A delicate matter

One of the things that people asked me when I said I was going to have radiotherapy treatment was, "Are you going to lose your hair?"

According to the frequently-asked questions lists on all the radiotherapy help websites I've found, this is a question that's often asked by radiotherapy patients, too. The answer - both web-based and in the leaflet you'll get from your treatment centre - is that you only lose hair in the area that's being treated. So, no, I haven't lost my hair. Indeed, it's been so long since I've felt well enough to go to see a hairdresser, that it's grown significantly!

What the information you're given doesn't tell you - although it coyly hints at this in the phrase, "only from the treatment site" with reference to hair - is that you will, indeed, lose hair from wherever you're being treated, and the hair loss may occur quite some distance from the target area(s). Body hair will fall out as easily as head hair. So don't be surprised or alarmed if you suddenly find that you're not going to need that bikini wax immediately after all! Don't worry, though, your beautician is not going to be out of pocket for long as any hair lost will grow back - and probably faster than you might wish.