A cancer diagnosis is scary. Cancer treatments are a great challenge. Having to cope with hair loss on top of it is traumatic.

Cancer treatment related hair loss is very damaging to a person’s self image and self confidence. Worse, it is visible to all which can feel as disempowering as the cancer itself.

Now there is a new option, a helmet-like device that protects cancer patients from hair loss. How does it work? It’s a cooling device worn on the head. The cold lowers the temperature of the patient’s head and stops chemotherapy drugs from entering capillaries and destroying hair follicles.

There are currently several brands of such devices available and some are already approved by the FDA. Since the invention is quite new, the cooling caps are not usually covered by insurance.

When shopping for the device there are two important things to keep in mind.
1/ the high tech devices are superior to those using dry ice
2/ in some cases, a cooling cap can be rented

There are several efforts underway to help finance patients’ access to this new device.