Hair loss
Hi! New to this club. I was Dx 11/2008 right after my 28th birthday. (My Mom is a 2 time BRCA survivor.) My treatment and surgeries were all at KU. Chemo, double mastectomy, radiation.
My question is about hair loss. I met with Dr. Meena Singh who did a biopsy and it showed hair loss due to chemo even all these years later. She recommended the plasma rich platelet treatment. I have not done the procedure and am still on the fence. Curious if anyone else has. How did it go? Are you happy with the results? Did you have to do multiple treatments? Has anyone found anything else that worked for themselves that is more economical?
Hi @user2008 and welcome to the club! I saw Dr. Meena Singh several years ago at her old office (KMC in Mission) for hair loss associated with menopause (rather than chemo). She definitely has a great reputation! She was the name I kept hearing over and over, so I waited nine months for an appointment. In the end, I didn't do anything with her that I couldn't have done with any dermatologist, and much sooner. She put me on oral minoxidil (the generic name for the active ingredient in Rogaine) and spironolactone, and I had good results but I had to stop the spironolactone because my blood pressure was too low. We replaced it with finasteride, which also worked, but when I was diagnosed with breast cancer she pulled me off of it. I still take the oral minoxidil and use a topical version too. For the topical, I like the drops better than the foam, personally. You can get the topical stuff at any drug store or on Amazon. There are versions for men and for women.
I also had steroid injections in my scalp twice by a nurse at KMC. Not fun, but if they have a "tapper" there to tap your scalp for distraction while you're being injected, it's not bad. The steroid injections were run through insurance so my final cost was about $25.
I'm attaching a link to a study on chemotherapy-induced alopecia that discusses PRP (not terribly favorably) as well as the drugs I mentioned. They call minoxidil "an excellent option." Good luck!
By the way, I did not mean to just gloss over the fact that you were diagnosed at 28. That hurt my heart. 💗
@janedoe7 Thank you for your reply! It was nice to read about your experience.
I had to wait 9 months for my appt as well!
I should have originally mentioned Dr. Singh started me on oral minoxidil as well. I’m not seeing a huge difference but I probably need to return to her or another derm to see about bumping up my dose or starting with spironolactone as well.
I haven’t been back to see Dr Singh in about a year because I truly felt she thought PRP was the only true option that would help me. And as I mentioned earlier I just never could make a final decision to proceed with it.
If anyone has a dermatologist for hair loss they love, I welcome the referral.
I’ve looked at wigs and toppers but don’t feel I’m there yet.
@janedoe7 No worries but thank you!💟 It was definitely a shock. The day before Thanksgiving I got the results while out of town visiting family. My mom was diagnosed her first time at age 36. We thought I could look into prophylactic options and gene testing at age 30 but life had another plan!
Did you see Dr. Singh at KMC or at her new place, the Skin and Hair Center? I’ve heard that the wait is more like two months now that she’s at the new place. Again, these drugs are not rocket science. Pretty standard stuff. If that’s the route you want to go, I’d just go where you can get in. (Though it seems to be pretty standard to wait a few months to get in to any doctor.)
I saw her at KMC. Glad to hear it’s a shorter wait at her new place but like you said all docs are busy, busy now a days!
I just looked up my bills for the two steroid injections. The first one was $12.62. The second one five weeks later was $6.10. Not bad!!