

A study conducted on women using the cooling caps while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer showed that 66% lost 50% or less of their hair.

Usually, patients wear the cap for 30 minutes before their chemotherapy treatments, throughout the chemotherapy session and for 90 to 120 minutes afterward. This restricts the amount of chemotherapy medication that enters hair follicle cells. When cooled, blood vessels in the scalp constrict, reducing blood flow to hair follicles. Scalp cooling reduces the damage that chemotherapy causes to hair follicles. The cap has a covering that keeps it in place and the temperature constant. The cap is connected to a computer that maintains the temperature of the liquid at around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Scalp cooling therapy uses a Food and Drug Administration-approved cooling cap that covers the patient's hair and has cold liquid circulating through it.

Scalp cooling therapy helps protect a patient's privacy by reducing the visible effects of cancer treatment, and can improve patients' self-esteem and attitude toward treatment. But for some patients, hair loss damages their self-image and serves as a constant reminder of the disease. Hair loss may seem like a small price to pay in exchange for chemotherapy aimed at treating cancer or preventing it from returning. However, a treatment called scalp cooling therapy is helping many patients keep most of their hair. Losing hair can significantly contribute to a patient's stress and anxiety. This includes the cells that cause hair to grow, so hair loss is one of the common side effects of chemotherapy. Not only does chemotherapy kill cancer cells, but it also slows down or kills healthy cells that grow and divide quickly. It kills cancer cells, can make a tumor smaller before surgery and helps other treatments work better. Chemotherapy often is prescribed to treat many forms of cancer.
