Chemotherapy is a sort of treatment based on various combinations of drugs that are meant to reduce the growth of cancerous cells within a patient’s body. But while following this treatment or so-called therapy, the patient may have to deal with several side effects of chemotherapy.
Hair loss or alopecia makes the most visible of the side effects of chemotherapy although it is false to assume that someone suffering from thinning hair or alopecia is necessarily ill with cancer. Why does hair loss appear to begin with? Well, chemotherapy consists of a treatment based on very powerful medication that inhibits and destroys cells with a rapid growth rate.
Even if only cancer should be eliminated, it has been impossible so far to target only the cancerous cells; in the present conditions all rapidly growing tissues will be destroyed. Thus, besides hair loss, other side effects of chemotherapy administration include skin decay and digestive problems, because both hair and soft membranes are constantly renewing themselves.
Even if this is one of the side effects of chemotherapy that most people are familiar with, few really have a clue about the temporary nature of such side effects. Alopecia stops once the treatment is over. Although there may be changes in color and texture, hair will grow back again normally.
True, there are pretty many side effects of chemotherapy and researchers have been doing their best to find ways of preventing them from happening or at least reducing them. In the case of hair loss, prevention is achieved by putting on a cold cap meant to cool the scalp and reduce blood circulation in the area. As a result, the blood will not carry the drug to the hair follicles and this means that one’s hair will be protected from the damage of the drug.
All in all, side effects of chemotherapy are a challenge and scientists do their best to discover ways to reduce them. Even if one solution to preventing side effects from appearing is available, the same solution may not work for another drug that leads to the same problem. The same goes for hair loss; the cold cap may have the wanted effect of doing away with alopecia only in the case of certain drugs, but it may not work with some other ones.