Has anyone here experienced hair loss with Cisplatin? I was told that this drug usually doesn't cause hair loss, but I seem to be shedding a lot of hair. It could also be postpartum hormones as I just had a baby 4 months ago, but I just wanted to see about others experiences. No clumps of hair, just a lot of shedding.

I don't know about Cisplatin, but the radiation will certainly cause hair loss/shedding. I have no hair on the lower half of the back of my head.

RielyMc,

Did they do radiation there? I was told that the radiation would only affect hair loss where they are treating me, which is not at the back of my head.

Thanks,
Sarah

I had 4 rounds of cisplatin plus intensive radiation. I didn't have hair loss but I did buy myself a wig before treatment in case I needed it since my doctor told me some people would lose hair while some wouldn't. So the same old answer. Side effects of treatment really varie from individuals.

Karen

Hi - John did have hair loss from treatment - mainly on the lower back half of his head. We were told before hand by the medical oncologist that that is a hair loss pattern associated with cisplatin in men and women.

When he used to go for radiation treatment everyday it was common to look around and see other people with that same pattern of cisplatin-induced baldness - not the whole head, just the lower back.

The radiation burned off some beard hair on the one side but had no effect on his head hair.

My sister also had big clumps of hair falling out after her second baby but it eventually stopped and she never looked like she had bald patches - although she worried about it!

This heavy treatment and a new born as well must be very tough going. Hope you are hanging in there okay.

all the best
Mary

The hair loss to the lower back half of my head was caused by the radiation, but only where the radiation hit. I had IMRT in 7 positions around my head & neck. The final position was to the back of my head, from under the table.

I've never heard of Cisplatin causing hair loss to only the lower back half of the head, that wouldn't make any sense.

The loss of hair on the upper neck is most probably due to the radiation -- Barry lost it, as did a woman who was *only* getting radiation -- only about 1 1/2" swath in both cases because of the tomo-IMRT machine. He just left the rest of his hair longer in back and you couldn't really notice.

The platinoids (cis-and carbo-) can cause hair thinning but real hair loss occurs only in a small percentage of people getting these drugs, and usually when given at higher doses than is given for radiosensitizing in head/neck cancer treatment. Taxol does cause hair loss in most people.

Barry also lost beard growth, mostly on right side, some on left. This was only for a few months, everything has been grown back for some time, although both hair and beard are darker than before.

He was warned beforehand that the radiation would cause this hair-loss pattern, btw.

Gail

Thanks for the information. Most of my hair does seem to be coming from the back and sides (I have medium-long hair) and not so much from the top. I have really thick hair, so maybe it will just thin and not completely go away.