Chemotherapy and hair loss: What to expect during treatment

I found this article at cnn.com. It is about chemotherapy and hair loss.
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Chemotherapy and hair loss: What to expect during treatment

From MayoClinic.com
Special to CNN.com

You might not think of your hair's importance in your everyday life until you face losing it. And if you have cancer and are about to undergo chemotherapy, the chance of losing your hair is very real. Both men and women report hair loss as one of the side effects they fear most after being diagnosed with cancer.

Whether or not your hair falls out from your chemotherapy depends mostly on the type and dose of medication you receive. But whether you can maintain a healthy body image after you hair falls out depends a lot on your attitude and the support of your friends and family.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Why does it occur?

Chemotherapy drugs are powerful medications that attack rapidly growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs also attack other rapidly growing cells in your body — including those in your hair roots.

Chemotherapy may cause hair loss all over your body — not just on your scalp. Sometimes your eyelash, eyebrow, armpit, pubic and other body hair also fall out. Some chemotherapy drugs are more likely than others to cause hair loss, and different doses can cause anything from a mere thinning to complete baldness. Talk to your doctor or nurse about the medication you'll be taking. Your doctor or nurse can tell you what to expect.

Fortunately, most of the time hair loss from chemotherapy is temporary. You can expect to regrow a full head of hair six months to a year after you stop treatment, though your hair may temporarily be a different shade or texture.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: What should you expect?

Hair usually begins falling out 10 to 14 days after you start treatment. It could fall out very quickly in clumps or gradually. You'll likely notice accumulations of loose hair on your pillow, in your hairbrush or in your shower drain.

Your hair loss will continue throughout your treatment and up to a month afterward. Whether your hair thins or you become completely bald will depend on your treatment. You generally need to lose about 50 percent of your hair before it's noticeable to other people.

It takes about four to six weeks for your hair to recover from chemotherapy. In general, you can expect about a quarter inch of growth each month.

When your hair starts to grow back, it will probably be slightly different from the hair you lost. But the difference is usually temporary. Your new hair might have a different texture or color. It might be curlier than it was before, or it could be gray until the cells that control the pigment in your hair begin functioning again.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Can hair loss be prevented?

No treatment exists that can guarantee your hair won't fall out during or after chemotherapy. The best way for you to deal with impending hair loss is to plan ahead and focus on making yourself comfortable with your appearance before, during and after your cancer treatment.

Several treatments have been investigated as possible ways to prevent hair loss, but none has been absolutely effective, including:

• Scalp hypothermia (cryotherapy). During your chemotherapy, ice packs or similar devices are placed on your head to slow blood flow to your scalp. This way, chemotherapy drugs are less likely to have an effect on your scalp. In general, scalp hypothermia works somewhat in 50 percent to 80 percent of people going through chemotherapy who try it. However, the procedure also causes a small risk of cancer recurring in your scalp, as this area doesn't receive the same dose of chemotherapy as the rest of your body. Most people who try this procedure find it to be uncomfortable and very cold.
• Minoxidil (Rogaine). Applying minoxidil — a drug approved for pattern hair loss in men and women — to your scalp before and during chemotherapy isn't likely to prevent your hair loss, although some research shows it may speed up your hair regrowth. In one small study, women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer applied minoxidil twice daily throughout their treatment and for four months afterward. Though their hair eventually all fell out, it took longer for the women who applied minoxidil to lose all their hair than it did for the women who didn't use it, and their hair started to grow back earlier.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: How to make the best of the situation

Your hair loss generally can't be prevented or controlled, but it can be managed. Take the following steps throughout your treatment to minimize the frustration and anxiety associated with hair loss.

