Hair Loss in Cancer Chemotherapy Patients

July 2007 in “ PubMed ”

Vishol Chadha, Shrutakirthi D Shenoi

chemotherapy diffuse alopecia telogen hairs dystrophic hairs anagen effluvium telogen effluvium

TLDR Chemotherapy causes hair loss in cancer patients by affecting both growing and resting hair.

In a study conducted 16 years ago, the hair loss of 8 cancer patients aged between 18 and 60 years undergoing chemotherapy was examined. All patients experienced moderate diffuse alopecia within 1 month of starting treatment. Among the 8 patients, 3 had only telogen hairs and 3 had a high count of dystrophic hairs. The study concluded that both anagen and telogen effluvium are implicated in hair loss in cancer patients on chemotherapy.

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Related Research

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research Permanent Alopecia Following Chemotherapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation

63 citations, May 2000 in “Australasian Journal of Dermatology”

Chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant can cause permanent hair loss.