Hi Alicial,

Sorry to hear about your little girl's condition.

I didn't want to leave your question unanswered, but my guess is that no-one will feel able to answer because this varies so much from case to case.

You could try re-posting under the "Ask the nurses" section. I'm sure they'll be able to point you in the right direction.

Best wishes

Dave

Hi Alicia and thank you for your post.

I am very sorry to hear about your little girl. It appreciate that this is likely to be a difficult time for all the family.

Hair loss usually starts two to three weeks after the first course of chemotherapy. It doesn’t usually fall out all at once. As treatment goes on some children may lose all their hair while in others it will get thinner or it falls out in patches.

Children can be remarkable resilient and not be all that bothered by hair loss, so it may be a question of waiting to see how your little girl responds to hair loss. Many teams treating children with cancer have a specialist nurse with the team who can give children and parent’s information and support. If this is the situation in your case it may help to contact this nurse and ask for advice in relation to your concerns. The nurse will be able to advise you about what help is available in the hospital if a wig is needed, and about caring for your little girl’s skin and scalp.

There is a charity called Little Princess Trust that supply real hair wigs for free to children who have lost their hair during cancer treatment. There is more information about this charity including contact details on the link here.

We have information about children’s cancer on our website here. This has a link here to charities that provide information and support and to specific children’s charities such as CLIC Sargent and the Kids Cancer Charity

I hope that this information is useful and that things go well for your little girl. You are welcome to get back to us if you feel that we can help in any way. You can always talk things through with one of the nurses on our telephone service.  The number to ring is freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

With kind regards,

Mary