FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Please Ask Me!
Here are some frequently asked questions that I tend to receive. If you still have something you’d like to know, feel free to contact me for more details and I will do my best to help you get all the information you need.
What is Cold Cap Therapy?
Cold Cap Therapy is a non-invasive, treatment that helps cancer patients retain their hair during chemotherapy.
A specially designed cap, filled with a cold Crylon gel, gently hugs the patients head and lowers the temperature of their scalp. The metabolic rate of the hair capillaries reduce, moving them into a hibernated state. And it’s this that effectively stops the hair bulbs from absorbing the chemo toxins, so the patient is able to save their hair. Cold Cap Therapy involves applying a specially designed cap onto the head which then will cool the scalp. The caps will be switched on a carefully prescribed schedule to maintain the correct optimum temperature for approximately 50 minutes before chemotherapy treatment begins, during treatment, and a scheduled duration after treatment ends.
Why Penguin Cold Caps?
Scalp cooling with Penguin Cold Caps can be very effective in preventing or reducing the loss of hair. Penguin claims a 92% success rate. Despite scalp cooling, the hair may thin. This process is called shedding. Shedding happens to almost everyone, but the amount of shedding is different for every person. This is often dependent upon how well a client follows the guidelines and protocol for capping. Unfortunately, there are a few other factors that can affect hair shedding that are beyond anyone's control. Some of these include: the client's particular metabolism, digestive shock (likely due to stress which delays the liver from cleaning the chemo drugs from the body), diet, medications, recent surgeries, stress level, initial hair health, and hydration before, during, and after chemotherapy. If the caps are applied correctly, there should not be patching or bald spots on the scalp, but merely an overall thinning of the scalp. Although the client may see and feel the hair has become thinner during treatment, usually others will not be able to see the thinning. Cold Cap Therapy Midwest has a 98% success rate, meaning that 98% of our clients choose not to quit and purchase a wig, even though there was shedding.
Is Cold Cap Therapy Painful?
The first few caps in Penguin's Cold Cap Therapy process are quite cold and uncomfortable. After this, however, the scalp numbs from the cold which makes the process fully tolerable.
Note: Infusion drugs often make patients cold because of the ambient or refrigerated temperature of the fluids being administered into the circulatory system. This is why chemo clinics always supply warm blankets and patients are often told to dress warm.