HAIR loss could be a thing of the past for many cancer patients at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
An appeal has been launched to raise £40,000 to provide four additional cold cap machines for the hospital’s Rowan Suite.
Scalp cooling or ‘cold cap’ machines are proven to combat chemotherapy-induced hair loss and can result in a high level of retention or completely preserve the hair.
One in two people will develop cancer in their lifetime. There are over 200 types of cancer, each diagnosed and treated in a particular way. Systemic anti-cancer therapies are the medicines that are given to cancer patients as part of their treatment. This includes chemotherapy, hormone therapy and immunotherapy.
Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapy also affects some normal cells which can cause side effects, including hair loss.
Hair loss from cancer treatment can affect people in different ways and can have a profound effect on a patient’s wellbeing, when their world has already been turned upside down. For many people, hair is a big part of their identity and a change in their appearance can increase anxiety and stress and affect self-confidence.
Scalp cooling works by reducing the temperature of the scalp which reduces the size of the blood vessels restricting blood flow. This means that less of the cancer drugs can reach the hair follicles and cause damage.
To donate to the appeal, launched by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Charity, visit https://wahcharity.org/cancer-care-appeal
