Mum woke up this morning and left a lot of hair on the pillow. She said that it is coming out by the clump now when she brushes. She seems quite pragmatic about the whole thing though and whilst there is the offer of a posh wig, she seems happy to stay as she is and wear a head scarf.
Mum says she wants to grow back a red head!
Chemotherapy often causes hair loss otherwise known as alopecia. This is because the cells in the hair follicles grow fast and chemotherapy damages fast growing cells. (see what is chemotherapy). Hair loss is not permanent and it will grow back once your treatment has ended. Not all drugs cause hair loss - Some just cause thinning and others cause dramatic hair loss including the body hair and eye brows. Furthermore, different people have different tolerances to the drugs. Occasionally, some people loose their hair when it is not expected and sometimes in other cases no hair loss occurs when it is expected. (See table below for a list of chemotherapy drugs likely to cause hair loss)
Hair loss can start any time from after the first few days after chemotherapy to within a few weeks. However, your hair will grow back once treatment is complete although to start with your hair will grow back very fine, very like a baby's hair. Your clinic nurse can arrange for you to have a wig before your treatment starts. After three to six months you should have regained a full head of hair although it may be slightly different to before your treatment in terms of colour and texture.
Source: Cancer net
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