No. There are many kinds of chemotherapy and some drugs such as 5-FU (for example) don’t normally cause hair loss. But even chemotherapy drugs that are known to cause hair loss don’t always produce hair loss.
I was treated with 8 cycles of ABVD chemotherapy (Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine) for Hodgkin’s Disease. My oncologist said I would lose my hair, mostly due to the Adriamycin. I didn’t. My hair thinned somewhat, but I didn’t lose anywhere close to all of it. Anyone who didn’t know wouldn’t know from looking at my hair that I had chemo. I know other Hodgkin’s Disease patients treated with ABVD for half as many cycles who lost ALL of their hair. It is just luck of the draw.
There are chemo regimens that do cause total hair loss in just about everyone. Cytoxan for example. Then there are those like ABVD that usually cause hair loss, but some people get spared. Then there are regimens where hair loss is rare.
By the way according to the chemo nurses, hair loss does not equate to chemo working. There is no correlation between chemotherapy side effects and effectiveness.
Here is a list of common chemo drugs: http://www.chemocare.com/BIO/index.asp
You can look under side effects to see if hair loss is common.
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6 Responses to “Does Chemotherapy Always Result In Total Hair Loss?”
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February 18th, 2010 at 2:53 am
No, not always. I had etopocide, bleomycin, ifosmamide, cisplatin, vinblastine and a few others. I was as bald as a plum for 5 years. But some folks didn’t lose all their hair. I don’t know what types of cancer they had or what treatment regimens & such, though. I remember one dude would lose most of the hair on his head but always kept his facial hair.
So no, it’s not necessarily a given. Oh, also, each time my hair would grow back it was always a different texture and colour. The very last time it happened to grow back the original blonde. And so I still am. =)
February 18th, 2010 at 2:53 am
No. There are over 150 different kinds of chemotherapy and some cause hair loss and some do not. Much depends on the dosage and length of time a patient will take chemotherapy. My son lost his hair on high dose chemo, it grew back, he than started a targeted therapy drug that turned his hair white.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:25 am
No. My mother has Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and she’s taking the chemotherapeutic drug Fludarbine and the monoclonal antibody Rituxin. Her hair is actually thicker and curlier than ever. It all depends on the type of cancer and how aggressive the therapy to treat it is.
February 18th, 2010 at 11:21 am
no, my hair thinned a little, and it developed a bit of a curl, but didn’t fall out, everyone is different and the type of chemo makes a difference.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Some do, some don’t. With breast cancer if you get adrymiacin you will lose your hair. So look up the name of the chemo drug and it will tell you the side effects.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I don’t think so, my grandmother had cancer and took chemo, she did not loose her hair