Eyelashes and eye brows

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Hello everyone. I finished chemo almost 6 weeks ago for ER/PR/HER 2 positive IDC. It's bad enough that my head looks like a baby bird, but my eyelashes all fell out *after* I was finished with chemo. This morning I woke up to find huge chunks of my eyebrows missing. Is this post chemo reaction common? Finally starting to feel human but my appearance belies my improvement... ugh

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  • Ingerp
    Ingerp Member Posts: 2,624
    edited February 2019

    I think this is pretty typical. It's kind of like they've "unattached" but haven't quite fallen out yet, probably because you don't rub your eyes. In fact, when I lost mine I already had a bunch of short ones growing out. My MO said it's kind of like the new ones push the old ones out. Be prepared for several cycles of losing them. The way it was explained to me is that while normally we lose one or two here and there, chemo resets all of them so they're on the same cycle. A lot of women go through a second round of losing lashes/brows about four months PFC. I haven't read about a third round, or maybe to a lesser extent, but it should all even out and get back to normal eventually.

  • AnxietyGirl85
    AnxietyGirl85 Member Posts: 74
    edited February 2019

    Same thing happened to me - the hair on my head fell out two weeks after my first round of AC (and it was more than a month PFC that I started to get some fuzz again), but my eyelashes and eyebrows mostly held on until I finished chemo, just a little thinning at first, and THEN fell out completely. It sucked badly, I had big thick eyebrows, I looked so strange without them and it was harder to cover that up than it was to hide my bald head. I was like, "Really, AFTER all of this is over, NOW you fall out?!"

    But, the good news is, mine, at least, grew back pretty quickly and all at once, brows and lashes, even after falling out bit by bit. I finished chemo at the end of May last year, and since then, my eyelashes and eyebrows have grown back in and I've gone through a couple more shedding cycles - not nearly as bad as when they fell out completely, but maybe three times since they grew back, they've thinned. It's getting better, I'm currently going through another shed but it's not nearly as bad as the previous times. I just use a brow pencil to fill in the gaps where they look a little sparse, I don't like it, but it's not nearly as awful as having them gone completely!!

    From what I've read, it could take up to a year for them to get themselves back on a proper, staggered growth cycle again so that the hairs shed individually at different times, but we'll get there. It totally sucks having to look in the mirror every day and see our diagnosis and treatment written on our faces and heads (I have about 4 inches of hair now, and I hate it, it used to be halfway down my back and it pains me every second of every day to see it short), but it's all part of the process, all part of the healing, and it'll all sort itself out in time, you just have to be patient (easier said than done, I know!). Invest in a good brow pencil and practice in the mirror, that's what helped me get through it, and ditto for a good mascara - I'd recommend one with a tiny brush if you can find it, it's handy when your eyelashes start growing back and they're super-short. Ooo, and eyeliner, that can help hide the bare patches until your lashes come back properly.

  • CBK
    CBK Member Posts: 611
    edited February 2019

    Ms Anthrope

    I think it depends on your chemo regime. My eyebrows and eyelashes held strong thru A/C and started dropping on taxol. They continued to drop after taxol as well. Taxol I believe, although don't quote me on this, takes the lashes, eyebrows and nose hairs. Ugh!

    They do grow back quickly is my recollection, although I know it doesn't feel that way when you are sitting there with a bald head and then the brows and eyelashes go bye bye. I remember being very down when that hit me...

    What your experiencing although extremely unpleasant is quite common. I feel your frustration!!

    Although people remind me there is no research to back my claim....🤣.... I swear using castor oil on my brow area made them sprout quick and beautifully! Jamaican black organic castor oil !! I swear by it for my whole head and eyelashes too!!

    I remember my wig shop carried eyebrow wigs. But owner of shop told me not to waste money on them, but they do exist!

    Good luck to you.... they will be back sooner than you think and btw no one really notices this except you. In retrospect I found that out talking to myfriends.

    🤗 KC

  • CaliKelly
    CaliKelly Member Posts: 474
    edited February 2019

    Yeah, unfortunately, my lashes and brows were repeatedly falling out and growing back in bunches, at one time i had a total of 8 lashes😂Yes i counted them😊. Took months for them all to get on differing growth, and fallout cycles. After chemo they all get on the same growth, resting ,then falling out cycles. Normally they are all on different cycles. Some are growing, some are resting, some are falling out. So you never notice the cycling. It takes awhile but they get back on track. Eyeliner was my camouflage, lot of people never noticed I had no lashes, or so they said😉💖

  • Ms_Anthrope
    Ms_Anthrope Member Posts: 21
    edited February 2019

    Thanks for all the helpful replies. It really feels like this is never-ending. I have zero eyelashes, about 10% of brows that are going quickly, and my hair is just a faint soft fuzz and my scalp is totally visible. I'm six weeks post Taxol + Herceptin and have 8 more months of Herceptin and two reconstructive surgeries ahead of me. Yes, I'm WHINING! :)

  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited February 2019

    Not to scare anyone, but it's four years after my final chemo, and I still have sparse lashes and brows. I draw my brows on every morning, and eyeliner is my best friend. Hope you're luckier than me!

  • CBK
    CBK Member Posts: 611
    edited February 2019

    I lost every eyelash and only retained .... get this one damn grey eyebrow hair ! I was like you gotta be kidding me..... I was so 😤 angry when I plucked that one stray grey .... I threw the tweezer at the mirror.

    I don’t think mine fell out over and over again. I would have remembered that! But I seem to recall a light thinning after they grew back initially.

    My eyelashes grew back wacky and they are still filling in. They grew in super straight and like all poking out all over the place. Crazy.

    Both my eyebrows and hair grew in thicker than ever. Like insane,can’t control my lid thick. 😅

    Hang in there... I didn’t go through Herceptin but my reconstruction is one of the longest in history. And believe me, I do know how you feel on some level!

    🤗

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 368
    edited February 2019

    I'm six months out from chemo and they do come back. I'm using eye and brow pencils, after years of no makeup and it helps.

  • DiagnosisDisruption
    DiagnosisDisruption Member Posts: 108
    edited February 2019

    Mine come and go. I just realized my right eyebrow was mostly missing about two weeks ago, but it is slowly coming back. I am ten months PFC TCHP regimen.

  • NotVeryBrave
    NotVeryBrave Member Posts: 1,287
    edited February 2019

    My eyebrows thinned towards the end of chemo. Chunks were missing at a time but grew back quickly. I just filled in with a pencil. The eyelashes all fell out about six weeks after chemo. They left very quickly. Someone on this site recommend "Lash Discovery" mascara and that really helped with it's super tiny brush.

    I've never had them all out again but seem to go through periods where they are thinner than normal.

  • Ms_Anthrope
    Ms_Anthrope Member Posts: 21
    edited March 2019

    well, I have an update. My new eyebrows were just behind the hairs that started falling out in chunks. I never thought I'd say these words, but I found a bonus to chemo - my "new" eyebrows are thicker, darker and fuller than they've been in my whole life. :)

  • CaliKelly
    CaliKelly Member Posts: 474
    edited March 2019

    Yay! Silver lining!

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