Eyelashes anyone?

I have not really got an answer .but I thought I would commiserate .....having no eyelashes for me was much worse than being bald. However Vichy sell an eye cream which is supposed to help ....about £24 , but it lasts ages .  Mine are back now ,,,,,but I think some hormone treatments can affect them .......keep hoping !!  Best wishes

I too am commiserating ( which probably isnt helpful!) I finished chemo beginning of august and my eye lashes held on fairly good until till nearer the end when they all came out.  My hair is coming back really well but the eyelashes are getting frustrating, I eye is better than the other! Ive been told that revitalsh (i think its called that) is really good but its blooming dear however iam nearly at the point of forking out. Xxx

Hi Ladies, thanks for your responses - it helps to know I'm not the only one! 

I've been searching for more information on this and it seems that it's not uncommon for eyelashes to fall out again once they've grown back after chemo but there's light at the end of the tunnel - even though the tunnel could be quite long!

Apparently when they grow back after chemo they are mostly on the same growth cycle, so at the end of that cycle most of them will fall out. At each cycle of growth (6/8 weeks) the individual eyelash hairs will gradually become more randomised and will no longer all fall out together until eventually they are back to normal, completely random, and you'll be back to finding the odd eyelash on your cheek or the pillow in the morning. 

It makes sense to me and is just another one of the side effects that take ages to get back to normal.

X

Hi. My eyelashes came back ok but they're nowhere near as long as they used to be. They are pretty much an average length rather than the very long ones I used to have :( However, for me it's the eyebrows which really haven't come back properly - they're quite patchy and I still have to use eyebrow pencil to fill them in. I finished chemo a year ago and Herceptin in September. 

Best

Lynn xx

Hi

I'm 18 months post chemo for womb cancer - carbo taxol - and lost all my eye lashes and eye brows. I can report that they took ages (about a year) to come back properly but are now in full glory. My eyebrows are no longer as bushy as they used to be but on the upside I don't have to pluck them anymore....

Stick with it and keep the faith

xxx

my eyelashes are still all or nothing

I finished chemo in December 2015

Carolyn

x

I'm 14 months post chemo (EC then Paclitaxel) and am taking anastrozole. My lashes and brows fell out during the treatment with paclitaxel just as the hair in my head was beginning to grow back. They grew back quickly at the end of treatment then a few weeks later fell out again...presumably to do with the hair growth cycle being disturbed. They have grown back again but are nowhere near as thick or long as they were pre treatment and I continue to have to fill in gaps in my eyebrows which used to be very dense. 

The hair on my legs and armpits is also nowhere near as dense as it used to be so maybe every cloud has a silver lining! Shame about the chin and top lip!

All the best

Gilly x

Hi Peartree

I lost all but 3 of my eyelashes with my FEC-T chemo which finished last September. I found this a lot more distressing than losing my hair as I kept getting things in my eyes including eye infections. My hair has never grown very quickly so I've been "treating" myself by eating a slice of bread with marmite everyday to boost my B vitamins and help my hair growth. 4 months after Chemo finished I now have 1cm of hair on my head and reasonable though not luscious lashes. Better still the hairs in my nose have also come back so I no longer have a nose that drips without warning - very disconcerting!

Good luck with your recovery. 

Hi Teresa

I fully sympathise, but am probably not going to be much help to you.  I finished my chemo in October 2015, so well over a year ago now.  I have really pathetic little eyelashes and no eyebrows whatsoever.  It is so annoying to leave the house looking good, then get warm or have an itch and totally wipe off an eyebrow!!  I'm sure they will grow back eventually, so am trying to be patient but it is very challenging!

Hope yours grow back more quickly than mine.

Maggs xx

Hi pear tree I finished chemo Oct 16 and have full set if quite long eyelashes... I take hair n nail vitamin tablets and at first I did use no7 eyelash serum. £18.

Hope this helps chicken xx