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How do you avoid epilation in patients hoping to preserve their facial hair during radiotherapy?
Groomed facial hair is an increasingly common style for men. Accordingly, there are patients who require treatment of the head and neck who become upset by the notion of not being able to regrow a beard and/or mustache after treatment.
Do you ever create an avoidance structure to preserve facial hair? If so, what dose limits do you place on it and how deep does the avoidance structure extend into the skin?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
Interesting question. I have not created an avoidance. It’s my experience that doses of about 50 Gy+ commonly cause permanent hair loss. It’s hard to avoid hair loss in areas where elective nodal or mucosal/skin coverage is needed. It’s certainly disappointing for some patients. In...
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Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
I agree with about 50 Gy as the threshold for permanent hair loss. When it is a concern, I have indeed wired the margin of hair in question, taken photos (both for baseline and as all the wires can be hard to interpret on CT), and constrain to <50 Gy (ideally a bit lower) as a lower priority obje...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
Interesting topic. I have had a handful number of head and neck patients that requested if there was any way to avoid permanent facial hair loss. As culturally it is quite important for some people. I have defined the avoidance area and kept the skin max dose below 30. I followed the natur...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
For patients receiving H&N radiotherapy, facial hair preservation may not be a trivial matter. Some may ask for it because of cosmetic preference, and others may demand it due to religious belief. In China, maintaining all body constituents including hair and skin as bestowed by one’s pare...
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Radiation Oncologist at Ohio State University James Cancer Center
I deeply appreciate this thoughtful discussion, Dr...
I deeply appreciate this thoughtful discussion, Dr...
Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
Good question, Dr. @Konieczkowski. Sometimes I won...
Good question, Dr. @Konieczkowski. Sometimes I won...
Radiation Oncologist at Generations Radiotherapy and Oncology PC
@Steve P. Lee Thank you for this exceptionally ins...
@Steve P. Lee Thank you for this exceptionally ins...
Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
Thanks for your kind words, Dr. @Jahraus. I really...
Thanks for your kind words, Dr. @Jahraus. I really...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
Phillips et al., PMID 32756880
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Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
Thanks so much for Dr. @Barker to provide thi...
Thanks so much for Dr. @Barker to provide thi...