In daily life, you may not be careful about your hair but a person who is having cancer and taking the treatment of chemo has to face the hair loss problem which is very serious problem. This drawback will happen with both male and females. The hair loss problem is very serious drawback of the treatment of chemotherapy. During the treatment, the falling of your hair will start. Your hair will becomes thinner. Alopecia is the situation when all of the hair falls out and it happens in this treatment. The falling of hair depends upon the dose and type of chemotherapy drug.
Reasons of hair loss during chemotherapy
During the treatment of chemotherapy, the falling of hair starts which is called “Alopecia”. In the treatment, the chemotherapy drugs are used which attack on the development of cancer cells and also on other cells. And in it, hair follicle damaged. The falling of the hair temporary drawback because it will start growing again after the completion of this treatment. As such, every drug is not the reason of hair loss. The few drugs cause the thinning of the hair and few causes dramatic hair loss of body hair. Somehow, the hair starts falling from eyebrow, eyelash, pubic, armpit and other body hair. When the treatment is started, the process of hair loss initials after few days. After the completion of the treatment, hair will start growing but will be in different color and texture.
Following are two lists of drugs with their chemical names that cause hair loss permanently or temporally.
• Pentostatin(Nipent)
• Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin)
• Cisplatin
• Fluorouracil 5-FU
• Busulphan (Myleran )Cytarabine (Leukeran)
• Estramustin (estracyte}
• Cladribine 2 CDA (Leustat)
• Carboplatin JM8 (Paraplatin)
• Bleomycin
• Capecitabine (Xeloda)
• Chlorambucil (Leukeran)
• Diacarbazine. (DTIC)
• Gemcitabine (Gemzar)
• Hydroxyure. (hydran)
• Lomustine(DDcu)
• Melphalan (Alkern)
• Mercatoprine or 6 MP.
• Asparaginase (Erwinase )
• or 6TG (Lanvis)
• Cytarabine
• Tegafur (Uftoral)
• Streptozocin (Zanosar)
• Thioguanine
• Thioetepa (Thioplex)
• Procarbazine
• Raltitrexed (Tomudex)
• Vinorelbine (Navelbine)
It will cause hair thinning or complete hair loss and this is temporary side effect.
• Vindesine (Eldisine)
• Cyclophosphamide ( Endoxana)
• Etoposide or V16 (Etopophos Vepesid)
• Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)
• Docetaxel (Taxotere)
• Paclitaxel(Taxol)
• Daunorubicin
• Mitozantrone or mitoxantrone
• Ifosfamide (Mitoxina)
• Mustine or Chlormethine
• Topotecan (Hycamtin)
• Epirubicin (Pharmarubicin)
• Dactinomycin (Antinomycin D)
• Idarubicin (Zavedos)
• Vincristine (oncovin)
• Amsacrine (m-AMSA)
Prevention of hair loss
During the treatment of chemotherapy, there is not any surety that the hair will not fall. You need to think about your appearance during the treatment of chemotherapy. You can use many ways to prevent hair falling but these are not so effective. The scalp hypothermia and minoxidil can be used to prevent hair falling.
Scalp hypothermia (cryotherapy): Under this method, few ice packs and devices are put on the head for the purpose to slow the blood flow. Most of the people are experiencing better result of using this method. You will need 4 to 6 weeks to recover your hair from chemotherapy. You can expect hair growth with one inch in a month. As such, the color and texture of the hair will be different than the original hair. Hair can be gray and curly for sometimes and this will be for temporary basis.
Minoxidil (Rogaine): With the help of this treatment, the growth of your hair can be increased. This would be beneficial for both males and females. This method is allowed during or before the treatment of chemotherapy to protect hair falling. The females who are suffering from breast cancer have to apply it two times in a day and also for next four months after the treatment. When the hair starts growing again then you need to be more cautions about your hair so to keep them as is it. You can use various ways to prevent the hair falling. The wig can be used and you can take advice from doctor for using the wig. The doctor will assist you in selecting the correct type, color and style of wig. Wig merely doesn’t suit everyone. You can cover your head by using the hats and scarves and it will also protect from pollution and sunrays. You can find more options to cover your head near to your area. You can find programs like “Look good and fill better” which will give knowledge regarding cancer in women and also gives knowledge about beauty and hair makeovers. They also provide classes for those who are suffering from cancer and they also have created websites for men too. And, the classes will be in Unites States and in some other countries too.
Prevent hair loss- by yourself
During the chemotherapy treatment, a cancer patient should do following things:-
• If the patient is facing the problem of hair falling during the treatment of chemotherapy then he must consult his doctor for it.
• Earlier the treatment of chemotherapy, you can ask your doctor for a wig .And, it will match the type, texture and color of your original hair.
• Before taking the chemotherapy treatment, you can get short hair cut
• You can use hair net so to stay out from hair fall on the pillow which would make you feel depressed.
• You should use gentle and soft products for your hair rather than using harsh products.
• The colors and perms damages the hair so, you should avoid it.
• Always try to dry hairs naturally rather than using the curlers, curling tongs and dryers.
• You should always use soft baby brush for hair than using hard comb.
• There are many people who don’t have any worries about falling of hair and even they like to be bald.
• If you feel itching or flakes to your scalp then it states that your scalp is dry and needs to moisturizer or oil. It is recommended not to apply any anti- dandruff shampoo.