11 replies to this topic

[lindacarriere]

My husband was switched from Gleevek to Tasigna about 5 months ago.  So far, he is responding well.  Over the last two weeks, the hair on his legs and chest has been falling out.  Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, did it grow back?

[LLawrence]

So far, the hair has not fallen out on my legs....but I would be thrilled.  Although I've had some odd side effects from Tasigna (weird rashes, body aches, fatigue) my hair on my head is actually better.  It's thicker and almost curls. 

Leesa

[hannibellemo]

Hi, Linda,

I lost the hair on my legs and under my arms during the week or two I was on hydroxyurea (before Gleevec), then when I started Gleevec it grew back normally. Then, when I went on Sprycel, I lost it again. I'm not complaining, mind you, I just wish it had taken care of this irritating moustache! (I'm female BTW)

Pat

[jjg]

Every time I have changed drug or dosage I've lost hair on my head, 4 times now, but at those times never hair elsewhere. I've now been on tasigna nearly a year and just  discovered that while the hair on the outside of my legs is normal the hair on the inside of both legs has almost disappeared - long may it continue and spread to the outside of my legs too.

I guess it is different for guys, although lots of male athletes shave their legs, cyclists claim it is to stop road rash getting infected but  I suspect it is because the muscles stand out better.

[Trey]

The TKI drugs affect fast growing cells, such as blood cells, skin, hair, nails, etc.  The kinases they inhibit are those which are most active in fast growing cells.  As a result, hair and other fast growing parts of the body can be affected.  Hair can fall out initially, but then the body finds a way to correct to some degree and it usually grows back.  But often it will be different, such as thicker, or curly, or whatever. 

[Ray99]

I am on Tasigna for about 18 months.  The hair on top of my head has noticeably thinned out.  Are all TKIs have this side effect or only Tasigna?  Would switching to a different TKI help?

As Trey suggested that it usually grows back.  Has anyone experienced hair growing back?

[IGotCML]

I have lost a lot of body hair with Tasigna, and the regrowth has been rather slow and with lower volume.  That has actually been somewhat positive as I had a lot of chest hair before taking it.  I did lose about half my eyebrows a few months after starting it in January, but those have filled back in the last few months.  I've been gradually losing hair over the last 20 years from typical male pattern baldness, but I have noticed an acceleration in hair thinning since starting Tasigna.  I don't know if the hair on my head will grow back, but I am not expecting it.   lol

[ChrisC]

When on Gleevec at dx, over the next half year I lost about half the hair on my head, and most other body hair.

When I switched to Sprycel, the hair on my head gradually grew back (whew! it did make me more sympathetic to what some men experience: at least I was happy wearing nice scarves to cover the most hair loss areas).

When I stopped Sprycel a couple of years ago, gradually all body hair grew back

[GerryL]

Be nice if you could pick the areas you wanted to loose it from - legs, bikini line etc.

[hannibellemo]

I forgot to mention that I lost all the hair on my arms with Sprycel, too. It didn't affect the hair on my head, though - weird.

Pat

[alexamay09]

I had a sore scalp and lost quite a bit of hair on tasigna. Now on sprycel hair came back and is really curly!

Alex

[Ray99]

Thanks for sharing your experiences about hair loss with TKI.  I am only concerning about hair loss on my head and not other areas :-).

Based on all your posting, I concluded that,

1. Not much chance to regain the hair growth if staying on Tasigna

2. Switch to Sprycel may regain hair growth.

I will keep this in mind in case I need to switch drug due to other reasons.  It seems a little silly to switch drug just to stop hair loss, considering possible new side effects.