Acne Treatments Guide - Articles

Facts About Chemotherapy Hair Loss

Many people dislike chemotherapy of cancer because of a side effect of hair loss. It reduces acceptance and demotivates the patient. When it comes to somebody's life and death, hair loss is a very minor thing and has to be neglected. But it is a human nature not to accept this situation logically. Instead, many people taking such therapy become emotionally disturbed and make this a very big issue.

Both men and women fear the chemotherapy induced hair loss as one of the worst side effects of treatment for them emotionally. Whether you hair will fall out, and to what extent it does, depends to a great extent on the type of medication and dosage of the medications that your treatment requires. Unfortunately, it is a frequent side effect of such treatments.

Generally speaking, it occurs because of the same reason why chemotherapy works in treating cancer. Rapidly growing cells are attacked by the drugs, and both cancer cells and the cells responsible for hair growth do grow fast. The alopecia is commonly not permanent and after chemotherapy has been finished, the hair will grow once more. It will take one or two months following the completion of the course of treatment for hair growth to resume and color and texture may have changed from before.

There is no guarantee that hair will not fall when someone is treated with chemotherapy. There are, however, several treatments that may make the situation more manageable. There is some indication that Minoxidil may slow the rate of loss and encourage regrowth more quickly. Rogaine is a name brand that is well known. A method that is considered alternative is applying ice packs during chemotherapy to slow the blood flow to the scalp, with the intent of minimizing damage to the area. To some extent, there have been reports of this being effective. Some, however, some have reported it as uncomfortable and risk may increase for the same reason it preserves hair.

You can minimize to some extent the impact of the hair loss on your life if you plan ahead. You should not engage in any activities which stress your hair prior to treatment, such as bleaching, coloring, or dying your hair. You can consider whether you are going to use a wig or perhaps cut your hair short or even shave you head prior to treatment to minimize the visual impact of the hair loss during chemotherapy treatment.