This important article was written by a psychologist who required chemo [View all]

It offers some hope for a fortunate few with money to minimize a common chemo complication—but shows the heartache of the majority of people being treated.

I've quoted a bit more extensively than usual. Hopefully this won't get the post removed for it is a long article.

With most chemotherapy comes hair loss, and with hair loss can come the loss of one’s agency: Until chemotherapy, I was in charge of who would know about my diagnosis. As a practicing psychologist, I didn’t want my condition to be apparent to my patients. The focus of therapy should always be on the patient, not the provider...

It was a relief and a surprise when I discovered scalp cooling...

However, these benefits are denied to many cancer patients because cold caps are generally not covered by insurance in the US, and many hospitals are not equipped to provide this service...

I was stunned that neither I nor many of my colleagues in medical fields other than oncology had ever heard about cold capping.] It was also shocking to discover that insurance companies often consider hair loss from chemotherapy a cosmetic issue...

In contrast, a patient of mine who had breast cancer three years ago and was not offered scalp cooling wept at the sight of my full head of hair throughout my chemotherapy. She had struggled with her hair loss, feeling she had been reduced to being only a cancer patient...

Measured against the total costs of breast cancer care, the cost of scalp cooling is minuscule and not necessarily more expensive than a wig. In my case, scalp cooling cost $1,200 over the course of my four chemo treatments. (My patient paid $5,000 for her wig.) Yet without insurance coverage, this option is only available to those with financial means...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/19/opinions/cancer-chemo-cold-caps-scalp-cooling-mulqueen/index.html