chemotherapy treatment
One of the most frequent side effect of cancer treatments is chemotherapy hair loss. Why does one lose hair 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; among these, the cells in the hair roots, as well. The effects of chemotherapy on hair are not limited only to the scalp as the procedure affects the hair on the body, too. Unfortunately, eyelashes, eyebrows, armpit and pubic hair and other body hair may also fall out.
There is a wide variety of drugs that are used in chemotherapy. 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, make sure to discuss all such details with your doctor, in order to be prepared to cope with hair loss psychologically.
Hair usually starts falling out after 10–14 days from the beginning of the treatment. It may fall out quite fast, gradually or in clumps. Chemotherapy hair loss remains a problem throughout the entire period of the treatment and a month afterwards. Half the hair will be gone without one even noticing. Luckily, in most cases, chemotherapy hair loss represents a temporary effect. Hair can be expected to grow again 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.
It usually takes about four to six weeks for the hair to recover from chemotherapy, and the growth rate will be somewhere around a quarter inch per month. When the hair starts growing back again, it might be a little different from the hair that was lost because of therapy. The color and texture alteration will be a first recovery sign and the hair will recover the look previous to the treatment the moment cellular pigmentation is functioning normally all over again. Unfortunately, chemotherapy hair loss cannot be prevented as none of the treatments available is completely free of such side effects.
Tags: adjuvant chemotherapy, breast chemotherapy, cancer chemotherapy, chemotherapy drug, chemotherapy drugs, chemotherapy effects, chemotherapy hair loss, chemotherapy patients, chemotherapy protocol, chemotherapy side effects, chemotherapy treatmen
