Chemotherapy - will I lose hair and or eyebrows ?

[JeanneFrench]

Had a small lump removed 2 weeks ago. Subsequent MRI, PET scan, and a surgical examination, and blood tests, are all clear, so it seems they got it all. Having 25 days of radiotherapy and 5 doses of chemotherapy (once a week, during the same period as the radiotherapy) as a precaution.

Apparently it is a light dose, and I can go to work and exercise during the course of treatment. Realistically, can I expect my head hair and / or eyebrows to fall out?

Do those cooling caps work, do many people use them, can anyone recommend one?

Thank you in advance.

You will probably lose all your hair including eyelashes and you'll have a free Brazilian too of course. I didn't bother with a cap because you had to arrive an hour before the appointment time and stay an hour later and I made the decision that I was going to do minimal treatment. Ie just the basics. Hope yours goes ok

I think each patient and each treatment plan is different so it’s hard to generalise. You’d be best asking your oncologist (or a member of their team)

(However, fwiw I had 6 months of chemo post-surgery for 2 lumps - 2 sessions a month, a week apart - and lost some hair, but not all by any means. That was 20 years ago, I’m sure treatment is much cleverer now. Good luck with it all )

I think it depends on the type of chemotherapy you have. FWIW, I lost all my hair from everywhere and was very surprised at just how important nose hair is

It depends what chemo regime you have, do you have the name of it? Where was your lump removed from?

My boss had chemo and didn't lose any hair at all

Hohofortherobbers entrance to vagina

Don't think they've given me the name of the drug yet, will check.

DH's hair thinned a bit, but it didn't all come out. He didn't lose eyelashes, eyebrows or pubes either.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to write; I really, really appreciate it.

My grandma finished chemo March last year, she lost every hair on her body. Her hair has grown back, just, she still has no eyebrows or nose hair.
She declined the cooling cap as apparently can be quite painful, and she didn’t want to be in any more pain than she was.
She was supposed to have 14 rounds of chemo but stopped at 7 as it made her so ill. Like you they removed the cancer so this was just a precaution.

I had chemotherapy in the same regime as you and if it’s cisplatin none of your hair will fall out. Mine didn’t. Not all chemotherapy makes your hair fall out! I did however lose pubes due to radiotherapy but that was a positive! Same area! I have since had different treatment and wouldn’t recommend the cold cap. It’s a horrible experience.

@JeanneFrench

Hohofortherobbers entrance to vagina

Don't think they've given me the name of the drug yet, will check.

I believe the drugs you will receive are cisplatin and 5FU, your team will be able to confirm this. Neither should cause hair loss though so cold caps won't be necessary. Sorry you're going through this xx

Thanks again

Sending my best wishes to you OP X

Hi OP,

I lost all my hair, eyelashes and eyebrows- every single hair on my body EXCEPT from
my legs! And it was in the summer! 🤷‍♀️🙄😂

In the plus side - so easy washing the regrowth and not having to worry about styling it and when it was properly through it was really curly (not since childhood!)

Good luck with it all ☺️

You might, you might not. It varies for some people. My brother had it and IIRC his eyelashes and eyebrows didn't fall out, and I think he even had a bit of a beard while he had cancer, but he had a bald patch on his head so he started shaving it.

Good luck with your chemo. It is a bastard.

I just wanted to say good luck OP ❤️🌷🌷

I think it depends on the drug.

I had 12 weekly doses of paclitaxel.
I lost all body hair, though eyebrows and lashes didn't go until I finished. I shaved my head but might have got away with it as my hair thinned but didn't all fall out. I decided against the cold cap as it's uncomfortable and adds a lot of time to the treatment session.
I did feel somewhat under pressure to try the cold cap and it was quite a relief when I said no.

My chemo was said to be milder than some but the cumulative effect of weekly sessions was very tough. Also they gave lots of other drugs to prevent reactions and these had side effects. No way could I have gone to work.

Everyone is different. Good luck.

I had 5 cycles of weekly cisplatin with 25 sessions of radiotherapy and didn’t lose any hair. Now on FEC on a 3 weekly cycle and have lost my hair 3 weeks after my first session.

I lost my hair, inc underarm, leg and pubes but kept my eyebrows and more annoyingly the irritating random chin hairs

Head hair is growing back now but no sign of any of the other

I didn't mind losing all my hair, it really is ok- you can draw in your eyebrows effectively but I was on EC (epirubicin and cyclophosphamide) and the paclitaxel/carboplatin so total hair loss. It's growing back well, I've got about 8 months' regrown and it's curly but thick.

I'm currently on capecitabine and hair is growing strong on it so not all chemo will involve hair loss.

If you need to, please feel free to PM me about tying head scarves! Wish you well soon x

I have some more details now from the oncologist. The drug is Cisplatin.

The chemotherapy nurse says I probably won't feel up to going into work after the sessions (they are 6-7 hours long, once a week) and maybe not the morning/day after too. What is everyone else's experience ?

Any other tips for the chemotherapy sessions, such as what to wear or bring with me? Do I eat there?

I can't really carry much because of pain from the PAC implantation (and to not disturb the PAC) which is a pain as typically with 7 hours I would read A LOT. (Reading on Kindles give me terrible headaches/eyeaches, unfortunately). I will go there by bike and return by bus, (also have a radiotherapy session afterwards).

But do you feel like reading etc. or do you more sort of relax? Do you take a nap, even?

I literally know nothing so sorry for all of the stupid questions.

Also how does it work when you have the chemotherapy and radiotherapy the same day?

I'm worried that the chemotherapy makes you nauseous but for the radiotherapy you need a full bladder (and empty rectum). How long does the nausea last? Would it stop you drinking lots of water?

I'm currently having paclitaxel (3hrs) and carboplatin (1.5hrs) and have just had round 3 of 6. Most of my hair's come out and I am now expert at turban-making. Still have a bit of eyebrow/eyelash hair left.

This is treatment post-hysterectomy for ovarian cancer, stage 1C. The hospital say they deliberately take a pretty aggressive approach unless the patient can't/won't tolerate it, and I'm fine with that.

My oncologist said paclitaxel (=Taxol) was the worst for hair loss and the length of the infusion meant that the cold cap wouldn't work, so I didn't even try.

As to working, I am very lucky to be in a financial position to be able not to: I don't think I'd be able to do more than a couple of days in the second and third weeks of my three-week cycle.

Best of luck with your treatment!

It’s unusual that they are doing radiotherapy after chemo on those days because in order to have cisplatin, you have 3ltrs of fluid infused over the 6-7 hours. There is no way you can have the right bladder size after that.

I found the radiotherapy the tiring part, the chemo was a long day but not too bad.
I did have an allergic reaction to chemo 4 and 5 and wouldn’t have managed to go home alone.
I used to listen to the radio, read my book and browse the internet. I did have private treatment so I had an individual room. I also had food provided but I think the nhs generally offers sandwiches. I’d take a selection of snacks anyway.
I wasn’t nauseous at all, I did have aprepitant to prevent it as well as dexamethasone.

Thanks, everyone.

I will call the radiotherapist on Monday and see if I can have the radiotherapy before the chemotherapy on that particular day of the week. Thank you for the tip.