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Data for cancer treatment balding.

Hair loss during chemotherapy can be devastating to many people's view of themselves and result in loss of confidence and motivation. Considering the literal life and death aspects of chemotherapy as cancer treatment, the loss of some of your hair logically should be a minor issue. However, as humans we don't always think very logically, and the emotional impact can be immense as it brings home the battle inside to a very real outside manifestation of illness.

Both men and women fear the chemotherapy induced hair loss as one of the worst side effects of treatment for them emotionally. Whether you hair will fall out, and to what extent it does, depends to a great extent on the type of medication and dosage of the medications that your treatment requires. Unfortunately, it is a frequent side effect of such treatments.

Generally, the reasoning behind its occurrence is same as the reason why chemotherapy works for the treatment of cancer. Both cancer cells and type cells involved in hair growth are attacked rapidly by the drugs. The hair loss, in most cases, is temporary and it grows back on the completion of chemotherapy. It takes about one to two months for your hair to grow back after the end of chemotherapy. The initial color and texture of your hair may be different than before.

Hair loss during chemotherapy is not always avoidable, but there are a variety of methods which can assist in coping with the situation. Minoxidil (Rogaine being the best known trade name) does not stop hair loss, but there is some indication that it can slow down the hair loss, and regrowing the hair can occur at a quicker rate. Another more radical procedure is the application of ice packs to the scalp during chemotherapy to slow the blood flow and try to cut down on the damage to the area. There is some indication that this works to some degree in many patients, but it can be uncomfortable, and may have an increased risk of cancer in the scalp for the same reason that it reduces the initial hair loss from the chemotherapy.

If you are wise and calculative, you can prevent alopecia from coming to some extent. Avoid activities leading to a stressful life, do not use hair dye, hair bleaching and locally acting chemicals. You have to plan for a wig, haircut or shaving scalp totally so that if somebody sees your hair it may not disappoint you. This cosmetic factor should be taken into account before chemotherapy.