Chemo's hidden toll: new study tracks hair, skin, and nail changes in breast cancer patients

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Women newly diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer (stage 0-III, any receptor type) at the time of starting chemotherapy (dd-AC-T, CMF, Newer Combination Regimens) or endocrine therapy (tamoxifen, anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane) * Women ≥ 18 years at the time of enrollment into the study * Able to communicate in English and participate in the informed consent process * Able to comply with the follow-up visits, assessments, answering questionnaires Exclusion Criteria: * Metastatic breast cancer * Follow-up care/visits not scheduled at MSKCC * Any current alopecia especially due to an active scalp and/or hair disorder (e.g. alopecia areata), or a pre-existing condition with sequelae (e.g. scarring alopecia) * Currently active or uncontrolled medical condition \[e.g. thyroid disorder, auto-immune connective tissue disease (e.g. SLE), BMT complications (GVHD)\] or medication intake (e.g. HRT), affecting scalp hair * Prior systemic treatment for any malignancy * Active secondary cancer requiring cytotoxic chemotherapy * Planned (or a history of) radiation therapy to the head * Vulnerable populations \[e.g. decisionally impaired (cognitive, psychiatric), terminally ill, prisoners\], or patients who, in the opinion of the investigator have a condition that precludes their ability to provide an informed consent * Men Volunteer Inclusion Criteria: * Post menopausal women, with menopausal status defined as (per self report): * Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy independent of age * If natural menopause, age ≥ 50 with cessation of menses for at least 12 months * Or premenopausal women with premenopausal status defined as \<53 years of age with no cessation of menses * Able to communicate in English and participate in the informed consent process * Able to comply with the baseline assessments and answering questionnaires * Women \>/= 18 years at the time of enrollment into the study