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Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells.
The most usual type of radiotherapy is external beam radiotherapy. A special machine aims high powered x-rays at the part of your body that needs the treatment.
The radiotherapy is carefully planned to damage as few normal cells as possible, but if there is hair in the part of your body being treated, it will fall out.
Radiotherapy affects only the hair in the treated area. If you are having radiotherapy to your pelvis, for instance, you will lose pubic hair, but you will not lose the hair on your head.
Once the treatment is over your body will start to recover, and your hair will almost certainly grow back. Sometimes, the new hair is a slightly different colour or texture.
Occasionally, the hair never grows back. This may happen if you are having a very high dose of radiotherapy. If you are likely to lose your hair permanently, your doctor will talk with you about this. It happens to only a few patients.
It may upset you to lose some or all of your hair - but it痴 almost certainly just for a while, and there are things you can do to help yourself cope.
