[Magdalen] Cold caps in chemotherapy

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Fortunately the chemotherapy is a lot more precise these days, so that hair
loss is not, in all protocols at least, a given anymore. And this is an
amazing innovation.  The main reason we lose hair when we get this therapy
is that all cell regeneration is stymied to some degree, and hair is more
vulnerable, since any damage to the root, and the whole follicle goes.

I remember one thing about my sister-in-law's bout with liver cancer was
that she wore the packet that kept a slow dose of the meds going into her
on a more or less constant basis, and she did not lose her hair.

Someone obviously did some really innovative work to get this to a point
where it saves the hair follicle.  Knowing how important hair is to most of
us, it's a really marvelous thing!

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 7:58 AM, 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
>