Before treatment

• Be gentle to your hair. Get in the habit of being kind to your hair. Don't bleach, color or perm your hair — this can weaken it. Air dry your hair as much as possible and avoid heating devices such as curling irons and hot rollers. Making your hair strong now might make it more likely to stay in your head a little longer during treatment.
• Consider cutting your hair. Short hair tends to look fuller than long hair. So as your hair falls out, it won't be as noticeable if you have short hair. Also, if you have long hair, going short might help you make a better transition to total hair loss.
• Plan ahead for a head covering. Now is the time to start thinking about wigs, scarves or other head coverings. Whether you choose to wear a head covering to conceal your hair loss is up to you. But it's easier to plan for it now rather than later. Your health insurance might help cover the cost of a wig. Talk to your insurance provider.

During treatment

• Baby your remaining hair. Continue your gentle hair strategies throughout your treatment. Try using a satin pillowcase, which is less likely to attract and catch fragile hair. Use a soft brush. Wash your hair only as often as necessary. Consider using a gentle shampoo when washing your hair. Stay away from shampoos with strong detergents and chemicals that can dry out your scalp, including salicylic acid, alcohol and strong fragrances.
• Consider shaving your head. Some people report that their scalp feels itchy, sensitive and irritated during their treatment and while their hair is falling out. Shaving your head can reduce the irritation and save the embarrassment of shedding. Some men shave their heads because they feel it looks better than the patchy hair loss they might be experiencing. Also, a shaved head might be easier for securing your wig or hairpiece.
• Protect your scalp. If your head is going to be exposed to the sun or to cold air, protect it with sunscreen or a head covering. Your scalp can be sensitive as you go through treatment, so extreme cold or sunshine can easily irritate it even more.

After treatment

• Continue gentle hair care. Your new hair growth will be especially fragile and vulnerable to the damage caused by styling products and heating devices. Hold off on coloring or bleaching your new hair for at least six months. Besides damaging new hair, processing could irritate your sensitive scalp.
• Be patient. It's likely that your hair will come back slowly and that it might not look normal right away. But growth takes time, and it also takes time to repair the damage caused by your cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Cover your head

Covering your head as you hair falls out is a purely personal decision. For many women hair is associated with femininity and health, so they choose to maintain that look by wearing a wig. Others choose hats and scarves. Still others choose not to cover their heads at all.

Ask your doctor or a hospital social worker about resources in your area to help you find the best head covering for you. Look Good ... Feel Better is a free program that provides hair and beauty makeovers and tips to women with cancer. These classes are offered throughout the United States and in several other countries. Many classes are offered through local chapters of the American Cancer Society. Look Good ... Feel Better also offers classes for teens with cancer, as well as a Web site especially for men.

Radiation therapy can also cause hair loss

Radiation therapy also attacks quickly growing cells in your body, but unlike chemotherapy, it affects only the specific area where treatment is concentrated. If you have radiation to your head, you'll likely lose the hair on your head.

Your hair usually begins growing back after your treatments end. But whether it grows back to its original thickness and fullness depends on your treatment. Different types of radiation and different doses will have different effects on your hair. Higher doses of radiation can cause permanent hair loss. Talk to your doctor about what dose you'll be receiving so you'll know what to expect.

Radiation therapy also affects your skin. The treatment area is likely to be red and may look sunburned or tanned. If your radiation treatment is to your head, it's a good idea to cover your head with a protective hat or scarf because your skin will be sensitive to cold and sunlight. Wigs and other hairpieces might irritate your scalp.

Please visit the "archive" for more articles about chemotherapy and hair loss.

Chemotherapy and hair loss - How to Care for Your Hair During Chemotherapy Treatment (chemotherapy hair loss)

This article i found on the net, is so great, thus i share it so that we have a better understanding about chemotherapy hair loss.

Chemotherapy and hair loss - How to Care for Your Hair During Chemotherapy Treatment

Subodh Jain

October 7, 2007

Find out what to expect when it comes to chemotherapy and hair loss. Plan ahead so you can spend your energy staying healthy rather than worrying about how you look.

In this article, we hope to share with you the many aspects that this important subject has to offer you.

Chemotherapy is a groovy innovation in the behavior of scourge. It has saved the lives of millions of people to meeting. Indeed it is one of the most important checkup inventions of the 20th century.

