Chemotherapy and Hair Loss - Understanding One Of The Main Causes Of Hair Loss Today

One of the most consistent causes of hair loss in both women and men is chemotherapy treatment. Fortunately most of us will not have to undergo these kinds of treatments but for those of us who do, hair loss and chemotherapy to some degree is almost guaranteed. Unfortunately many people who undergo these kinds of treatments will experience chemotherapy and hair loss, often suffering from a total loss of hair.

This unpleasant side effect of an often life-saving treatment, is due to the fact that in the process of destroying cells that are causing the disease, such as cancer cells, all the cells in the body to some extent are damaged if not destroyed. Hair follicles are particularly sensitive to these kinds of treatments and are easily damaged to the point of some if not all our hair falling out.

The type of hair loss that results as a consequence of chemotherapy treatment is referred to as "anagen effluvium"

Most patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment will experience the loss of hair during the first few weeks of their initial treatment. This hair loss can dramatically increase leading to massive hair loss (oftentimes total baldness) occurring during the next four to eight weeks.

Although the loss of the hair from the scalp is the most noticeable side effect of chemotherapy treatment, our body is covered in hair follicles that are equally prone to damage from the treatment. Loss of body hair can also occur. It is not uncommon for a partial or total loss of hair from body areas such as the face, pubic region and the arms and legs to occur.

Fortunately, the kind of hair loss associated with chemotherapy treatment can recover once the treatment has been completed. Most people can expect to have a full recovery of the scalp and body hair sometime within the first six months once therapy has ceased.

During the course of treatment most people will look for ways to minimize their hair loss as much as possible. Many people look to alternative and unconventional techniques during this time. While some may provide effective results keeping hair loss to a minimum, some are nothing more than wishful thinking, bordering on "quackery", that have very little scientific validation or empirical evidence to support them.

The basic principle of most of these methods is to somehow restrict circulation to the scalp, the idea being that if circulation to the hair follicles is decreased then the amount of toxic chemicals used in the chemotherapy treatment getting to the scalp and hair follicles will be dramatically reduced.

One such method is to apply a turban like pressure bandage to the scalp. The pressure bandage is wrapped tightly around the scalp to reduce blood circulation to the scalp and hair follicles. While this method has its own logic and seems reasonable it has proven to be very ineffective, if not totally useless, in achieving the desired outcome.

Another far from successful method based on the same idea of reducing circulation to the scalp and hair follicles, is to apply cooling devices to the scalp in order to reduce the temperature of the scalp and constrict blood vessels. Once again the treatment principle here is to restrict blood flow to the scalp as much as possible in order to keep the toxic chemicals used in the chemotherapy treatment away from the easily damaged hair follicles.

Unfortunately like our first method this has also proven to be a total waste of time.

While there may be some methods that do actually help to minimize the loss of hair during a course of chemotherapy treatment, for most people undergoing this form of treatment the chemicals involved a simply to powerful to significantly reduce the impact of them on our body irrespective of what method is used.

It may be more useful to simply think in terms of the hair loss associated with chemotherapy as simply being one of those facts of life that we sometimes have to deal with, and to take some comfort in the fact that almost everyone who loses their hair during chemotherapy gets their hair back once therapy has stopped.

In the meantime anything that can be done to improve the functioning of the immune system and our health in general is worthy of consideration.

Additionally anything that can be done to lessen the mental stress associated with not only the disease that the person is getting treatment for, but also the not insignificant side-effects that often accompany this treatment (such as hair loss) would be worth investigating.

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