Chemotherapy can change the structure of hair follicles, which can temporarily affect hair texture after treatment ends. (Image credit: SeventyFour/Getty Images)
Hair is a significant part of our identity, and losing it during cancer treatment can be extremely traumatic at an already difficult time. However, it can be a positive indicator of how well chemotherapy is working, and hair usually grows back after treatment, according to Desmond Tobin, a dermatologist at the Charles Institute at University College Dublin.
Hair may look different after chemotherapy, Tobin said. “In the vast majority of cases, hair will regrow after treatment and return to its pre-treatment appearance,” he told Live Science. “However, early in the recovery process, the texture and appearance of the hair may change.”
The most common thing that patients who have undergone chemotherapy report is the appearance of “chemical curls” — hair that grows back curly when it was previously straight. According to Tobin, these altered hairs usually return to their original shape after about a year. But why does hair grow differently after chemotherapy?
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
