› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Yervoy and white hair
- This topic has 39 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 4 months ago by
Lisa13.
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- December 22, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Hi there.
I'm just curious if any of you that have taken Yervoy have seen your hair color change to white. I've read the articles about people who's hair turns white after Yervoy and how they are long time responders to the drug. Here's one of the articles:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/06/us-cancer-melanoma-hair-idUSTRE6542SF20100606
Hi there.
I'm just curious if any of you that have taken Yervoy have seen your hair color change to white. I've read the articles about people who's hair turns white after Yervoy and how they are long time responders to the drug. Here's one of the articles:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/06/us-cancer-melanoma-hair-idUSTRE6542SF20100606
I had my last dose of Yervoy on November 8th. Today I was getting ready, and noticed a bunch of white hairs in my eyebrows. I'm 30 years old. I should not have white eyebrows. I look at my eyebrows every morning when I'm doing my makeup and I've never noticed these before. It's like all of a sudden, a bunch of hairs just turned white. They aren't grey, they are white. The above article said that people who have their hair turn white see it start in their eyebrows.
Hmm..I'm wondering what to think of this. My first CT still showed growth in my adrenal tumor. We scan again at the end of January. Is it possible that this could be a sign that the Yervoy is kicking in?? Could something else be causing my eyebrows to turn white?
Just wondered if others have experienced this? I'm trying not to let myself get excited and think these white hairs mean I'm going to be a responder. But, it sure has me wondering what that next scan is going to show!!
~Angela
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- December 23, 2011 at 12:23 am
I remember reading Warren G post and went to his blog and I think his hair turned white after treatment. I believe he had a positive response. You should look up his post and go to his personnel history. You can find his post under "wgalinat. " My Mother completed Yervoy on July 19th and has a good amount of Vitiligo across of chest and arms and they say that to is response. Our first 2 PET/CT post Yervoy have showed her tumors decreasing in size and nothing new. We scan again in Jan. They do say that Yervoy can show a delayed response so lets cross our fingers for you. I think the white eyebrows is a positive for you!
Happy Holidays to you!
Wendy
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- December 23, 2011 at 12:23 am
I remember reading Warren G post and went to his blog and I think his hair turned white after treatment. I believe he had a positive response. You should look up his post and go to his personnel history. You can find his post under "wgalinat. " My Mother completed Yervoy on July 19th and has a good amount of Vitiligo across of chest and arms and they say that to is response. Our first 2 PET/CT post Yervoy have showed her tumors decreasing in size and nothing new. We scan again in Jan. They do say that Yervoy can show a delayed response so lets cross our fingers for you. I think the white eyebrows is a positive for you!
Happy Holidays to you!
Wendy
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- December 23, 2011 at 12:23 am
I remember reading Warren G post and went to his blog and I think his hair turned white after treatment. I believe he had a positive response. You should look up his post and go to his personnel history. You can find his post under "wgalinat. " My Mother completed Yervoy on July 19th and has a good amount of Vitiligo across of chest and arms and they say that to is response. Our first 2 PET/CT post Yervoy have showed her tumors decreasing in size and nothing new. We scan again in Jan. They do say that Yervoy can show a delayed response so lets cross our fingers for you. I think the white eyebrows is a positive for you!
Happy Holidays to you!
Wendy
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:24 am
Angela,
I just had my first dose of yervoy about a week ago. My oncologist said that getting vitiligo is a great thing. That it is affecting pigment cells ( not sure if that is the exact thing) and that is what is affected with melanoma. I would think losing the pigment in your hair is the same as losing the pigment in your skin. I’m excited for you! I’ll bet your next scans will show improvement.Julie in las Vegas
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:24 am
Angela,
I just had my first dose of yervoy about a week ago. My oncologist said that getting vitiligo is a great thing. That it is affecting pigment cells ( not sure if that is the exact thing) and that is what is affected with melanoma. I would think losing the pigment in your hair is the same as losing the pigment in your skin. I’m excited for you! I’ll bet your next scans will show improvement.Julie in las Vegas
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:24 am
Angela,
I just had my first dose of yervoy about a week ago. My oncologist said that getting vitiligo is a great thing. That it is affecting pigment cells ( not sure if that is the exact thing) and that is what is affected with melanoma. I would think losing the pigment in your hair is the same as losing the pigment in your skin. I’m excited for you! I’ll bet your next scans will show improvement.Julie in las Vegas
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Hi Angela,
My husband is in the maintenance phase of Ipi (Yervoy) and he has white eyebrows and parts of his beard. He has also lost skin pigmentation on the face and neck. He is at over 63% regression as of his last scans in November. He gets another maintenace dose in January and then more scans in Feb. His doctor loves the fact that the white is showing and says it shows the Ipi is working.
I hope this means the same for you.
Judy (loving wife and caregiver of Gene Stage IV)
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- December 24, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Come to think of it, it may have even been sooner. He was itching the arm pit one day and I was sitting at the right angle to see up his sleeve and I said boy the rash is bad in that area please be careful when scratching it. When I took a closer look all the hair was gone. So I don't really know the exact time but am guessing it was at the time that the rash was so bad.
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- December 24, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Come to think of it, it may have even been sooner. He was itching the arm pit one day and I was sitting at the right angle to see up his sleeve and I said boy the rash is bad in that area please be careful when scratching it. When I took a closer look all the hair was gone. So I don't really know the exact time but am guessing it was at the time that the rash was so bad.
