Facing Hair Loss Caused Due To Chemotherapy Cancer Treatment

15 November, 2014 | Hair Loss | Author : Shveta Virmani

Hair follicles are prone to damage caused by radiation and therefore when a person is treated through chemotherapy, the radiations affect the follicles resulting in hair thinning and baldness. It is equally true both for men and women and hence it has nothing to do with increasing level of DHT or triggered androgentic alopecia. But, it is not a permanent phase and hair grows once the chemotherapy is stopped and person gets cured.

However, most of the time, the hair that grows is not as it was prior to the treatment. Rather, most of the people get back thinner hairs that are also lighter by two shades than the hair that was over the scalp prior to the treatment. And it is not the case only with people that are exposed to chemotherapy radiations but is also true for people who are on medicines prescribed during the chemotherapy cancer treatment.

As a matter of fact, this is not observed in every person going through the treatment but majority of them start facing the problem of hair loss as soon as the second week into the chemotherapy. Initially, the hair gets thin and starts falling off, but by the end of month or the next month, it is highly probable that the person would lose all the hair over the scalp. if the treatment is radiation based then the person loses hair quickly over the area exposed to the radiation, but if a person is also consuming medicines for the chemotherapy then hair throughout the body falls.

Since, there is no way to prevent this hair fall and it is a side effect of the treatment therefore, no medicines could help keep your hair. And after the treatment the person gets back most of the hair lost during the process making this type of alopecia patients unfit for hair transplant or any other hair loss treatment procedure. Moreover, it is better suitable to face and manage this condition in the best possible way.

To start with, a person can use hats, caps, wigs and head coverings. Though it is not necessary to hide the loss as it is temporary and hair will eventually grow once chemotherapy stops and bald look is not something people do not sport. And therefore, you too can choose to brave the world and sport a bald look and complement with proper makeup, accessories and clothes. But in case you really do not want people to know about your hair loss then you can pick some of the great wigs that are easily available with your dermatologist.

Then, you should either choose your wig or get it prepared before you get bald as it allows the dermatologist to know how your hair looks naturally, what are its actual color and its natural flow over the scalp. It also helps the hair technician to craft a natural looking wig for your needs.

Along with these you should also make sure that the material used for the wig is non allergic to you and the hair used is of real human being as synthetic hair in the wig can all the more act like a spoiler to your intentions.