For so many people, hair loss is one of the worst, if not the worst side effect of undergoing chemotherapy but there are now scalp-cooling devices that offer some relief.
The idea for such a device came from a company in the U.K. that provided cooling equipment for breweries. When the wife of the chairman of the company developed breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy, the cooling company began work on the technology that would lead to the scalp-cooling device.
Read More The devices were approved by the FDA in recent years, first in breast cancer and then in a number of other cancers. Dr. Julia Nangia, a medical oncologist at Baylor College of Medicine and a lead author on one of the major studies of the device, says 50 percent of women were able to keep their hair after four rounds of chemotherapy, and added “without the devices, 100 percent of patients lost their hair.”
There has been some question of safety when it comes to scalp-cooling, but Dr. Nangia says that when given to people who have solid tumors (like in breast, ovarian, colon, and lung cancer) the devices are safe.
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