About Hair Loss From Treatment
Some cancer treatments may make your hair fall out completely. This may be from your head and other parts of your body. This is usually temporary. Other treatments can cause permanent hair loss in specific areas of your body. Sometimes you may not lose all your hair, but your hair can become thinner or more likely to break .
There are practical steps you can take to reduce hair loss during treatment, including scalp cooling.
Tips For Possible Complete Hair Loss
- Ask about a wig before you start treatment, so you can match the colour and texture of your real hair.
- If you are feeling adventurous, choose a wig for a whole new look why not try the colour and style you’ve always wanted!
- Think about having your hair gradually cut short before your treatment starts – this might help you get used to seeing yourself with less hair.
- Some people shave their hair off completely to avoid the distress of seeing their hair fall out.
- Wear a hair net at night so you won’t wake up with hair all over your pillow, which can be upsetting.
- Keep your head warm in cooler weather – some people wear a soft hat in bed.
- Rub in oil or moisturiser if your scalp feels dry and itchy, try unperfumed products such as Epaderm, Hydromol or Doublebase.
- Try a moisturising liquid instead of soap if your scalp is dry, for example aqueous cream, Oilatum or Diprobase.
- Protect your scalp by covering your head in the sun – your scalp is particularly sensitive to the sun.
Can Skin Changes Be Treated
If you have skin changes, your doctor will need to check your skin fairly often to figure out the problem, the best course of action, and whether treatment is helping. Youll probably need extra doctor visits while the problem is being brought under control.
Mild changes: Patients with mild skin changes may not need treatment. These changes include rashes that are only in a limited area, that are not causing any distress, and are not infected. Heavy skin creams or ointments that contain no alcohol, perfume, or dye can sometimes help with dryness. Be sure to talk with your cancer care team before using anything on your skin.
The doctor may prescribe a mild corticosteroid cream or antibiotic gel to put on the rash.
If your eyelids are crusty or swollen, careful cleansing and clean, warm, wet cloths laid over your closed eyes may help.
For mild skin problems, the dose of the targeted drug usually does not need to be changed. Youll be watched closely to see if the rash gets better or worse.
Moderate changes: These include a rash over a larger area of the body or skin changes causing mild distress from itching or soreness, but with no signs of infection. The skin may be treated with a prescription cream or gel. The doctor may also prescribe an antibiotic you take by mouth. Drops or ointments may be prescribed to help with eye problems.
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Lymphoma Treatment And Hair Loss
Hair loss is a side effect of some chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. Less commonly, it can be a side effect of antibody therapy.
Lymphoma treatment works on cells that divide rapidly, which includes lymphoma cells and hair cells this is why treatment can cause changes to your hair.
Not everyone who has treatment for lymphoma experiences changes to their hair. Whether youre affected or not depends on lots of factors, including: your treatment , your age, and your overall health, including any other conditions you might have.
Effects on your hair are usually short-term and can include:
- slight thinning
- changes in colour, which could include a streak or band of white hair
- changes in texture, such as hair being thinner, coarser or more curly than before treatment.
Mostly, hair eventually goes back to how it was before treatment for lymphoma.
Why Does Chemotherapy Cause Hair Loss
The reason chemotherapy can cause hair loss is that it targets all rapidly dividing cells healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Hair follicles, the structures in the skin from which hair grows, include some of the fastest-growing cells in the body. If you’re not in cancer treatment, cells in your hair follicles divide every 23 to 72 hours. But as chemotherapy does its work against cancer cells, it also damages hair follicle cells. Within a few weeks of starting certain chemotherapy medicines, you may lose some or all of your hair. The hair loss can happen gradually or fairly quickly.
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Will My Hair Fall Out All At Once
Not everyone who has treatment for lymphoma experiences hair loss. If you do, your hair usually begins to fall out within a couple of weeks of starting treatment. It usually starts at the top and sides of your head, above your ears. It might fall out gradually, in clumps, or quite quickly. You might notice hair on your pillow or clothes, in your hairbrush, or in the plug hole of your bath or shower. Speak to your medical team for information about what to expect based on the treatment you are having.
