Side Effects Of Chemotherapy

By chemotherapy one generally refers to the drug combinations prescribed for the treatment of cancer or tumors. Many side effects of chemotherapy treatments are permanently reported by people undergoing a chemical intervention.

side effect 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. How is chemotherapy hair loss explained? Well, chemotherapy consists of a treatment relying on chemicals that are meant either to inhibit or kill the cells that grow or replicate too fast.

The trouble is that the treatment is directed towards all the cells in the body that have this characteristic disregarding whether they are cancer cells or healthy cells. That is why, besides hair loss, many cancer patients may also have to cope with other side effects of chemotherapy related to their digestive system or skin.

long term side effects of chemotherapy

Even if this is one of the side effects of chemotherapy that most of us know something about, we may not know that alopecia is only temporary. Alopecia stops once the treatment is over. Although there may be changes in color and texture, hair will grow back again normally.

There are a few side effects of chemotherapy to say the least, but their intensity could be reduced. 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 hair loss will be diminished although not completely stopped.

side effects of chemotherapy

All in all, side effects of chemotherapy are a challenge and doctors are still trying to reduce their number. 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.