Caring for someone with cancer
posted by jenjenb
09 February 2015

Cold Caps to help prevent/slow hair loss during chemo

Last reply: 10 February 2015 14:42

Hi,

My 81 year old grandmother was recently diagnosed with Oesophageal Cancer and will undergo Chemo and Radiotherapy shortly. She is expecting to go through 4-6 weeks of treatments.

I recently heard about a 'Cold Cap' you can get to wear during treatment. It is supposed to help with preventing / reducing / slowing hair loss during Chemo. It looks like a swimming cap from looking at the pictures online.

Can anyone please advise if they have used these before and where I might get one in Dublin? I am wondering also if they would be abit uncomfortable.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. We're very new to this and finding all the information a little overwhelming.

Thanks,
Jen

1 comment

Comments

commented by Irish Cancer Society
10 February 2015

10 February 2015 14:42

Dear Jen
We are sorry to hear that your grandmother has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and that she will be having chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We would suggest you check with your grandmothers oncology team, firstly whether the chemotherapy drugs they intend giving her will cause hair loss because not all chemotherapy drugs do and also do they have the facility for scalp cooling in that hospital, because not all hospitals do.
I am attaching a link to the Macmillan site regarding scalp cooling, which I hope you will find helpful. http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinfor ... oling.aspx

If you would like to speak to a specialist nurse here in the Irish Cancer Society,do not hesitate to phone us on our Helpline at 1800 200 700.
Kind regards

Cancer Information Services Nurse | Irish Cancer Society.
43/45 Northumberland Rd, Dublin 4.
National Cancer Helpline Freefone 1800 200 700

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