We are on day 21 of a 30 day IMRT plan. He has lost the hair on the back of his neck, in an usual way that follows the exit pattern of the radiation. The hair on the front of his neck is gone as well, which is not as obvious or unusual. We were only expecting the hair loss in the front.

In the scheme of things, we relalize this is a superficial side effect.....but would love to hear from the Forum as to their experiences. We have asked the docs and nurses...and heard mixed long term effects....from "it never grows back" to "it will be thinner" to "it could grow back with a different look".....to "it will all grow back".......

Kris's hair all grew back. The hair at the back of his head grew back black and remains so 18 months later. His normal hair colour is light brown. I love it and when it gets a bit long it is curly.
Tammy

At dx I jokingly said that an upside to this rotten-ass situation would be that my greying, thin, straight-as-a-board hair would all fall out and new, thick, curly, non-grey hair would grow back.
But, alas, I only lost about 2-3 inches in the back, from the bottom up. And, of course, it is growing back ( about 4 inches long now) and IS thicker, darker, and in cute little ringlets. DAMN!!
But, of course, the most important thing is that the CANCER never grows back. No curly new hair would ever be worth going thru that agony again. So piss on that curly hair I wanted.
And, remember, everyone is different.
-Wendy

The hair on the back will grow back over time. I lost all my whiskers as well and ONLY the ones above my chin line returned so I list that as the only positive thing to come from my Tx as now my shaving time and expense has been sliced in half. lol

I had radiation to the entire neck area and left side of my tongue - I lost all my hair from the top of my ears down - and it thinned all over my left side. It's now grown back (15-16 mos out of treatment) it's black and curly - I had extensions put in when it was Long enough (3mos after treatment) and had them removed finally in may my hair is a bob now - midway between my chin and shoulder - I've had it trimmed a few times too. If I were a man I'd just shave my head. It's very normal... Take care.

I'm a bit over 3 years out from RT. I'd say I've lost about an inch of hair on the back of my neck permanently. And like my fellow David, basically ditto under my chin line - maybe a few wisps here and there on the right and nothing at all on the still-numb left side where they cut into my neck. I find it's easier just to keep a beard at this point!

Kevin lost all his hair from chemo except the grey ones, which seemed to turn white. I LOVED it! Now his hair is back a little darker than it was, but there is absolutely NO hair on his neck except one strip on the left side in the back. He really only has to shave his chin and his left cheek a bit. The top of his head still has no hair...but it's been that way for several years now! ;-)

my hair is growing back out in the back - be prepared though, it is looking mighty funny at this point! I have very straight hair, and the hair in the back now is super curly and very fine... it looks really funny actually. it has brought family and friends a lot of laughs

Ron has no hair growth on his right side of his face/cheek and lower chin but has a full mustache! He can be Victor/Victoria I told him for Halloween cuz his face is so smooth and than he has beard and chin growth on the left side. When he isn't cleaned up it looks funny!

Luckily my husband did not lose the strip across the back where the radiaton exited. It would of looked awefully strange since he already lost the hair on top. He did lose the hair on the back of his neck but I just noticed he has some fine hair coming in on one side. As far as his beard he had lost everything below his lips but it has returned on his chin in the last month or so. He needs to keep freshly shaved or his sideburns look like porkchop sideburns which I do not like at all because of the missing beard. He sure saves time on shaving these days!!

My new hair is curly, too. My hair is normally stick straight, fine and light brown. I lost about three inches on the back of my head from ear to ear and it grew back darker brown, a little coarse and curly. I don't know about losing hair on the front of the neck. I'm a lady so I don't have hair on my chin (that I'll admit to).

I was very lucky and didn't lose any hair on my head and just a few on the left side of my chin. Now I wish , with this no jaw or bone, that all the whiskers had gone bye bye. It's the hardest to shave between folds of hanging chin flesh.

Quick update. All of the hair has grown back. Looks as though nothing happened!!! It started to return a few weeks after radiation ended at the end of August....and By November he was looking his normal self.