Why cancer patiences lose their hair after radiations thretment anyone know?

Research on cancer patience losing hair,

Why cancer patiences lose their hair after radiations thretment anyone know?
There are two types of cancer treatments that can cause hair loss . . either chemotherapy or radiation depending on the location of the disease.





Only some types of chemotherapy have hair loss as a side effect, but not all. In some cases radiation treatment that involves the head, neck, shoulder area can also cause hair loss.





Radiation, in general, is a local treatment which means that the beam of radiation is directed to one spot . . if that spot is on the leg than you will probably not lose your hair. If the beam of radiation is somewhere on the face or head . . than you might lose your hair.





So basically, cancer patients being treated with some types of chemotherapy lose their hair because the drug targets fast growing cells .. tumor cells grow fast so the drug kills those cells . . but hair also grows fast and the drug can not tell the difference so it kills those cells too . . the result is temporary hair loss. Once you stop chemo than the hair grows back. The same principle happens with radiation . . while targeting the tumor some of the radiation affects the fast growing hair cells too . . but after radiation is over the hair usually grows back.





American Cancer Society: Hair Loss


http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MBC/conten...
Reply:Radiation kills the good cells in the body and surely there will be some hair loss. All do not lose all of the hair and then the hair does grow back.
Reply:radiation affects rapidly reproducing tissues, such as tumors and hair follicles.
Reply:Rocky is right. There are a couple of things you can do to try to minimize the hair loss. One is to put an elastic band around the head, not so tight that it completely cuts off blood flow but just enough to slow it down. The other is to apply an ice cap, which will shrink the blood vessels so that during the time chemo is running, less is delivered to the scalp. Neither of these will completely eliminate it. But as a consolation, when the hair comes back, it's usually the color it was years ago and thicker and fuller!
Reply:Please, let me correct this misconception. Radiation does not cause hair loss. Chemotherapy does. And there are some typs of chemo that you don't lose your hair with.
Reply:Hair loss happens because the chemotherapy affects all cells in the body, not just the cancer cells. The lining of the mouth, stomach, and the hair follicles are especially sensitive because those cells multiply rapidly just like the cancer cells. The difference is that the normal cells will repair themselves, making these side effects temporary.
Reply:it is heat entering the body, and if its often then its to be expected.