[Magdalen] Cold caps in chemotherapy

[Eleanor Braun]

Having just finished chemo five months ago, this is the first I've ever
heard of cold caps.

We're the six sessions daily or weekly?  Mine were weekly, and of course
the chemo stays in the body well after the session is done. A friend who
had a different chemo said the hair would start coming out 19 days after
the chemo started,and she was right.

Sounds like a lot of work, knowing the hair will grow back.

Eleanor


On Wednesday, August 19, 2015, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Pub friends
>
> I have an interesting assignment from my sister, to write a piece on her
> website about cold cap treatment which is a strategy for preventing hair
> loss during chemotherapy.
>
> I just spoke to a former patient who did that and managed to save her hair
> - which was long and still is!
>
> It involved quite a rigmarole, they had to get Dry Ice in (from elsewhere)
> for the caps, change caps every twenty minutes on "chemo day" and ensure
> that any skin not already protected by hair (such as the ears) was covered
> to prevent frostbite!
>
> But after six sessions of chemo - lovely natural hair. This patient had
> been through chemo baldness before, as a teenager, and had been traumatised
> by it so she was highly motivated to manage the cold caps
>
> Not for everyone I'm sure and perhaps wouldn't even work for everyone, but
> she says that overseas (US/UK) chemo treatment facilities offer the caps
> routinely and even have specialised apparatus for fast freezing them.
>
> Has anyone in the Pub come across these? And if so, did they work or was
> the head-freezing just useful as a distraction during an awful time in a
> person's life?
>
> Sally D
>