Does chemotherapy cause hair loss?

Chemotherapy may cause hair loss.

Chemotherapy drugs target fast-dividing cells, because cancer cells divide frequently, so they can be effectively killed. However, some normal cells in our body, such as hair follicle cells, also divide quickly, which is vulnerable to chemotherapy drugs, resulting in hair loss. Some chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss more likely and severe, while some are relatively low. This is related to the characteristics and targets of the drugs.

It should be noted that although most patients receiving chemotherapy will lose hair, there are individual patients whose hair loss is not obvious. This may be related to factors such as individual genes and physical conditions.

In general, after the end of chemotherapy, hair follicle function will gradually return to normal as the body recovers, and hair will grow back. However, the newly grown hair may be different from the previous one in terms of texture and color.