UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center is an NCI Designated Cancer Center in the United States. The centre recently shared the story of Megan Steen, a patient at the facility who scalp cooled during chemotherapy to retain her hair. Completing her treatment in November 2024, Megan’s story is a great example of how scalp cooling can prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia.  

Like many patients navigating a cancer diagnosis, Megan immediately began to think about her hair, and understandably so. With hair being such a crucial part of a person’s identity and normality, it is no surprise that hair loss is one of the most feared side effects of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, it is also the reason 14% of women refuse the treatment. 

The article talks about Megan’s story and how her expectations were appropriately set by her oncologist prior to starting scalp cooling. Setting early expectations for patients is important as hair retention varies from patient to patient and can lead to the feeling of failure. Despite shedding being a normal part of the scalp cooling process, some patients can perceive this as inefficacious scalp cooling and may be disheartened if they are not expecting any hair loss at all.   

The article continues by explaining cold capping in more detail and how mechanical scalp cooling works.  

Megan estimated that she retained approximately 70% of her hair during chemotherapy, with no bald spots, thanks to cold capping. A wonderful result! We were delighted to read within the article that Megan’s hair looked like it normally does and was happy with the results!