Breast Cancer and Hair Loss

Kenny English24 Jun, 2023Health

The chemotherapy drugs may affect only the hair on your head, but it can also cause the loss of eyebrows and eyelashes, pubic hair and hair on your legs, arms or underarms. It all depends on which drugs are used and for how long. During chemotherapy, hair loss occurs because the chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells ?healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Some of the fastest growing cells in the body are hair follicles. When you are not in cancer treatment your hair follicles divide every 23 to 72 hours. When you are in chemotherapy, your hair loss may be gradual or dramatic. You may find clumps in your hairbrush or handfuls on your pillow. No matter how well prepared you think you are, it is almost always startling and depressing.