What is the Cold Cap?
The cold cap is the device worn during scalp cooling treatments to help reduce hair loss caused by chemotherapy. The cold cap must be worn before, during and after the patient’s chemotherapy treatment. The cap has two parts – an inner cap through which the cooling liquid circulates and an outer cap cover that fits over the inner cap to help with insulation. The cap connects to the refrigeration machine via an insulated cooling line. The pre-cooling part of the treatment reduces the scalp temperature before the chemo drugs are given, the cooling prevents the hair follicle cells from being attacked by the chemo drugs. Cooling continues after the chemo drugs are given maintaining the cell protection and allows the scalp to come back up to normal temperature before removal of the cold cap.
How The Cold Cap Works
There are two machine-based cooling devices provided by - Dignicap and Paxman that provide FDA cleared scalp cooling treatments for 18 years and older. Both companies have been using their product effectively for decades in Europe, but only recently in 2017 was FDA clearance achieved in the USA. To learn more about these companies and about scalp cooling click on the buttons below.
Manual Cold Caps have been used for over a decade in the USA. The Alayna Jayne Foundation focuses on the machine operated scalp cooling only.
We encourage you to do your own due diligence on what the best option would be for you. It is a conversation to have with your doctor. Scalp cooling is FDA cleared for some tumor based cancers. It is not for all types of cancer.
The Alayna Jayne Foundation wants to help cover the cost of the machine operated scalp cooling treatments and cold cap.
Email us at apply@alaynajaynefoundation.org to find out how we can help.
