Treatment of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia with low dose oral minoxidil

Xinyi Yang; Keng-Ee Thai

doi:10.1111/ajd.12350

Treatment of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia with low dose oral minoxidil

Australas J Dermatol. 2016 Nov;57(4):e130-e132. doi: 10.1111/ajd.12350. Epub 2015 May 13.

Authors

Xinyi Yang¹, Keng-Ee Thai²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
² Brien Walder Department of Dermatology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 25966934
DOI: 10.1111/ajd.12350

Abstract

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia is a well-established cause of major distress to patients. Permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA) is the absence of or incomplete hair regrowth lasting longer than 6 months after the cessation of chemotherapy and it does not respond to standard treatments of scalp cooling or topical minoxidil. The increasing numbers of reports of PCIA highlight the need for research into an effective treatment. We report a case of a 39 year-old woman with cosmetically significant regrowth after continuous therapy with oral minoxidil.

Keywords: alopecia; chemotherapy-induced alopecia; minoxidil; permanent alopecia; systemic therapy.