Cancer Treatments and Hair loss

People suffering through cancer usually have to deal with hair loss as a side effect of many cancer treatments.



For them the pain of losing hair loss is double because it keeps reminding them that they are suffering through a life-taking ailment that is cancer. Coping up with this situation takes time and requires a lot of help from the doctor or nurse. They should inform their patients about various caring tips and different kinds of headwears for their scalp. Also they should help them in over coming feelings of disappointment and frustration that arise as a result of hair loss. Following are two different types of cancer treatment that are carried out to kill cells of cancer from the blood but can also make hair greatly fall out.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a treatment, which is performed on cancer patients to destroy cancer cells. This treatment uses anti-cancer drugs, which stops the growth of cancer cells by attacking them. But while attacking cancer cells this treatment often affect the normal cells in the body, including the cells of the hair follicles. The hair loss that occurs as a result of chemotherapy is known as alopecia. This is the most devastating side effect of chemotherapy, which either makes hair slightly thin, or result in complete baldness. The drugs used during chemeotherapy sometimes also cause hair on the body to fall out including eyelashes, eyebrows, underarm, leg as well as pubic hair. The hair loss is usually gradual which begins about 2 - 3 weeks after the treatment starts making scalp extremely sensitive to washing, combing, or brushing.

The hair loss becomes noticeable when a lot of hair comes out when the patient brush, comb or wash the hair or find hair on the pillow in the morning. During this period the scalp may feel tender or sore due to the hair that are falling. This is a temporary type of hair loss, which stops once the treatment ends causing the hair to grow back again because compared to cancer cells, the normal cells of the body recover quickly. But this is not always expected; depending on the intensity, combination and dosage of drugs used sometimes the hair loss during chemotherapy is so small that it is hardly noticeable.

To prevent the hair loss during chemotherapy a technique known as cooling of the scalp is used. This can be done with the help of a special cap know as cool cap. This cap contain a gel that keeps the scalp cool and reduces the amount of drugs that reach the hair follicles preventing hairs from falling out. The cap needs to be worn at least before the treatment starts and should be continued wearing even after 1-2 hours when the treatment ends. It is a very heavy cap and gives a very uncomfortable feeling sometimes causing severe headache to the patient. Also it is not effective for all types of cancer patients.

Radiotherapy
Unlike chemotherapy, Radiotherapy treats cancer with the help of high-energy rays, which destroy the cancer cells. Similar to chemotherapy while attacking cancer cells this treatment affects the normal cells in the body including the cells in the hair follicles causing the hairs to breakout but this hair loss is only limited to the area being treated and does not affect hairs of other parts of the body.

Similar to chemotherapy this is also a temporary type of hair loss causing hair to regrow once the treatment ends but they might not be as thick as they were before. Also sometimes the hair takes longer to grow back depending on the amount and duration of radiotherapy. In such situations usually the hair loss is permanent and the hair that grows back are patchy. This is a severe side effect of radiotherapy, which should be discussed by the doctor before starting the treatment.

Almost all of us loose some hair daily, which usually gets replaced by new ones but the problem, arises when the hairs that fall out don’t get replaced by new ones. Cancer patients who get hair re-grown at the end of the treatment should consider themselves lucky and should perform a number of things to protect the health of these newly grown hair. These include carefully brushing and washing their hair, wearing a hat or a scarf to protect their scalp from excessive sun shine, avoiding tight hair styles such as braids or ponytails, using a wide-toothed comb etc.