Information about breast cancer
Your new hair after chemo
It is a major fear of many women treated with chemo for breast cancer: hair loss. Chemotherapy involves administering drugs that kill fast-dividing cells, such as cancer cells. Unfortunately, these products do not discriminate against other fast-digesting cells: the cells in our hair follicles.
Hair follicles are structures in the skin from which hairs grow. These cells divide every 23 to 72 hours. When you receive chemo, your hair can become thinner and you may lose your hair, both your head hair and body hair. Sometimes your eyelashes and eyebrows also fall out. How quickly this happens depends on the type of chemotherapy and your individual sensitivity. Your hairdresser will advise and assist you.
Usually, after chemotherapy, you get your hairstyle back the way it was before. Some women, who had their hair dyed for years, rediscover their natural hair color. Occasionally, the new hair has a different color and also feels different.
- 3 to 4 weeks after last chemotherapy: soft down
- After 1 to 1.5 months: the first real hairs
- After 2 to 3 months: 2 inches of hair! Demi Moore for her role in G.I. Jane
- After 3 to 6 months: snappy short head
- After 1 year: ample room for a stylish short haircut
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Comeback at work with the right information and customized support
Talking about employment is best done early on. But how to go about it, and what is "early"? And how can the comeback to the workplace go as smoothly as possible? A job coach can help to see the wood for the trees and remove barriers.
Our breast reconstructions are world class
Belgium ranks among the world leaders in breast reconstruction. Unlike many other countries, this plastic surgery is reimbursed for women with breast cancer and carriers of hereditary breast cancer genes. Professor Moustapha Hamdi, plastic surgeon, explains it all in his new book Aux seins d'une famille.
Davina Simons: A double mastectomy at 21 years old
Davina was 20 when she and her sister got tested for the BRCA1 gene. At the time, their mom was fighting breast cancer for the second time. A year later, she underwent a preventive double mastectomy herself. Davina courageously tells her story in a 2018 blog article, "It hasn't been easy and there's still some things ahead of me, but I try to look at it all as positively as possible."
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