“Do you lose your hair with radiotherapy?”
I am a 48 year old female. I wonder if you lose your hair with radiotherapy?
3 Answers
Hair loss is a common side effect of radiotherapy in the region of being treated. That can begin around 2-3 weeks after treatment. Thank you for your inquiry.
Usually there is temporary hair loss in the treated field only.
Hair loss is typically related to chemotherapy, which can make your hair brittle, causing it to "break" and fall out. Radiation therapy is usually focused on a single area, and it will usually NOT cause general hair loss, unless the beam of radiation is directly aimed at an area where you have hair. Then it may damage the hair cells just in that location. There is another type of radiotherapy where you are giving a pill that contains radioactive material to ingest. This is how we often treat thyroid conditions. This type of radiation also does not typically cause hair loss.
