What To Know About Chemotherapy And Hair Loss

11 July 2017
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Being diagnosed with cancer can be one of the worst experiences that a person encounters. In addition to facing a potentially lethal disease, these patients will also have to undergo unpleasant and intensive treatments to combat the condition. Unfortunately, a side effect of these treatments may be the loss of your hair.

What Causes Chemo Patients To Lose Their Hair?

In order to neutralize the cancer cells, chemotherapy will introduce controlled amounts of toxins into the body. These toxins will kill the cancer cells, but they will also damage or kill normal healthy cells in the body. When the chemotherapy drugs come into contact with the hair follicles, it can kill them, which will result in the loss of hair.

Do All Chemo Patients Experience Significant Hair Loss?

While it is often assumed that patients will always lose their hair when they are undergoing chemotherapy, this is not actually the case. There can be a variety of factors that will influence whether or not a person suffers hair loss from chemotherapy. For example, there are some individuals that may experience only a mild thinning of their hair while others may suffer a complete loss of their hair. Unfortunately, it can be impossible to know whether you will suffer this type of hair loss until it starts to happen.

Are There Any Ways Of Combating This Type Of Hair Loss?

Individuals that are starting chemotherapy may be worried about having to suffer the embarrassment of losing their hair during these treatments. However, cold cap treatments can help to prevent this problem from occurring. These caps are designed to be worn while you are sleeping. They can help to limit the amount of chemotherapy medicine that reaches the hair follicles on your head by constricting the blood vessels. While these caps may sound unpleasant to wear, you will quickly adjust to the sensation of wearing it, and this may be a small price to pay for preventing the loss of your hair during your chemotherapy treatments.

Cancer is a serious condition that will need prompt and ongoing treatments to cure. Unfortunately, a common side effect of cancer treatments can be for individuals to lose their hair. This can be embarrassing, but it is important to understand the actual nature of this risk. For example, it is important to understand the causes of this issue, the fact that not every chemotherapy patient will experience the same hair loss, and the steps for mitigating this issue so that you are prepared to start these life-saving treatments.