Cancer patients often fear hair loss--alopecia--when considering chemotherapy, which kills or impedes cancer cell growth and reproduction. As chemotherapy attacks cancer cells, it often attacks rapidly dividing healthy cells, such as hair cells. Hair loss can be gradual, dramatic or not at all, depending on the cancer drug used and how it is administered, according to the website Cancernet UK.

On the Other: Hair Loss Happens

Some chemotherapy drugs always cause hair loss, such as Adriamycin commonly used for blood cancers, and Taxol, which fights breast cancer, according to Breastcancer.Org. These drugs not only attack the hair on heads, but can also destroy eyelashes and brows, pubic hair, and hair on arms and legs, the website Breastcancer.org states.

Bottom Line

Although many types of chemotherapy cause total or partial hair loss, not all cancer-fighting drugs cause hair to fall out. Some cancer drugs administered in small doses over long periods often result in little or no hair loss. Happily, hair loss caused by chemotherapy grows back, sometimes even before therapy ends, according to OncoLog produced by the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Source:

Cancernet.UK: Preventing and coping with hair loss

Breastcancer.org: Why and How Hair Loss Happens

OncoLog: Chemotherapy and Hair Loss: Coping with a Common Side Effect of Cancer Therapy

More Information:

Mayo Clinic: Chemotherapy side effects podcast