Hair loss for anyone is distressing enough. But when you have the added stress of Cancer and the associated treatment of chemotherapy – this can lead to severe psychological distress. We recently learnt of an associate who had unfortuantely suffered from Cancer, but somehow managed to keep all of her hair.
Surprisingly enough, she told us it was because of the scalp cooling that allowed her to keep her hair during chemotherapy – which we all know is the most traumtatic side effects of the drugs given during treatment.
So we looked into it, and discovered how successful this treatment really is.
It’s known as Scalp Cooling which is a method used for lowering the temperature of the scalp. By reducing the scalp temperature by a few degrees creates a restriction in the amount of blood reaching the hair follicles thereby protecting them from the effects of the concentrated chemotherapy drugs carried in the blood stream.
The cap is normally worn for approximately 30 minutes before commencement of chemotherapy, continues to be worn during the administration of drugs and then for a short time afterwards (subject to the type of drugs being administered).
Many thousands of patients have been successfully treated. The success of scalp cooling cannot be guaranteed as a number of factors can affect the outcome. These might include age, hair type, hair condition, the type of cancer being treated and how a patient looks after their hair during the treatment. On most drug regimes research and studies using the Paxman Hair Loss Prevention System have shown success rates of patients who have not required a wig of between 70% and 90%.
We want to help Richard and his team by raising the awareness for the Cold Caps – a recent survey carried out revealed that 95% of the UK population are aware that chemotherapy treatment can cause hair loss, a staggering 82% of people do not know what cold caps are. This has since prompted their new national campaign ‘Cool Head, Warm Heart’.
For more information please speak with your consultant and/or nursing staff as this treatment is available on the NHS as well as Private Hospitals or alternatively visit www.paxman-coolers.com
For more information on their campaign ‘Cool Head Warm Heart’ visit www.coolheadwarmheart.co.uk