JAMA: patient grew long, curly eyelashes because of chemotherapy

Doctors at Ferrol University Hospital in Spain have described a rare adverse reaction to cancer chemotherapy. A man undergoing treatment grew very long, thick and curling eyelashes. The study was published in the scientific journal JAMA Dermatology.

According to experts, the cause of the changes was trichomegaly caused by medication. With trichomegaly, eyelashes do not stop growing, lengthening 12 millimetres or more from their normal state.

Scientists know of medications that can cause this condition. These include epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, which include the chemotherapy drug panitumumumab. It was prescribed to a patient to fight advanced colorectal cancer.

Panitumumab blocks the tumour cells' receptors, causing them to self-destruct. However, the compound acts in the same way on receptors in some types of healthy tissue, including the outer layer of skin and hair follicles.

As the study showed, blocking EGFR can disrupt the normal hair reproduction cycle, prolonging the stage of active hair growth.

When panitumumab induces hair growth, the side effect usually occurs within the first few months of treatment and subsides after treatment is discontinued, the report authors noted.

Doctors had to give the man instructions on how to safely cut his eyelashes to help him cope with the change in his appearance.

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