Treatment of Permanent Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia with Low Dose Oral Minoxidil

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia is a common side effect of chemotherapy, but usually hair regrowth begins 3 to 6 months after treatment. However, permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA) is the absence of or incomplete hair regrowth lasting longer than 6 months after the cessation of treatment. There is no effective treatment for PCIA, but this paper reports a case of a 39-year-old woman with cosmetically significant regrowth after continuous therapy with low dose oral minoxidil. The medication was well tolerated with no reported adverse events and no changes in blood pressure or richosis in non-scalp areas. The patient reported a subjective increase in hair growth at 6 weeks. After 1 year of continuous therapy, the patient regrew significant amounts of hair, with an increased number of growing follicles as well as cosmetically meaningful lengthening of most of the scalp hairs.