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Taxotere and Permanent hair loss

JannieP
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I have been affected by permanent hair loss after Taxotere chemotherapy treatment 3 years ago and it is very traumatic. It grew as male pattern balding which made me look like a monk. My eyebrows and lower eyelashes haven't returned either.

This drug has a history of permanent damage but cases aren't being reported back to the manufacturer so the 6% odds of permanent damage are misleading.  Seek the blog 'ahead of our time' and the twitter account 'taxotears' and see for yourself. 

There are other chemo drugs available. Look into alternatives before saying yes to Taxotere 

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    Hello JannieP,

    Welcome to our forum and thank you very much for sharing your story and experience. We are so sorry to hear about the hair loss you experienced and how much it affected you.

    I hope coming to this forum will help and that you will get to talk to others who have also suffered similar side effects.

    Best wishes,

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Offline in reply to Moderator Lucie

    Hi, I had Fec.T for EBC resulting in toxicity to my body and alopecia. I don't really know how to get help. I feel angry that the NHS did not inform me that the risk of permanent hair loss was as high as 10/15%. I am not vain, but I feel this loss has deeply affected my recovery and ability to get back to normal.

  • Offline in reply to Snowball19

    Thought I would just update on my experience with taxotere in case anyone looks at this post.  I had FEC-T chemo 9 yrs ago and after taxotere suffered permanent hair loss.  I was initially told my hair would grow back and heard nothing about the possibility it wouldn’t. I felt very depressed about my hair loss, especially as I personally felt there was no support for me afterwards from the hospital with regards to this issue.  At the age of 40 I had to start wearing a wig permanently.  Whilst it is only a small percentage who this affects with hindsight I would urge anyone to either try the cold cap or ask about alternative chemos as I would hate for anyone to go through this.

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