2001 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, dermatologist Amy McMichael, MD, assistant professor, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, discussed some of the serious internal diseases as well as diseases with drug side effects that are linked to hair disorders. Hair loss can be a sign of both hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid, and hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid. In hyperthyroidism, scalp hair may be fine and soft with scattered alopecia. Although hair loss is usually transient and not permanent, it can often be the most traumatic part of chemotherapy. Hair loss is a noticeable side effect of cancer treatment and can cause changes in self-esteem and body image.
Chemotherapeutic agents can cause hair cells to stop dividing.
When the cancer treatment ends, the hair will usually regrow. Common drugs that cause alopecia include methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, bleomycin, doxorubicin, mitomycin, cytarabine, vinblastine, and vincristine. Currently, there are Phase I and II trials in progress for drugs that affect the immune system and drugs that act on vitamin D receptors in mouse studies. But so far, all of these therapies are experimental at best. Patients infected with HIV may experience a number of common skin conditions that occur in healthy people as well.