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Skin
cancers and hair loss
There are several ways that cancers can cause hair loss. The
process may be a direct or indirect action on the hair follicles.
Neoplasms may result in permanent alopecia. There are several
types that
can be involved and directly affect the skin and hair
follicles. Sclerosing basal cell carcinomas are tumors that
develop from skin cells. Syringomas develop from cells in sweat
ducts
and sometimes even cells from within hair follicles themselves
can become cancerous and develop into hair follicle hamartomas.
These types of cancers limited to skin structures can become
quite
extensive and affect almost all areas of the skin. Any associated
hair loss may be equally extensive.
As with any tumor, the excessive proliferation of cells involved
develops as masses of undifferentiated tissue. The tumor destroys
hair follicles and any other normally identifiable skin structure.
This a form of cicatricial alopecia although there need not
be
any actual scar tissue around hair follicles. As a cicatricial
alopecia, the hair follicles are permanently destroyed and
there
is no hope of hair follicle regrowth - even when the cancer
is successfully treated. Treatment for such skin cancers involves
excision of the affected area before the cancer can spread to
other tissue and/or use of chemotherapy. Early diagnosis and
treatment
is vital both for curing the cancer and for limiting the extent
of permanent alopecia.
Cancer
metastisis and hair loss
Metastatic cancers may also cause alopecia. Breast,
lung, liver, kidney and other organ cancers can spread to the
skin and destroy
hair follicles and other structures. Lymphomas are a type of cancer
where cells
of the immune system proliferate out of control. These mutant
inflammatory
cells often collect in the skin and can target and destroy hair
follicles in the process. Cancer induced hair loss is sometimes
called "alopecia neoplastica" when the tumor cells have
colonised the skin and the tumors are the direct mediators of
the hair loss.
If permanent hair loss is apparent after successful remission
of the cancer, hair transplantation is the only practical option
to cover bald regions.
The rapid, uncontrolled rate of cell growth involved in cancer
of internal organs requires utilization of energy, vitamins,
and
minerals in large quantities. This depletion of resources and
the associated anemia may lead to a gradual diffuse hair loss
described
as a telogen effluvium. The cancers may also disrupt hormone production
and in turn this may also cause alopecia. Hair loss induced indirectly
by cancer in this way should spontaneously recover once the cancer
is successfully treated and its influence removed from the body.
Recovery from telogen effluvium forms of hair loss is slow and
it may take several months before there is noticeable hair regrowth.
Cancer
treatment causing hair loss
Chemotherapy for cancer may cause temporary alopecia. Treatment
for cancer involves using drugs that slow down the rate of cell
proliferation. This means that cells with a high rate of activity
and cell division will be the most affected. In healthy individuals
some of the most active proliferating cells are those that make
hair fiber. Chemotherapy is a nonspecific treatment, it acts on
all proliferating cells and not just the cancerous cells. So while
chemotherapy slows down or stops cancer cells from multiplying it
also stops hair follicle cells from dividing. This results in hair
loss as hair follicles shut down hair fiber production.
This form of hair loss is described as an anagen effluvium. In
an anagen effluvium type of hair loss, the hair follicles have their
hair fiber growth actively blocked. The hair follicles themselves
are still ready and raring to go but they can not do much without
having rapidly dividing matrix cells to construct the hair fiber.
Anagen effluvium develops in a very short space of time. People
on intensive chemotherapy may lose all their hair in a few days.
Anagen effluvium is not a permanent form of alopecia. Once the
chemotherapy is stopped the hair follicles rapidly reorganize
themselves
and start growing hair again. New hair can be visible within four
weeks of completing chemotherapy. A full head of hair may take
a
few months.
Cancer
and hair loss references
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