Radiation therapy induced hair loss

[qwest]

Hello,

As the title of this post suggests, I underwent radiation therapy about a year ago which has caused quite a bit of hair loss. The radiation was focused on the neck area and it caused all the hair from about the top of the ears down in the back to fall out completely as well as a good part of my facial hair. The hair in the back has come back a bit, but it's incredibly thin now and just looks odd. It's not so freakishly bad that someone would do a double-take but it used to be the best and thickest hair on my head and now it's yet one more place where my hair is thin and shows through to the scalp. What's more, I have a FUSS scar on the back of my head from an hair transplant about 9 years ago which makes it all the more challenging to find a hairstyle that works. A short haircut that leverages the thin area exposes the scar, longer hair looks odd because the hairs in the back are now very thin and wispy and the hairline in the back is about an inch higher than it was previously.

I also underwent chemotherapy which seems to have accelerated hair loss on the top, though that could just be down to a coincidence. At any rate, the hair on top has become quite diffuse and in any kind of light one can see the white of my scalp.

I was wondering if Finasteride, Minoxidil, Ketokonazol etc. would do any good on the radiation damaged hair at the back? It seems as if the hair follicles are still there and producing hair, but the hair itself is just unbelievably thin, more like peach fuzz than the hair it once was.

I'm very happy to be alive and cancer free. Obviously, hair loss considerations did not even factor into the equation when dealing with the cancer or during the long recovery. One would think that having survived advanced stage cancer would be enough... but life goes on. Now that I'm almost back to a normal routine, all the hair loss is starting to bother me and I'd like to do something about it, if at all possible.

Does anyone here have expertise with this sort of hair loss issue?

 

[truetifoso]

I'm in the same boat as you. I lost my hair during chemo treatments to treat my lung cancer (never smoked a day in my life). I had a hair transplant a few months after I finished my chemo treatments. My hair started to grow back, and I passed the stage that the transplanted hair can be considered my own. Almost a year later I was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer to the brain. Whole brain radiation treatments led to losing my hair again almost a year after I had a hair transplant courtesy of Bosley.

Roughly eight months after the whole brain radiation treatment ended, my hair started to grow back rapidly...almost. The hair that was transplanted hasn't really grown back. For these past eight months, these areas are still mostly bare. They didn't grow back like my original hair. The post transplant areas are occupied by baby hair at best, nothing at worst.

It was my understanding that I was passed the time after the procedure during which the transplanted hair was "mine" and would remain so. Is the slow-down/seemingly stoppage of growth after eight months of the start of hair regrowth a bad sign? Is there still hope? My dermatologist says there is hair in this areas which is obviously positive, but he can't explain why it seems to have stopped while my original hair continues to grow.

Any and all insights are appreciated.

 

[truetifoso]

Thank you so much for the congratulations. It means a lot to me.

My dermatologist is positive and says that the fact that I have any hair at all in the thinnest spots is a reason to believe that it will eventually come in. That said, he can't explain the fact that hair growth in those areas have seemingly come to a complete halt. He does have me using Minoxodil twice per day, but it doesn't seem to be making a difference nor does Bosley's laser comb.

I actually eat pretty well and exercise at least four times per week. Well, hopefully something positive will come from the companies working on treatments sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the advice!