Can I Prevent Hair Loss From Chemo
While hair loss may depend on the chemotherapy drug used and how the treatment is given, these choices are appropriately made to be the most effective against the type of cancer being treated.
One preventive measure is the use of scalp cooling. This can be done with ice packs, cooling caps, or scalp cooling systems used before, during, or after treatment. This causes the capillaries supplying the hair follicles to constrict, so they are exposed to less of the chemotherapy medication.
The effectiveness of scalp cooling is still being studied, but devices have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It seems to work best for taxane-based chemotherapy.
Using Rogaine has not been shown to prevent hair loss, but it may reduce the severity or shorten the time it takes to regrow the hair .
Being gentle with your hair and scalp can help reduce hair loss and breakage, as well as prevent scalp irritation. Follow these tips:
- Do not shampoo frequently.
- Use warm water to clean your scalp, and pat dry rather than rubbing.
- Use mild shampoos and conditioners that do not have perfumes. Avoid any hair products such as hair spray, gels, or oils.
- Be gentle and keep combing or brushing to a minimum.
- If you must use a hairdryer, use a low heat setting. Don’t use a curling iron.
- Avoid using brush rollers to curl or set hair, as well as any style where you pull the hair back with ponytail holders or hairbands.
- Dont dye your hair or get a perm.
- Try sleeping on a satin pillowcase.
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Chemo More Likely To Cause Hair Loss
Chemotherapy medications with the highest risk of causing hair loss in many people include:
- Alkylating agents:Cytoxan or Neosar , Ifex , Myleran or Busulfex , Thioplex .
- Antitumor antibiotics: Cosmegen , Adriamycin or Doxil , Idamycin
- Topoisomerase inhibitors: VePesid , Camptosar
- Antimicrotubule agents: Taxol , Taxotere , Ellence , Ixempra , Ellence , Marqibo or Vincasar , Alocrest or Navelbine
- Antimetabolites:Efudex , Gemzar
Hair Loss Thinning And Cancer Treatment
Hair loss or thinning is a common side effect of some cancer treatments.
It’s quite common to have hair loss or thinning with some chemotherapy drugs. Hormone therapy, targeted cancer drugs and immunotherapy are more likely to cause hair thinning. But some people might have hair loss.
Radiotherapy makes the hair fall out in the area being treated. Hair on other parts of the body is not usually affected.
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Other Possible Side Effects
In addition to all of the side effects weve already listed, Cancer.Net lists a number of other potential side effects. This list includes muscle aches, shortness of breath, swelling of the legs, sinus congestion, headaches, weight gain from fluid retention, diarrhea, hormone changes , or a cough.
The source also notes that there are other side effects that could happen that arent included on this list. Talk with your health care team about what side effects you can expect, who to contact, and what to do if you have unexpected side effects, writes Cancer.Net.
What Kinds Of Skin Changes Should I Watch For
Changes in how your skin feels: Your skin may start to feel like its sunburned, before any redness or rash shows up. Even though it doesnt look different, the sensation can be disturbing. You may notice this change on your face as early as the first week of treatment.
Your skin will likely become much more sensitive to light and more easily damaged by UV rays during treatment. It may very easily be burned and blister, even after very little sun exposure or exposure to sun coming through windows.
Rash: This is the most common skin change from targeted drugs. The risk of getting a rash and how bad it gets depends on the type and dose of the targeted drug. In most people, the rash is mild. It often looks like acne and shows up on the scalp, face, neck, chest, and upper back. In severe cases it can affect other parts of the body.
The rash most often starts as skin redness and swelling. Its often worst within the first few weeks of treatment. By about a month into treatment, the skin usually crusts and gets very dry and red. In the weeks after that, round, flat or raised red spots and pimples with pus in the center often appear. In some people this can lead to skin infections. The rash can itch, burn, or sting, and may be painful. It may get better on its own or stay about the same during the rest of treatment, but it should go away completely about a month after treatment is stopped.
