Why does cancer stop hair growth?

usually cancer patients are bald.. so i was wondering?Why does cancer stop hair growth?
The baldness is caused by the chemotherapy treatments cancer patients have to endure. Not caused by the cancer itself, just a nasty side effect of the treatment.Why does cancer stop hair growth?
its not the cancer itself, its the chemotherapy and medicines they take.





to get into more detail, chemo kills off cells that are in the middle of dividing (mitosis) so it kills dividing tumor cells and body cells.





tumor cells divide very rapidly hough so they are killed off before all the body cells are.





the reason hair falls out is because hair follicle cells also divide very rapidly and are usually killed off too.
Cancer itself doesn't stop hair growth but the medicine does. Cancer is a fast growing cell so they have things like kimotherapy stop fast growing cells in your body, but hair is also a fast growing cell and so kimotherapy and other medicines tend to stop hair growth. Hope this helps:)
It doesn't.





Many, though not all, cancer patients have chemotherapy and many, though not all, chemotherapy regimes cause hair loss.





This is because chemotherapy chemotherapy attacks fast growing cells (because cancer cells are fast growing) and the cells in the hair follicles grow fast.





Some chemotherapy regimes cause hair thinning, some don't cause hair loss at all, but most do cause hair loss.





It's temporary, and hair will grow back when treatment has ended - in fact it often starts to grow back before treatment ends - mine did.





Radiotherapy/radiation doesn't cause hair loss unless the part of the body it is directed at has hair - that is, if it's directed at the head
Cancer does not stop hair growth. Cancer patients undergoing Chemo or Radiation Therapy typically loose their hair as a result of the treatment. Most patients will shave their head as soon as they notice hair beginning to fall out because it's easier and more hygenic than loosing a little bit at a time. It also makes it easier to wear a wig or hair piece if the person is self-concious about it.
Chemo therapy can cause it. Generally radiation will cause hair to fall out. Surgery- you can be shaved. I'm dealing with brain cancer....part of my hair was shaved (a small patch on the side of my head) during surgery. Chemo didn't cause me to lose any hair, but my radiation has. I've lost hair where the radiation goes in...a giant spot.....then I lost hair all over my head in patches and spots where the radiation would exit my brain.....I shaved my head about 4 weeks into radiation....they say it will grow back, but could be a different texture or color...we'll see!





And as a correction to another answer....radiation can cause hair loss in other parts of the body as well as the location aimed at. The beams have to exit some where just as they entered and after hitting the tumor....they disperse... kind of like aiming a water gun at an apple...once the water stream hits the apple...the water goes everywhere....except with radiation it goes through the tumor, then strays in many different directions...





Another thought....there is no radiation in chemo therapy...surgery, chemo, and radiation are a few of the options available to cancer patients
It's not the cancer, it's the treatment. Chemotherapy attacks fast dividing cells i.e. cancer cells, but other organs have a high cell turnover too - like testes and ovaries, hair follicles and skin.








edit - there is no radiation in chemotherapy. You either have chemo or radio therapy.
Most cancer patients undergo Chemotherapy to help cure/fight cancer. A side effect of Chemotherapy is hair-loss.





Chemotherapy is the use of drugs that attack fast-growing cells with a high metabolic rate, such as cancer cells, and kill them.
It doesn't.





The radiation in chemotherapy often causes hair to thin or fall out, so many patients either end up bald or simply shave their heads to avoid the awkward patchy look.
I think it's because of the chemotheraphy medication the patients take, its a side effect of that.





Anyway, why are there thumbs down to perfectly ok answers..
The hair loss is caused by the radiation in the chemotherapy. It destroys the hair follicles causing the hair loss.
Thats from the treatment, not the cancer itself. chemotherapy is not a easy thing on the body
Cancer does that stop hair growth. Its the Keomo therapy they receive as treatment, which is radiation (radiation makes your hair fall out).
Cancer doesn't make you lose hair. It's chemotherapy, used to treat cancer, which does.
Cancer does not stop hair growth, but chemotherapy to treat cancer causes hair to fall out.
The medicine cancer patients take does that, not the cancer itself.
it's the Chemo and or radiation NOT the cancer...
It's the Chemo that makes the hair fall!
it's the treatment