However, it can be a varied blessing. Along with its planned things, it carries some piece things that the scourge survivor must accept. One of its commonest piece things is hair shortfall.

The shortfall of hair may appear to be trifling in comparison with what chemotherapy cures. Indeed discount life and limb is greatly more crucial than how many hairs you have on your president. But still patients recovering from scourge and chemotherapy requisite to be rehabilitated back to their previous lifestyles as far as viable. Appearance is important for this because it is important to one's nature-figure.

To understand the next part of this article, you need to have a clear grasp of the material that has already been presented to you.

To understand the finer points of hair care during and after chemotherapy, you requisite to know a little about how chemotherapy mechanism and why it has this kind of devastating cause on hair.

Chemotherapy mechanism by injecting a kind of evil substance into your body, known as serotoxin (that is 'unit poison' in English). It is expressly urban in such a way that scourge units are the most precious by its evil inspire.

So how does the drug know which units are courageous and which are not? Plain – it doesn't. It is only programmed to tackle only those units in the body which are very speedy-emergent. And scourge units are the speediest emergent units in the body. In statement, scourge mechanism by stimulating very speedy, uncontrolled cyst in units and tissues, ensuing in evil tumors that butter from one part of the body to another.

So because scourge units contest its description of opponent units to slaughter, the chemotherapy serotoxins tackle scourge units and overcome them. So far so good. But the trouble is that scourge units are not the only units in the body that contest its description of units to slaughter. There are a few other innocent units that also contest it.

Over time, you will begin to understand how these concepts really come together if you choose to venture into this subject further.

Can you prevent hair loss during chemo treatments?

Currently, there is no known prevention for hair loss due to chemotherapy. Through the years, attempts have been made to reduce hair loss by using tight bands or ice caps. These techniques were thought to reduce the blood flow to the hair follicles, thus limiting the chemotherapy exposure. Unfortunately, these techniques did little more than cause headaches and have been abandoned in most settings.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Cover your head

Covering your head as you hair falls out is a purely personal decision. For many women hair is associated with femininity and health, so they choose to maintain that look by wearing a wig. Others choose hats and scarves. Still others choose not to cover their heads at all.

Ask your doctor or a hospital social worker about resources in your area to help you find the best head covering for you. Look Good ... Feel Better is a free program that provides hair and beauty makeovers and tips to women with cancer. These classes are offered throughout the United States and in several other countries. Many classes are offered through local chapters of the American Cancer Society. Look Good ... Feel Better also offers classes for teens with cancer, as well as a Web site especially for men.

With this article, i hope we have more understanding about chemotherapy hair loss.

Please review the "Archive" to read more about chemotherapy hair loss

Baldness and Chemotherapy (chemotherapy hair loss)

This article is about the baldness and chemotherapy. (chemotherapy and hair loss)

Baldness and Chemotherapy

There are some hair care tips that can help reduce hair loss and baldness. The preventive measures for baldness and hair loss include washing the hair daily, gentle massaging the entire scalp using fingertips, and washing hair with warm water. The use of wigs and baseball caps reduces blood circulation in the scalp and prevents the growth of hair. A person needs to eat a balanced diet and drink plenty of water to keep his hair healthy.

Baldness occurs for several reasons including as hereditary traits, normal aging, excessive use of shampoo or hair drying, poor diet, high fever, hormonal disorders, thyroid disorders like hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, pituitary disorders, scalp fungal infection, and radiation therapy. Several medications, drugs, and toxins also cause baldness; these include chemotherapy, gout medications, arthritis medications, antidepressants, and high doses of vitamin A.

Chemotherapy causes many side effects in patients, and one of the most well known side effects of chemotherapy is hair loss. Chemotherapy drugs can damage the hair by breaking it close to the patient's scalp. Hair loss usually starts within a few weeks after the chemotherapy treatment. The amount of hair loss depends on the type, combination, and dosage of chemotherapy drugs. Hair normally grows back after the completion of chemotherapy treatment.

