My Hair Loss Online Blog

Chemotherapy hair loss is one of the numerous effects of this cancer treatment. What is the reason why hair loss occurs during chemotherapy? The medication used in chemotherapy is extremely powerful and it destroys all the developing cancer cells, although they affect other body parts too. These medicines also attack other cells in the body that have a rapid growth; the cells in the digestive tract and the hair follicles are the main examples here. The effects of chemotherapy on hair are manifest for all the body parts covered by hair. Thus, patients will experience the loss of eyebrows, eyelashes, pubic and armpit hair.

The variety of the drugs used in chemotherapy is incredibly high with hundreds of medicines available. Some of these will trigger chemotherapy hair loss more quickly than others, but some may not even cause such a side effect. The difference in chemotherapy drug doses is relevant for chemotherapy hair loss, and while some patients will experience thinning of the hair others will go completely bald. Thus, discussing the medication that will be prescribed with the doctor and nurse is very important as they are the specialists able to inform the patient on what to expect from chemotherapy.

Hair usually starts falling out after 10-14 days from the beginning of the treatment. It may happen quite fast, either in clumps or gradually. Chemotherapy hair loss remains a problem throughout the entire period of the treatment and a month afterwards. Half of the hair can fall out before this is noticed by people around. Fortunately, in the majority of cases, chemotherapy hair loss is a temporary effect. Hair can be expected to grow back within six months to one year after the cessation of the treatment. The new hair could have a slightly different shade of color, with the mention that even the texture could be altered too.

The hair recovery period after chemotorapy is six weeks on the average, and the growth rate will be somewhere around a quarter inch per month. The changes that took place in the hair follicles during chemotherapy will be obvious in the way the hair grows back, but in time, things will get back to normal. The changes will be a first recovery sign and the hair will become what it used to be before the treatment the moment the cells that control the hair pigment begin working again. Unfortunately, one cannot prevent chemotherapy hair loss as there is no treatment which will guarantee that the hair will not fall out.