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- December 24, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Come to think of it, it may have even been sooner. He was itching the arm pit one day and I was sitting at the right angle to see up his sleeve and I said boy the rash is bad in that area please be careful when scratching it. When I took a closer look all the hair was gone. So I don't really know the exact time but am guessing it was at the time that the rash was so bad.
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Hi Angela,
My husband is in the maintenance phase of Ipi (Yervoy) and he has white eyebrows and parts of his beard. He has also lost skin pigmentation on the face and neck. He is at over 63% regression as of his last scans in November. He gets another maintenace dose in January and then more scans in Feb. His doctor loves the fact that the white is showing and says it shows the Ipi is working.
I hope this means the same for you.
Judy (loving wife and caregiver of Gene Stage IV)
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Hi Angela,
My husband is in the maintenance phase of Ipi (Yervoy) and he has white eyebrows and parts of his beard. He has also lost skin pigmentation on the face and neck. He is at over 63% regression as of his last scans in November. He gets another maintenace dose in January and then more scans in Feb. His doctor loves the fact that the white is showing and says it shows the Ipi is working.
I hope this means the same for you.
Judy (loving wife and caregiver of Gene Stage IV)
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Angela
The following link should take you to a You Tube video "Dr. Anna Pavlick Speaks at The 2011 Mollie's Fund Golf Outing". The whole video is interesting but if you skip to around 8:00, that is where she talks about your situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9uehyZSII
Good luck and Happy Holiday.
Dick
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Angela
The following link should take you to a You Tube video "Dr. Anna Pavlick Speaks at The 2011 Mollie's Fund Golf Outing". The whole video is interesting but if you skip to around 8:00, that is where she talks about your situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9uehyZSII
Good luck and Happy Holiday.
Dick
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- December 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Angela
The following link should take you to a You Tube video "Dr. Anna Pavlick Speaks at The 2011 Mollie's Fund Golf Outing". The whole video is interesting but if you skip to around 8:00, that is where she talks about your situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9uehyZSII
Good luck and Happy Holiday.
Dick
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- December 24, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Hi Angela,
I'm a Yervoy responder as my immune system response was at least 5 times over baseline, I got hypopituritarism, and one blotch of white hair on the back of my head. Now my wife and daughter said I had that before Yervoy but I don't think so. At any rate it is a sign that Yervoy is working.
Best of success,
Jim M.
stage 3C
NED: 4+ years
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- December 24, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Hi Angela,
I'm a Yervoy responder as my immune system response was at least 5 times over baseline, I got hypopituritarism, and one blotch of white hair on the back of my head. Now my wife and daughter said I had that before Yervoy but I don't think so. At any rate it is a sign that Yervoy is working.
Best of success,
Jim M.
stage 3C
NED: 4+ years
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- December 24, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Hi Angela,
I'm a Yervoy responder as my immune system response was at least 5 times over baseline, I got hypopituritarism, and one blotch of white hair on the back of my head. Now my wife and daughter said I had that before Yervoy but I don't think so. At any rate it is a sign that Yervoy is working.
Best of success,
Jim M.
stage 3C
NED: 4+ years
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- December 27, 2011 at 9:18 am
I'm stage IV, latest mets to my liver, NED since Feb 2010. I've not had any treatments, just surgeries. My hair has turned mostly white. I also have vitilgo covering 25% of my body. My immune system must be in overdrive.
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- December 27, 2011 at 7:58 pm
I personally try not to get caught up in the symptoms, white hair, vitilago, etc, because if people read too much about this stuff and don't experience any of them, they get afraid the drug won't work. I had no symptoms on yervoy other than itching. At my 16 week scan, the mets had shrunk by 50% and some had disappeared. I was nervous the whole time because I didn't have the bad symptoms which people said would make the drug work best.
I remember a girl on this site who was in the ipi trial versus placebo (Stage 3). When she got white in her eyebrows, she was so happy she was getting the drug. Turns out, she was getting the placebo. I think it's just hard to know why this drug works for some and not others and why some get partial responses and complete. There's certainly alot more partial responders then complete and it would be nice for them to figure out why this is.
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- December 27, 2011 at 7:58 pm
I personally try not to get caught up in the symptoms, white hair, vitilago, etc, because if people read too much about this stuff and don't experience any of them, they get afraid the drug won't work. I had no symptoms on yervoy other than itching. At my 16 week scan, the mets had shrunk by 50% and some had disappeared. I was nervous the whole time because I didn't have the bad symptoms which people said would make the drug work best.
I remember a girl on this site who was in the ipi trial versus placebo (Stage 3). When she got white in her eyebrows, she was so happy she was getting the drug. Turns out, she was getting the placebo. I think it's just hard to know why this drug works for some and not others and why some get partial responses and complete. There's certainly alot more partial responders then complete and it would be nice for them to figure out why this is.
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- December 27, 2011 at 7:58 pm
I personally try not to get caught up in the symptoms, white hair, vitilago, etc, because if people read too much about this stuff and don't experience any of them, they get afraid the drug won't work. I had no symptoms on yervoy other than itching. At my 16 week scan, the mets had shrunk by 50% and some had disappeared. I was nervous the whole time because I didn't have the bad symptoms which people said would make the drug work best.
I remember a girl on this site who was in the ipi trial versus placebo (Stage 3). When she got white in her eyebrows, she was so happy she was getting the drug. Turns out, she was getting the placebo. I think it's just hard to know why this drug works for some and not others and why some get partial responses and complete. There's certainly alot more partial responders then complete and it would be nice for them to figure out why this is.
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