Doctor: ‘Cold cap treatments’ help cancer patients keep their hair
News 12 StaffOct 09, 2020, 1:36pm EDT
Updated on:Oct 09, 2020, 1:36pm EDT
A
Bridgeport cancer survivor is all smiles after not only beating cancer, but also keeping
a very important part of her life.
Nicole
Nesmith, 48, says she was first diagnosed with breast cancer over a decade ago
when she went for a checkup. She says the cancer came back this July in the
same breast, and she beat cancer again.
"I
told my daughter and my husband, ‘We're going to get through this,’" she
says.
Nesmith
told Dr. Richard Zelkowitz, of Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent’s Medical Center, that she didn't want to lose her hair after chemotherapy treatments.
He is
one of the first doctors in the area to use the cold cap which is tightfitting
over the scalp.
"By
cooling the scalp, it probably prevents chemotherapy from getting to the hair
follicles. It markedly decreases the amount of hair loss associated with
certain chemotherapies," he told News 12.
Nesmith
not only got her hair back, she got her life back.
St. Vincent’s Medical Center is only hospital in the system where the cold cap is
offered.