Anyone had hair NOT come back?

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janet11
janet11 Member Posts: 262
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer

Mine is NOT doing well. 8 months AFTER chemo (TCH), I staill have big bald spots and a grand total of about 1.5" of hair growth. My onc is sending me to a dermatologist to see if anything can be done. Never thought I'd have to cope with possibly permanent hair loss (*sigh*). 

Has anyone else had this where hair didn't return to normal? I never lost all of it (it just thinned so all you really noticed was scalp, but there were wisps there).  And now it's so thin that scalp still shows through on top and in the back.

Never wore a wig (just hats and scarves) throughout chemo, but if this continues, I'm going to get one.

Janet 

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  • lizws
    lizws Member Posts: 1,892
    edited October 2007

    I know a lady who had treatment and hers only grew back about 2".  No one seems to know why either.  Hopefully they'll be able to figure yours out and do something. 

      

    Liz

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  • janet11
    janet11 Member Posts: 262
    edited October 2007

    Well, at least it's good to know I'm not alone here.  Will see what the derm says, and will start Rogaine to see if it'll do any good.  It seems like such a trivial thing -- yucky hair isn't life threatening. But it sure hits the morale when you have a "bad hair year".

    Janet 

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  • tawyna1
    tawyna1 Member Posts: 273
    edited October 2007

    hi,

    my mom's hair grew back but it is so thin. she hates it.  

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  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited October 2007

    Sheilliks hair never returned.

    She had a boatload of chemo, lets hope yours is just slow getting started.

    Are you taking a hormonal? 

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  • abbadoodles
    abbadoodles Member Posts: 2,618
    edited October 2007

    Janet, that must be so discouraging.  Have you tried taking Biotin as a supplement?

    I have read of the occasional woman whose hair didn't grow back or at least not fully.  Most of the literature says it will in MOST cases come back and my own onc stated definitively that it WOULD ABSOLUTELY.  I wonder how she could say that?

    Anyway, I have also read that in the cases where it didn't grow back it was because of repeated courses of chemo.  Or extra-long courses. Not that that helps after the fact. Cry

    Good luck to you.

    Tina

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  • janet11
    janet11 Member Posts: 262
    edited October 2007

    Thanks for all the comments.  I have an appointment with a dermatologist in a couple weeks and will post what she says (and later... if anything helps).  FYI: Yes, I took biotin for a month or so to see if anything would help. Perhaps I didn't give it enough time.

    Janet 

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  • lvtwoqlt
    lvtwoqlt Member Posts: 6,162
    edited October 2007

    My mom's came back thinner than it was before. 6 years out and she is trying a different hair style to hide the fact it is thin, not the short all over cut but longer on top and down the sides and back.

    sheila

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2007

    Janet....I'm a big advocate of biotin, but found that I needed to take it in a large dose, very regularly, for several months, before I noticed a difference. My hair came back steadily, but seemed so thin. It's all back now, very fine, and shoulder length, but there's alot of it. I attribute that to the biotin. I take 5mg/day, which is a tremendous amount. None of my research identified potential adverse effects from such a dose, so I stick with it. Maybe if you check with your onc, s/he'll be okay with trying a large dose>?

    ~Marin

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  • jenster8759
    jenster8759 Member Posts: 2
    edited October 2007

    I was totally bald on April 8th and it is now October 4th and I have had one haircut already.  My hair came back thick and soft, whereas it was coarse and straight before chemo.  Now it is curly.  I love it.

    I took Biotin with a boatload of supplements, one of them being zinc and I had a full head of hair in June, no bald spots, but total covering.  By the 4th of July it was all in.  Keep taking the biotin 5mg with zinc.  I also take a ton of other supplements, but that is my own personal choice and will not recommend that to anyone.  I have been taking supplements since I was 19 and I am 48 now.  I have had two CT scans that showed no damage from the vitamins and I attribute taking them to my full recovery with barely any side effects from chemo. 

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  • janet11
    janet11 Member Posts: 262
    edited October 2007

    OK.  Here's my hair log.  Am I simply expecting too much?

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  • EyesOTex
    EyesOTex Member Posts: 194
    edited October 2007
    My hair has been such a disappointment.  I finished chemo (dose dense A/C/T) on Oct. 30, 2006.  I finally got my hair cut last month; it was a little longer than yours but not much thicker.  Maybe a little thicker.  It had always been fine, straight, and pretty thin before, but not this thin (esp. on top), but it did come in wavy.  A friend joked my husband and I have the same hair...he is bald on top Surprised!  It looks much better short but you can still see straight through it on top and when you look down on it from behind it looks like one of those commercials for Hair Club or something.  I am so glad you posted because I thought I was the only one who didn't get this great head of hair after chemo (I did lose all mine).  I still don't have any energy either!
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  • MaryGLA
    MaryGLA Member Posts: 330
    edited October 2007

    Janet,

    My hair looks just like yours, and  I finished chemo almost 7 months ago.  I started taking biotin about a month ago, and I am starting to get new baby hairs filling in the bald spots.  Please post again after you see the dermatologist.

    Mary

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