Hair loss is one of the sad side effects of chemotherapy, and in our times every patient who undergoes this type of cancer treatment suffers from hair loss. The causes of this side effect are well known and researched. The fact is: our hair follicles are made of such type of cells which have a property to grow very fast, similar to the one of cancer cells. Since chemotherapy is targeted on destroying fast growing cells (primarily cancer cells), hair follicles get seriously affected that brings to what is known as ‘cancer hair loss’. This serious problem adds more sadness and negative emotions to cancer patients, and many experts have been trying to find an effective solution or a technology to assist slowing down and possibly prevent chemotherapy hair loss. These days, it was reported that finally one solution for this problem has been found!

The Dignicap is a new technology offered at the Spire Montefiore Hospital in East Sussex, has proven to be effective to prevent cancer hair loss. This new solution is something like a helmet which helps lowering scalp temperature during chemotherapy this way making blood vessels smaller and delivering less blood to scalp. This, in turn, lowers the amounts of chemicals and harmful compounds involved in chemotherapy, making hair follicles less exposed to those chemicals. As a result, it is possible to considerably reduce cancer hair loss, making cancer patients feel slightly better about their condition. The new innovative treatment has been already tested in a number of clinics around Europe and Asia, and it received plenty of positive reviews. It is reported that it helped every eight of ten cancer patients  assisting them in reducing chemotherapy hair loss and even avoiding losing hair as a result of cancer treatment involving chemotherapy.

In particular, the effects of the Dignicap were tested on 40-year-old British woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery, she had to go through a course of chemotherapy in order to increase her chances for survival (from 90 to 99 per cent), and she was feeling very optimistic but only was quite scared to lose her gorgeous hair. ‘To me, losing your hair is an obvious sign that you are having cancer treatment and I also didn’t want to scare the children with my appearance,’ she said. Fortunately, the new technology proved to be effective for her and helped avoiding cancer hair loss making her and her family with two kids very happy. She reported that for the moment, the technology works great, but brings a bit of discomfort while wearing the helmet with obvious cooling effects. The helmet contain special gel packs that can decrease scalp temperature to achieve the desired protective effects.

Also, she reported about slight side effects of using chemotherapy hair loss protective technology. According to the patient, she experienced slight headaches and constant feeling sick. Those were the results of using this helmet for 3 hours every day, as it was required by the creators of the helmet. In anyway, the technology was very successful and helped the patient to avoid hair loss. The protection worked really great, because in contrast to the hair, the patient’s eyebrows and eyelashes fell out on the latest stages of the treatment. Keeping my hair is a small thing I know – but it enabled me stay positive during treatment and feel normal. I do feel the Dignicap really helped me psychologically, as it meant I didn’t look physically unwell and that was comforting for the children, too,” she underlined. Hopefully, this miraculous technology will help thousands of other cancer patients to avoid hair loss and stay positive in their fight for survival.