Why Chemotherapy Hair Loss Occurs

One of the most common things that could be experienced in a chemotherapy treatment is hair loss. The chemotherapy hair loss that a patient will suffer from can be traumatic and bothersome. It is important to understand why this happens. It also helps to know that there is a potential for hair to grow back after chemotherapy treatments are finished. It may take a while for it to grow back though.

What Causes Hair Loss

The chemotherapy drugs that the body will be using will cause chemotherapy hair loss. This is because these drugs will be attacking all sorts of cells around the body. This goes beyond just the cancerous cells that the drug will be primarily targeting. In fact, this is also a good reason as to why a typical person who is dealing with a treatment might also suffer from fatigue.

Some of the cells that can be damaged will include cells that support hair. These include cells closer to the roots of hair.

This will prompt hair loss to occur in more than just the scalp area. It can also occur on the legs, arms, chest and other parts of the body.

The intensity of chemotherapy hair loss can also vary by the drugs that are being used. Some drugs might cause hair loss at higher rates than others.

It Grows Back

One good thing to note about chemotherapy hair loss is that this does not mean that the hair will not grow back. The hair that was lost should grow back after a certain amount of time. It will take a few weeks after the hair is first lost to get the hair to come back. This is because the body will need to spend some time with recovering from the effects of the chemotherapy drugs.

It can take about a month or so for hair to start growing back after treatments finish. The amount of time for the hair to fully grow back will vary by the part of the body that the hair was on. It could take up to six months for hair to come back in some cases. The main point about chemotherapy hair loss is that it will be reversed regardless of how long it could take.

This is a difficult side effect to deal with when it comes to chemotherapy treatment. However, the hair loss that will accompany this problem should not be too difficult to handle in most cases. The hair loss should be treated and recovered from over a certain amount of time.

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