hi
I'm a 19 year old male I had 6 weeks of precautionary radiotherapy following brain surgery to remove a tumor. One of the side effects was hair loss. How long does it usually take for it to grow back? Its been almost 5 weeks now and still no regrowth.
Has anyone been in this situation?. Thanks,

Matt

You may find this information about Prophylactic cranial radiotherapy (PCR) of interest.

According to Cancerbackup

quote:

After radiotherapy your hair is likely to regrow although it may not be as thick as it was before. The time it takes to regrow depends on the dose of radiotherapy that you have had and the length of your treatment. On average it takes 6–12 months for your hair to grow back after you have finished your treatment.

Some people have permanent hair loss after radiotherapy, or the hair that grows back appears patchy. If you have patchy hair loss on your head you may want to continue wearing a wig or some other type of headwear. Your doctor or radiographer will discuss the possibility of permanent hair loss, and other side effects, with you before you start your treatment.

There is also info about Hair loss after radiotherapy to the brain on the Cancerhelp website.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes
Vinod

Hi Matt,

I had Radiotherapy to my neck in December 2005, and lost all the hair below my ears. I also had some chemotherapy that made the rest of my hair very thin. I can't remember how long it took for the hair to grow back, but some of it is about 3" long now, so if hair grows at about 1/2" per month then it must have started to regrow in the Summer. My mother-in-law cut my hair last weekend, and said that there is one small area at the nape of my neck where the hair on the right side is still not growing as thickly as the hair on the other side.
Try not to worry about it, loads of people loose their hair for lots of different reasons, and there are lots of hairstyles around now that can be adapted for irregular hair growth. I was worried that I had lost so much hair that the only option would be to crop it to about 1" all over (as Kylie has hers), but my mother-in-law cut it into a really short bob, which made the most of the hair that I still had. I'm now trying to grow it out. I really miss my hair as it was very nice before the treatment, although it was very expensive ( I had it cut and coloured regularly), but it does appear to be regrowing.
In young men it's not unusual to see shaved heads, and when the hair does start to regrow the spiky look could make the most of sparse hair.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jenni,

Hi Matt

I also had RT to my neck area on the left hand side and lost my hair in that area, strangeley (or maybe not) I also lost it on the right hand side where the RT beam exited but it started to grow back after about 6 months and now 1 year on it's pretty much all back to normal.

Hi Matt

I'll go along with Rose and mention that my hair grew back after 6 months too - it wasn't a nice feeling when it fell out in tufts - but also strangely when it returned, it was a slightly different colour and maybe thicker too.