Ways To Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy

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Hair loss is a common problem that anyone who undergoes chemotherapy should face. Chemotherapy is usually aimed to target the uncontrollable growth of cancer cells. But, unfortunately, it will act on normal cells as well resulting in many other side effects. Hair loss is one such side effect of chemotherapy, which occur when the cancer drugs affect the hair follicles. Chemotherapy can cause hair loss all over your body, but when it comes to scalp, the concern is a bit more. It is the time when the patient and the family become worried about how to prevent hair fall during chemotherapy.

The rate and extent of your hair loss may depend on the type and dose of the medication that you take. But with the advancements in medical science, there are many safe ways to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy that are effective to a great extent. For preventing hair loss, the newest tendency is using scalp hypothermia. Even though you can't fully prevent hair loss during chemotherapy, don’t lose hope, you still have ideas to manage it effectively. Here are some ways to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy.

Manage stress: Don’t allow the stress to affect your emotional stability. When the hair loss due to chemotherapy is an unavoidable side effect, hormonal changes due to stress will only aggravate your hair loss. It is an unquestionable matter that the disease and anything associated with that will be stressful, but it is important to try methods to keep you relaxed.

Scalp hypothermia cap: This is a specially designed tight fitting cap used during chemotherapy treatments, made of silicon gel or rubber that is cooled to -30 degree Celsius. The temperature of the cap is low enough to constrict the blood vessels in the scalp, which will help reduce the amount of chemotherapy drugs that affect the hair follicles.

Caps attached to cooling machines: There are caps that can cool your scalp when attached to cooling machines. This may restrict you from moving around, but can be safely removed for some time, for example if you want to visit the toilet. This will require you to spend some more time in the hospital after the chemotherapy treatment, but is worth the time and effort.

Know it is temporary: The hair loss that you experience during the treatment time is a temporary phenomenon and everything will come back to the normal stage once you are cured. Moreover, the rate of hair fall depends on the type and dose of your medication. Changes in the doses based on your prognosis will make things much better. Focus and row towards hope with a positive mindset.