Patients need to take some precautions before taking chemotherapy treatment. It is better to cut the hair short before treatment. Patients should use gentle hair products and avoid the use of perms and hair colorings. They should try to comb their hair gently, and it is better to use a soft baby brush. Hair loss during chemotherapy treatment can be prevented to a large extent by wearing the cold cap. The cold cap lowers the temperature of the patient's scalp, reducing blood flow in the scalp.

Baldness provides detailed information on Baldness, Baldness Treatment, Male Baldness, Baldness Cure and more. Baldness is affiliated with Bald Women.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Damian_Sofsian

Human Hair Wigs for Chemotherapy Patient (chemotheraphy hair loss)

Human Hair Wigs for Chemotherapy Patient

Not only do human chemotherapy wigs look good—but they help people going through very difficult times. The concept of chemotherapy wigs made of donated, human hair is almost heroic. Perhaps even more than any other kind of wig, human hair will look the very best. The purpose is to do the very best possible job of making sure that the person undergoing agonizing treatment can live as actively as possible, look great, and feel more confident wearing their human hair wigs.

Children especially do not want to stand out, there is often no tolerance for the unusual in elementary schools. Children can be very cruel. A wig will help a child feel more like the others in their schools or day-camps etc. In anyone’s case, as he or she battles the horrors of chemotherapy, believe it or not, chemotherapy wigs can be a primary concern. When the purpose of finding chemotherapy wigs, not for your self but for a chemotherapy patient, you are truly warming someone’s heart. Whether you know the patient or not the gift of a wig can (and is likely to be) the very best gift for him or her.

Everything from curly wigs to straight, long or short, men’s or women’s wigs, or whatever you are looking for, can usually be found online through wig stores, and you can even have you wig custom designed from various places.

Full, natural-looking wigs are what you need if you are looking for a chemotherapy wig. The purpose of the wig is to appear as much like human hair as possible. And, of course, you can’t purchase a half wig or hairpiece – often a full wig is the very best way to go.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on wigs, please visit humanhairwigs.org, supplier of high quality Human Hair Wigs and Wig Hairpieces.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Clarke

Chemotherapy Treatment and Hair Loss (chemotherapy hair loss)

This article is about the chemotherapy treatment and hair loss.

In chemotherapy treatment the entire body is affected in one way or another. Unfortunately a side effect of this treatment is hair loss. Chemotherapy is carried out by administering drugs that are designed to kill cancerous cells. These drugs are injected right into the vein or muscle tissue. The drugs flow through the blood stream. Because of this systematic treatment the drugs cannot be taken orally.

Since there are several types of chemotherapy drugs, side effects can vary. These drugs generally affect rapidly dividing cells. Mostly affected are blood cells. It’s important to note that these cells primarily job is to fight infection, carry oxygen to other areas of the body and help clot blood. Cancer patients will be more exposed to infections, bleed easily and become more fatigued.

One side effect for some chemotherapy drugs is thinning hair. It’s also possible that that you could lose your hair all together, depending on the drugs used. Some people take this kind of hair loss very seriously, which is understandable because it’s so noticeable and not easy to hide. It’s a good idea to understand the implications of chemotherapy induced hair loss before it happens. This will make the transition easier down the road.

Depression is often a byproduct of chemotherapy and hair loss in cancer patients. It’s sometimes difficult to deal with the helplessness and embarrassment of the situation. It’s never easy for friends and family either. Cancer, no matter what type, is always serous and often times hereditary. Women usually have a much a more difficult time dealing with this type of hair loss then men do, since a woman’s hair is usually a part of her personally and pride.

Through this difficult time it’s important to never lose hope. Sometimes the best way to deal with the situation is positive thinking. Positive thinking can sometimes lead us through the darkest times, even when things seem hopeless.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Bock

I hope this article has provided you with a better understanding on chemotherapy and hair loss.