Introduction: Alopecia affects as many as 65% of patients who are being treated for cancer and represent the most common side effect of chemotherapy. Oncological patients experience a lot of changes in their bodys during their treatment; these changes affect their personal view, self-image, interaction with others, and how they are received by others from the environment. A view is an important part of how a person sees himself, who is as an individual and how they want that others see them. Facial structure and hair are aspects that affect facial recognition and allow us to categorize a person as a male or female, younger or older person, or a healthy or sick person. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate and present the influence of alopecia as a result of chemotherapy by examining literature. Describe and present alopecia, present the psychological effect of hair loss on self-image, present the experiences of people with alopecia as a result of chemotherapy, identify differences in experiencing gender alopecia. Methods:We have used a descriptive method that will cover the review of foreign literature. A review of professional literature was carried out in the period from August 2018 to November 2018. The overview of literature in English was made through the bibliographic databases ScienceDirect, CINAHL, Medline using key words and phrases. Results: Results confirmed that the person does not change only visually and how he sees himself, who is as an individual, and how they want others to see them. Depression, anxiety and social isolation occur. Because of the loss of self-confidence, inconvenience, stigma and society, people use techniques to cover the head with wigs, caps or scarf. The authors underline the importance of psychological help before chemo, during and after it, and the involvement of the family and others. Discussion and conclusion: Alopecia is one of the most common side effects, which affects the patient the most. Despite the advancement of cancer treatment technologies, we have not yet discovered a sufficiently effective treatment that would not cause alopecia. To ensure optimum nursing care for oncologic patients, it is necessary to properly educate within the institutions and properly understand the effects of disease and chemotherapy. It is important that the experience of patients and the profession of nursing care are complementary and develop together. Nurses have to listen and hear their experiences, with their awareness of the consequences that alopecia leaves because of chemotherapy.
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