Saturday, May 27, 2006

Hair Loss With Chemotherapy

Being in the "cancer field" of nursing, my patients often ask me if they will lose their hair. Well, with chemotherapy, there is almost 80-90% chance that they will eventually lose their hair. But I must say that there are newer chemo drugs that are being introduced in the market now that are able to target cancer cells better and leave hair cells intact.

So, why do they lose hair? The hair follicles are rapidly growing cells. Chemo drugs don't know the difference of a cancer cell and normal cell. They just totally wipe out everything that is on their way.

They do grow back but the new hair growth might be different in color and texture since the hair bulb might be permanently affected. I had patients that before they started treatment, their hair is all curly and black. After the treatments, the curls disappeared.


Losing hair is harder in women. Our hair is our crowning glory. I tell them that if their hair falls in clumps, it would be easier to shave them off. Personally, the trauma of losing hair all at once would be somehow less painful than watching it fall from my scalp one batch at a time. But, I do let them decide on it though.

At the hospital, when we have a newly diagnosed patient, we talk to them about resources that are available for them including a list where they can get wigs or head accessories - that helps a lot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just passing... Hope to see more posts.