Cycles of losing brows / lashes long after chemo

Anonymous

Cycles of losing brows / lashes long after chemo

Raven_pg

Hi all - I'm curious to know whether anyone else has experienced this. I finished chemo mid-October 2019 but in early December I lost virtually all of my brows and lashes. They came back in really quickly but then the same thing happened again in April and is happening again now, in August. I spoke to the oncologist but he couldn't explain it. I thought that maybe someone else had this same experience and could provide some insight. Thank you.

SpecialK

Lash and brow cycling is actually pretty common. From what I have read, I believe it occurs because it is not the natural growth pattern to lose them all at once. For some of us the lashes/brows struggle to get back to a cycle of falling out intermittently. For most the cycling can happen a number of times before the normal intermitfallout pattern resumes. Not fun in the meantime, I know.

MountainMia

SpecialK is right. I'm now 13 months past final chemo. I didn't lose the brows and lashes until a month after. When they came back in, they were fantastic!! Best eyelashes I've had in my life! I thought, wow! what a nice unexpected side effect! Alas, they continue to cycle in and out, more and less. Fortunately I'm not losing everything, just thinning and regrowing.

These days I rarely use makeup, between not going anywhere and wearing a mask when I do. But the Benefit (brand) eyebrow powder is great for filling them or even drawing them on when I want to look more hairy.

etnasgrl

I finished Taxol June 4th. I kept my lashes and brows the entire time. No thinning or anything. Then, in mid July, literally overnight, they all fell out. Seriously. I went to bed with lashes and brows. Woke up without them and had a ton of little hairs all over my pillow, lol!

Then, last week, my brows came back 100%! So full, that I actually had to pluck/shape them. My lashes are growing back in as well. They look to be about half of their regular length right now, but seem to be growing slowly longer.

It is so strange to me how quickly they all fell out and then how quickly they have grown back in. Now if only the hair on my head would do the same, lol!

Raven_pg

Thank you all! I feel so much better knowing that others have experienced the same thing. I did notice that I'm losing fewer lashes / brows with each cycle.

Ingerp

Raven--that's a *very* typical pattern. As was explained above, normally we all lose head/lash/brow hairs every day, but chemo resets the lashes/brows so that they're all on the same growth cycle. About every four months you'll shed again, but it will be less every time as things start to normalize. Most women are pretty much back to normal in about a year.