Causes Of Hair Loss: Chemotherapy Treatments

Causes Of Hair Loss: Chemotherapy Treatments

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One thing is for certain when it comes to causes of hair loss, and that is that 99% of men and women who undergo radiation treatments for disease, such as chemotherapy, will lose their hair. There is a specific reason for this side effect. When a person is going through chemotherapy, this treatment is designed to attack cells in the body that are rapidly dividing, such as cancer. However, the cancer cells are not the only ones that get affected. Radiation affects the entire body and since it targets all cells that rapidly divide, the hair follicles are also attacked because they too split and divide at a fast pace. Any cells that are producing hair follicles are immediately shut down. The specific term for this type of hair loss is called “anagen effluvium”. Patients who are going through chemotherapy will typically experience the first phase of losing their hair within a few weeks of the first treatment. Over the next four to eight weeks, they will experience a massive loss of hair, if not all of it. Very few patients are lucky enough to hold on to their hair during treatment, however, there are a lucky few that experience very little side effects in terms of hair loss and can finish their chemotherapy treatments while holding onto their hair.Chemotherapy Affects Hair Loss In Other Areas Of The Body, Not Just The ScalpWhile most of the hair on a person's scalp will fall out within a few months of chemotherapy treatment, more areas of the body that grow hair may also be affected in time. Prolonged treatment may cause hair loss all over a person's body. They may lose hair on their arms, legs, face, and even the pubic area. The good news is that this hair on both the body and the scalp will eventually grow back within six months of the last chemotherapy session.Are There Any Alternative Ways To Prevent Hair Loss From Radiation Treatments?Because cancer is such a devastating disease, a person will try to alleviate the psychological stress of what is happening to them by attempting to cover up the hair loss during chemotherapy. The following alternative methods have been attempted as a way to reduce the amount of hair lost during treatment, although not quite successfully:1. Although this method rarely works but is sometimes practiced, a cancer patient may use a tourniquet that is tightly wrapped around the scalp in order to cut off the circulation of blood to the hair follicles. What does this accomplish? Well the goal here is to reduce the amount of radiation that may reach the scalp from the blood supply. Needless to say, this has not been reported to work.2. Another not-so-successful attempt at preventing hair loss while taking chemotherapy treatment is to create extremely cold temperatures around the head and scalp area by using specific cooling devices. Again, like the use of a tourniquet, the goal here is to reduce the blood flow to the scalp, by using extremely cold temperatures, in order to prevent the chemotherapy drugs from reaching the hair follicles.
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Last Updated: April 07, 2007 -->
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