Can Radiation Therapy Cause Hair Loss
Radiation therapy can also cause a decrease in the number of white blood cells which help protect the body against infection.
Can radiation therapy cause hair loss. Today radiation therapy using modern types of equipment can be better focused and thereby result in fewer side effects. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells. Hair loss is called alopecia talk with your health care team to learn if the cancer treatment you will be receiving causes hair loss. Healthy cells in the treatment area can also be damaged even though steps are taken to protect normal tissue as much as possible.
Hair loss caused by radiation therapy may be temporary or permanent. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated. Radiation therapy or radiotherapy often abbreviated rt rtx or xrt is a therapy using ionizing radiation generally as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator.
Radiation therapy uses high energy rays or particles to kill cancer cells. Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue. While chemotherapy causes hair loss throughout the body that s not the case for radiation therapy. As the first treatment for cancer that is still just in the prostate gland and is low grade cure rates for men with these types of cancers are about the same as those for men treated with radical prostatectomy.
This treatment can cause side. Sometimes your eyelash eyebrow armpit pubic and other body hair also falls out. Does radiation therapy always cause hair loss. Hair loss is associated with the radiation beam entrance and exit areas.
If it does happen it s usually sudden and comes. It can also irritate the colon and cause diarrhea. Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Chemotherapy may cause hair loss all over your body not just on your scalp.
Radiation therapy can also cause hair loss on the part of the body that is being treated. Some chemotherapy drugs are more likely than others to cause hair loss and different doses can cause anything from a mere thinning to complete baldness. Depending on the stage of the prostate cancer and other factors radiation therapy might be used. Radiation therapy damages cancer cells.
Learn more about possible side effects. Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high energy waves to kill tumor cells. Different cells and tissues in the body tolerate radiation differently. Answer only people who get radiation to the scalp or the brain may have hair loss.