Hair Loss During Chemotherapy

by Sheron Hopkins

When you have cancer, you are likely to undergo radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatments.

The latter is a treatment for cancer with the use of drugs that prohibit cancer cells from spreading further. As much as these drugs are a big help to the patient, these can also have side effects. Aside from affecting the cancer cells, chemotherapy also affects the normal cells inside the patient's body, such as hair follicle cells.

If you are a cancer patient, you will likely suffer from hair loss during chemotherapy. This loss of hair is also referred to as alopecia. However, there is no reason for you to fret, since your beautiful mane will grow back once you are finished with your treatment. Prior to your treatment, as with the other types of medical procedures, your specialist will talk to you regarding its possible downsides.

Not all of the drugs, which are used for chemotherapy, cause hair loss. There are also instances, wherein the chemotherapy side effect causes little damage that falling hair is barely noticeable. As for the patients, who are experiencing this downside, they may go through complete, partial or temporary baldness. There are some types of cancer drugs that result to a fall out to the other kinds of body hairs like: eyelashes, eyebrows, mustache, underarm hairs, beard, leg hairs, chest and pubic hairs. The level of hair loss varies for each patient, according to the following:

The drug that is being used
The type of drug combination
The dosage of the drug
The reaction of the body to the drug

Typically, losing your hair occurs after a few weeks of your first chemotherapy session. On the other hand, there are also some patients who are affected with these side effects of chemotherapy just days after their first session. You will know that you are experiencing from alopecia when you notice the following manifestations:

Several strands of hair fall out or get left behind your brush or comb
There are a lot of hair strands on the bathroom floor as you wash
A scary amount of hair strands are on your pillow each time you wake up

If you want to prevent extreme baldness during your cancer treatment, you can opt to cool your scalp. Cooling your scalp lessens the effects of the drugs on your hair follicle cells, which in turn, lessens hair loss. There are also some cases, wherein the fall out is prohibited. This procedure is done with a machine that helps keep the scalp cool. This is applied to the head, with Velcro, prior to the chemotherapy until two hours after it.

Hair growth occurs before the end of your chemotherapy, with full growth within three to six months although you will probably have finer and curlier hair, which also has a different color.

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