVER get its coat back?

Pat

The shaved area or the scar???? Both of my greyhound girls has/had scars that hair never filled in, Callie's one on her leg went leathery and would crack open so I had to apply moisturizer. because she had other leathery areas of skin and was lethargic, she also had bald thigh's which can be normal in greyhound(the skin will darken from sun exposure ) I did have a thyroid panel run on her, she did prove to be hypothryroid, her energy came back within a couple of weeks and the skin did become more supple and the drying out on cracking open of her scar stopped (but it took about a year, the leathery skin is a sign of a long standing thyroid deficiency, I had adopoted her as a senior ) she did grow in some sparse fuzzy type hair in the winter and lost it again in the summer. so it likely was not related to the thyroid gland

But this is what her flank looked like
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/mleg2001/fcb96818e.jpg

Interestingly enough, the hair regrew over the scar, but not the shaved areas of her flanks and belly. So she has hair on her knees. My friends tease me and call her a "poogi". :D I am new on this forum and don't know how to put up a photo. I would like to post one if someone can give me directions on how to do it.

Also, her thyroid tests normal, her activity level is really good, her skin turned black while she was confined to the house and not exposed to the sun. As far as the results with her knees are concerned, the surgery was a complete success.

i imagine you've had a full blood panel done including liver and other organ functions?... when the liver fails, hair stops growing... but your dog sounds healthy so it's probably not that. :confused:

When I had my Chase spayed, she had an allergic reaction to what was in her IV. While the reaction wasn't bad - the skin in a small area around where the IV was was very irritated when she came home the next day. As it cleared up, the skin darkened and she never did grow hair in that spot.

I don't know if that helps you much but that is what I know. :D

Has your Vet suggested it might be alopecia? Maybe a second opinion with another vet or an an endocrinologist might be needed.