Itching: Many skin changes, like rash or dryness, can cause itching.
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Bleeding Or Blood Clotting Problems
Some targeted therapy drugs interfere with new blood vessel growth. This can lead to problems with bruising and bleeding. These problems are not common and do not happen to everyone. But it can help to be aware of them because theres no known way to prevent them.
Bleeding, such as from the stomach and intestines, can be severe and even life threatening. Tell your doctor if you throw up blood or material that looks like coffee grounds, or if you notice dark or black stools or bright red blood in your stool. These can be signs of bleeding in the stomach or intestines.
Some drugs can also cause blood clots in the lungs and legs, as well as heart attacks and strokes. Let your doctor know if you have problems with sudden swelling, pain, or tenderness in the arm or leg. If you have chest pain, sudden shortness of breath, vision problems, weakness, seizures, or trouble speaking, get emergency help. These can be symptoms of serious problems caused by blood clots.
Why Chemo Causes Hair Loss
Hair loss is very common during chemotherapy for breast cancer as well as other cancers, though some drugs and methods of administration are more likely than others to disrupt hair follicles.
Chemotherapy drugs work systemically by interfering with the division and growth of rapidly growing cells.
While these drugs can be effective in eliminating cancer cells, they also damage normal cells that divide rapidly. This includes hair follicles , cells in the digestive tract , and cells in bone marrow .
The keratinocytes in the hair follicle divide faster than many malignant cells, and they have a good blood supply that delivers chemotherapy agents to them efficiently. Their fast metabolism also puts them under oxidative stress, which a chemotherapy drug can enhance to the point that the cell dies.
Whether or not you develop hair loss, and the degree to which you do if so, depends on a number of factors including:
- The dose of chemotherapy: Higher doses generally have a greater risk for hair loss.
- How often the chemotherapy is given: More frequent doses carry more risk.
- The route of administration: Intravenous drugs are more likely to cause hair loss than oral drugs.
- The drugs or combination of drugs you receive: Some are more likely to cause hair loss than others, and receiving a combination of drugs increases the risk.
- Your individual makeup: Some people are more likely to lose hair than others, even with the same doses of the same drugs.
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Radiation Treatment And Hair Loss
Radiation therapy uses a high-energy beam to damage quickly growing cells in your body. The goal is to target cancer cells, but some normal cells get damaged as well.
Radiation only causes hair loss on the particular part of the body treated. If radiation is used to treat the breast, there is no hair loss on your head. But there might be loss of hair around the nipple, if you have hair there.
Radiation to the brain, used to treat breast cancer that has spread to the brain, can cause hair loss on your head. Depending on the dose of radiation, your hair may be patchier when it grows back or it may not grow back.
What Are The Side Effects Of Immunotherapy
- The side effects of immunotherapy can be different from those associated with standard treatments.
- One study found that fatigue was the most common side effect, along with fever, chills, nausea, and reactions at the site of the infusion.
Medically reviewed by Gordon Freeman, PhD
New drugs that stimulate the patients immune system to attack tumors have achieved some dramatic and long-lasting benefits in several forms of cancer. A few drugs are already approved for wide use and many more are in the research pipeline. Because these immunotherapy agents work differently than chemotherapy, the side effects of immunotherapy can be different from those associated with standard treatments.
One of cancer cells survival strategies is to hide from immune soldier T-cells and exploit natural checkpoint proteins that suppress T-cell activity. Some immunotherapy agents disable these checkpoints, removing the brakes so T-cells can mount a stronger immune attack on cancer cells. In this way, the drugs dont directly assault the cells instead, they free the patients own defensive forces to destroy cancers.
But its a two-edged sword. Freed from checkpoint restraint, the surging immune response can overshoot its target and attack healthy tissues and organs, similar to an autoimmune disorder.
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