Breast Cancer And Hair Loss
Hair loss the medical term is alopecia threatens your sense of self your privacy your sexuality your personal image and your vanity because it s so visible.
Breast cancer and hair loss. Get the facts about chemo related hair loss including prevention tips and strategies for managing it. If you re not in cancer treatment your hair follicles divide every 23 to 72 hours. School of medicine university of nottingham dr trusson. Do other breast cancer treatments cause hair loss or thinning.
Fortunately most hair loss is temporary and many women find that. Although hair loss may seem insignificant compared to a diagnosis of breast cancer it can have a significant impact on self esteem desires to be social and your self confidence during and after breast cancer treatment understanding why hair loss occurs and how the impact of hair loss can be managed both practically and emotionally is necessary when preparing for treatment. Your specialist team will tell you if hair loss is a side effect of a targeted therapy they are recommending. Many chemotherapy drugs result in hair loss including those used for breast cancer.
Trusson d 1 quincey k. Most targeted therapies do not cause hair loss. Hair loss is a common side effect of many chemotherapy treatments. Experiential similarities and differences in men s and women s narratives.
Hair loss is different for everyone and it depends on the type of chemo you re taking. In the case of cancer as the cell divides. There are relatively few studies comparing men s and. And school of allied health sciences de montfort university leicester dr quincey england.
Breast cancer and hair loss. No side effect of breast cancer treatment seems more disturbing than hair loss. For many women it s worse than losing a breast which can be hidden under baggy clothing. However this will depend on the drug and whether you are given it alongside other drug treatment like chemotherapy.
Some chemotherapy kills fast growing cells like hair follicles whether those cells are cancer or not. But as the chemo does its work against cancer cells it. Moreover the severity of hair loss is independent of the stage of the cancer and the type of breast cancer. Hair follicles the structures in the skin filled with tiny blood vessels that make hair are some of the fastest growing cells in the body.
Hair loss occurs because chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells healthy cells as well as cancer cells.