Hair loss with FOLFOX & Avastin?

KFen725
KFen725 Member Posts: 108 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hello!

I'm getting conflicting info on this in regards to my mom's chemo for her Stage IV Colon cancer, so I thought I'd ask some folks with experience - did you lose your hair with FOLFOX & Avastin treatments? My mom just started today. Actually, she is just on FOLFOX this time around, but will be adding Avastin in 2 weeks.

Thanks for any experiences you can offer!
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Comments

  • menright
    menright Member Posts: 256 Member
    #2
    Thinning not yet bald
    I have been on different Chemos for the last 10 months and thought I avoided the Hair loss side-effect. However, my most current chemo included Avastin and suddenly my Hair is very thin and getting thinner. I am not sure if baldness will eventually occur. I am currently done with chemo until after liver surgery so time shall tell. Best of luck to your mother.

    Regards,

    Mike
  • dianetavegia
    dianetavegia Member Posts: 1,942 Member
    #3
    thinned only
    I'm going to be 59 in December and have always had baby fine hair. The photo I use is from July 4th. As you can see, I still have my hair and that was after my 10th treatment with FOLFOX. (Stage III and never used Avastin)

    I do have one online friend who lost her hair, eyebrows, eye lashes and many other problems from day 1 but it was later discovered she has a rare condition which causes 5-FU to almost kill her!
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #4
    Thinning
    Thinning only. It stopped when I had surgery, since no chemo, but now with chemo again can see the thining starting a bit, but my hair has started to fill in also.
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #5
    Another one for thinning
    Another one for thinning right here. Folfox / Avastin / Xeloda did not cause me to lose my hair or go bald. Not sure why, since it's supposed to, but got lucky.
  • luv3jay
    luv3jay Member Posts: 533 Member
    #6
    Mine just thinned in the
    Mine just thinned in the front. I keep mine short anyway, so it was not noticable at all.
  • KFen725
    KFen725 Member Posts: 108 Member
    #7
    Thanks
    Thanks all for your personal experiences. I appreciate it & will pass it on to mom. She is only 61 and has a full head of beautiful hair, so I am praying that she will get to keep it. One less annoyance with cancer, right?

    I am thankful for this board and SO glad I found it!!
  • qwe
    qwe Member Posts: 124
    #8
    KFen725 said:

    Thanks
    Thanks all for your personal experiences. I appreciate it & will pass it on to mom. She is only 61 and has a full head of beautiful hair, so I am praying that she will get to keep it. One less annoyance with cancer, right?

    I am thankful for this board and SO glad I found it!!

    I had 5-Fu from Jan 20 to
    I had 5-Fu from Jan 20 to Feb 26 Monday - Friday and radiations Monday - Friday had the pump for chemo then surgery March 26 and had a colostomy now I am starting to
    lose my hair don't know why so I called my chemo Dr to see if he could give me more
    blood work to see why I am losing my hair well it is thinning out I have to wipe
    it out of the sink after I brush my hair and I have short hair.Don't know if it is a
    delayed reaction to chemo.OH sorry didn't mean to hijack your post but I was just relating.
  • dmdwins
    dmdwins Member Posts: 454 Member
    #9
    qwe said:

    I had 5-Fu from Jan 20 to
    I had 5-Fu from Jan 20 to Feb 26 Monday - Friday and radiations Monday - Friday had the pump for chemo then surgery March 26 and had a colostomy now I am starting to
    lose my hair don't know why so I called my chemo Dr to see if he could give me more
    blood work to see why I am losing my hair well it is thinning out I have to wipe
    it out of the sink after I brush my hair and I have short hair.Don't know if it is a
    delayed reaction to chemo.OH sorry didn't mean to hijack your post but I was just relating.

    Huge clumps
    My hair started falling out in huge clumps after the second treatment. It was very hard emotionally and I just decided to have my friend(she owns a wellness salon) shave the rest off. Don't know if it all would have fallen out eventually on its own or not.

    Smiles,
    Dawn
  • pluckey
    pluckey Member Posts: 484 Member
    #10
    thinning
    I am losing hair slowly..my hair is super thin and you can see my scalp. I have short hair, but I am getting bummed about the hairloss. I'm on 5FU, leucavorin, campostaer and erbatux
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #11
    pluckey said:

    thinning
    I am losing hair slowly..my hair is super thin and you can see my scalp. I have short hair, but I am getting bummed about the hairloss. I'm on 5FU, leucavorin, campostaer and erbatux

    Pluckey
    Just a quick
    Pluckey

    Just a quick question? Why do they have you doing Camptosar instead of Oxaliplatin? The Oxy is the 3rd generation chemo. I'm just curious as to that protocol. Thank you.
    Craig
  • chicoturner
    chicoturner Member Posts: 282
    #12
    Hair Loss
    Hi, I was on Oxi and folfox and my thin hair just thinned. I am now on Avastin and Irionotecan and my hair started coming out a lot. I couldn't stand it so had it buzzed. perhaps not all of it would have come out but it was ugly! Now that I am used to it and the weather is good (hot) I let it get to about 1/2-3/4 inch on top(very thin and white...)
    and use blue spiker gel in it for some pep! I can at least control the color!! It also allows people to comment comfortably and I have had lots of fun with it! Those that don't get that it is fun...well to bad! Enjoy what you have!!! Jean
  • Mike49
    Mike49 Member Posts: 261
    #13
    Thinning
    I lost some hair but still had a full head to comb. The major difference was my hair itself changed character, I always had thick hair and the chemo made it (the hair strand itself) fine. I would have traded the whole head for a cold beverage some days.

