Miller's Wigs & Hair Loss from Cancer
- Abby Lee Miller, star of the hit show Dance Moms and a cancer survivor, recently reflected on hair loss from chemo, and showed off her various wigs.
- In 2018, Miller was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and has been wheelchair-bound for the last several years due to complications suffered during surgery.
- Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy.
We love to see this type of honesty and vulnerability from cancer survivors. In a recent video posted to Instagram, Miller gets candid about her many different looks through her lymphoma battle. Hair loss, like Miller’s, is a common side effect of chemotherapy.
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Abby Lee Miller's Cancer Battle
In April 2018, Abby Lee Miller was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Burkitt, which is rare (making up 1% to 2% of all lymphomas), typically starts in the abdomen, where it forms a large tumor. It can spread rapidly to the brain and spinal fluid. According to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, this fast-growing form of cancer may affect the jaw, central nervous system, bowel, kidneys, ovaries or other organs, and may spread to the central nervous system.
Miller, who was living in a halfway house in Long Beach, Calif., at the time, began experiencing pain. She had just been released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Victorville, Calif., where she served nearly a year-long sentence after pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud in June 2016.
Experiencing pain she had never felt before, Miller went to a local urgent care clinic, tests were done, but she was sent home, undiagnosed. Because her jaw hurt, she went to a dentist who "did an ice cube check on every tooth and said there's nothing wrong with your teeth," she previously told SurvivorNet. But the pain persisted.
Miller wound up at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, where she was discharged after three days in "worse pain than I went in with." Her medical team suggested she go to a pain management clinic.
Several days later, Abby Lee Miller returned to the hospital, barely able to move her arms, legs or jaw, and underwent emergency surgery. Her doctor "went to my spinal cord and meticulously pulled a slime, a tar-like substance, away from the spinal cord," she said. It was complications she suffered during this surgery that have bound her to an electric wheelchair.
In May 2019, it was determined that Miller was cancer-free and began making good progress in her recovery. As of April 2021, she still has PET scans every three months to check for any recurrence.
Some Types of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatable With "Boom-Boom" Radiation
Wigs & Hair Loss From Chemo
Cancer treatments like chemotherapy commonly lead to hair loss. There some new developments, like cooling caps, which can mitigate the effects of chemotherapy-induced hair loss. Dr. Renata Urban, a Gynecologic Oncologist at the University of Washington, says in an earlier interview, "In regards to the risk of hair loss with Paclitaxel, there is often complete hair loss some. Patients may not lose all of their hair."
"I think one thing that's important to know is that if a patient does not lose their hair, it does not mean that the chemotherapy is not effective," says Dr. Urban. "Some patients may lose all of their hair, and some patients may not."
Dr. Urban speaks about "cold therapy" and "cooling caps." She says, "The mechanism of this is that with the cold it can cause vasoconstriction or narrowing of the blood vessels bringing blood to the scalp."
Dealing With Hair Loss During Chemotherapy
SurvivorNet reporter Sydney Schaefer contributed to this article.
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