    Mike
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #14
    Baby Fine Hair
    I have always had baby fine hair and not much of it either. I am on the oxi, 5FU and leu??? something, plus steroids. Mine has thinned but not everytime I wash it. I notice that when I comb my hair I have to pull the hair out of the comb which bums me out because I have very thin hair anyway. I was told that my hair would only thin, not that I would lose it.

    Kim
  • karafranny
    karafranny Member Posts: 14
    #15
    thinning hair
    hi,

    im on folfox chemo just have had 2 cycles. my hair started thinning before i started chemo about a month after my surgery. my doctor said it could be many factors stress on my body from a major surgery, coumadin, nutritional deficientcy, chemo???????
  • pluckey
    pluckey Member Posts: 484 Member
    #16
    Sundanceh said:

    Pluckey
    Just a quick
    Pluckey

    Just a quick question? Why do they have you doing Camptosar instead of Oxaliplatin? The Oxy is the 3rd generation chemo. I'm just curious as to that protocol. Thank you.
    Craig

    Campostar
    I'm not sure.s oxiplantin another name for something? I may be on that too, I need to asco onco.
    I'm also in process of collecting med records for 2nd opinons
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #17
    pluckey said:

    Campostar
    I'm not sure.s oxiplantin another name for something? I may be on that too, I need to asco onco.
    I'm also in process of collecting med records for 2nd opinons

    Oxaliplatin
    Hi Peggy

    Oxaliplatin also is known as ELOXATIN. This is the 3rd generation and the latest chemo drugs.
    They are in the Carboplatin and Cisplatin family.

    Camptosar is a different class of chemo drugs from the 2nd generation.

    -Craig
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #18
    hair loss
    Hi,

    I never lost my hair. When I was on Folfox (5FU, leucovorin, oxalyplatin) with Avastin, my hair started to thin slightly toward my 9th or 10th treatment of it. I believe it was the effect of taking the 5FU over time. More recently, when I had a recurrence and started taking irinotecan (also called CPT-11 or Camptosar), my hair did thin quite a bit on the temples and down by my neck. Fortunately, I have always had a thick head of hair, so no one really noticed much, except maybe my family and my hairdresser. It's since come back- I have hairs on my head that are now about 2-1/2 inches long, but no one can notice it (I do use a balm to smooth some of the hairs down that want to stick up along my part on top of my head). I've been off of the irinotecan since early April, but just started back on it yesterday. I won't be surprised if I start to feel that tingly, sore feeling on my scalp again (which is what usually happens preceding hair loss). I've actually had that feeling in the past a few times when no hair came out at all.

    Everyone is different- some lose their hair and some don't on these chemos. Not like the "for sure" hair loss that people experience while taking chemos for many other types of cancers. I guess we're "lucky" in that sense.

    Wishing your mother all the best-
    Lisa
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #19
    lisa42 said:

    hair loss
    Hi,

    I never lost my hair. When I was on Folfox (5FU, leucovorin, oxalyplatin) with Avastin, my hair started to thin slightly toward my 9th or 10th treatment of it. I believe it was the effect of taking the 5FU over time. More recently, when I had a recurrence and started taking irinotecan (also called CPT-11 or Camptosar), my hair did thin quite a bit on the temples and down by my neck. Fortunately, I have always had a thick head of hair, so no one really noticed much, except maybe my family and my hairdresser. It's since come back- I have hairs on my head that are now about 2-1/2 inches long, but no one can notice it (I do use a balm to smooth some of the hairs down that want to stick up along my part on top of my head). I've been off of the irinotecan since early April, but just started back on it yesterday. I won't be surprised if I start to feel that tingly, sore feeling on my scalp again (which is what usually happens preceding hair loss). I've actually had that feeling in the past a few times when no hair came out at all.

    Everyone is different- some lose their hair and some don't on these chemos. Not like the "for sure" hair loss that people experience while taking chemos for many other types of cancers. I guess we're "lucky" in that sense.

    Wishing your mother all the best-
    Lisa

    My...
    ...hair thinnned alot on Folfiri! as you can see in my pic, my hair is now shoulder length, and looks like crapola! I am thinking of investing in a wig again, since I have 5 more treatments to go. Clumps of hair would come out in the shower, and it was very heartbreaking, but I know it will grow back, it already is (gray though LOL) I really need to color it, but will wait for that for when treatment is over.
  • Janet3
    Janet3 Member Posts: 59
    #20
    Sometimes I wonder about what the docs say
    Both of my moms' oncologist stated emphatically 'the best thing about FOLFOX is that it doesn't have the side effect of hair loss'. She is 61, dx Stage IV 30JUNE09, chemo treatment #1 on 03AUG09, 25% of her hair fell out 09AUG09 and has continued to fall out throughout the week. Luckily, my mom couldn't care less about her hair, even though it was very pretty. She says 'life is more important than hair'. Wow! My mom is amazing! Good luck to your mom. You all will remain in my thoughts and prayers.
    Janet
  • Patteee
    Patteee Member Posts: 945
    #21
    I went from a full head of
    I went from a full head of thick long hair to it being so thin my scalp was showing.

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