Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/526887
Create your free business website! www.ascpskincare.com 27 Create your free business website! www.ascpskincare.com 27 Create your free business website! www.ascpskincare.com 27 As estheticians and spa professionals, how can we educate ourselves? What should we know in order to help our clients who have been diagnosed? Have you been told you shouldn't or can't work with clients with cancer? If so, what if you could with the proper training? Based on recent research and my history of working with cancer patients for the past six years, I truly believe this client needs—and can benefi t from—our services. First, let's take a look at the most common cancer treatments used in the United States and how they affect an individual's hair, skin, and nails. Chemotherapy or Anti-Cancer Drug Therapy This form of treatment is given systemically (throughout the whole body) to kill all cancer cells. Chemotherapy uses cytotoxic (toxic to cells) drugs that indiscriminately kill all fast-growing cells. The treatment kills cancer cells, but also affects healthy fast- growing cells such as skin, hair follicles, nails, and epithelial cells (cells that line internal organs). Skin becomes dry, thin, fragile, and sensitive. Alopecia (hair loss) occurs all over the body. The scalp will be very dry and sometimes breaks out in a bad case of folliculitis. Nails, being keratinocytes (fast-growing cells), will also be affected with Beau's lines and onycholysis (lifting of the nails). Specifi c guidelines and procedures must be followed to address each of these issues without causing additional harm or infection. Another type of cancer treatment is targeted therapy that includes the use of biologic drugs. This treatment uses living or synthetic organisms, or substances derived from the same, to target the immune system's ability to kill cancer cells. Gene therapy is also included in this group. Side effects are less damaging than cytotoxic drugs, but care must still be taken when performing skin care treatments. The most common side effect is fl u-like symptoms with specifi c side effects based on the type of therapy administered. Radiation Therapy During this type of treatment, a beam of radiation energy is used to precisely target and destroy a tumor. If the skin (or hair) happens to be in the path of that beam, it will also be damaged. The skin will fi rst react as if it has suffered an intense sunburn, and this can escalate to dry or wet desquamation all the way up to necrosis (death) of the tissue, depending on the dose, location, and the patient's health. Damage to the follicles in the radiation treatment fi eld will cause the hair to fall out. We Can Help Imagine yourself in this situation for a moment. You've enjoyed your hair your entire life, then one day you look in the mirror and see a person with no eyelashes, eyebrows, or hair. How would you feel? How would you go out into the world? Many clients in this situation tell me they don't even recognize themselves. They avoid mirrors or avoid going out at all. How sad is that? Two of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment are body image issues and hair loss. I have had clients tell me things like: "I didn't go to my regular spa because I didn't think they would understand what I was going through"; "I'm ugly"; "Everyone looks at me like I am different"; "No one would want to or could help me"; "I don't know what to do." Being an oncology-trained spa therapist is an opportunity to offer services that can be truly life changing to this special segment of the population. So, how do you help? Sometimes a big heart and good intentions are not enough and could actually cause harm. Here are some of the questions you must consider: • When should treatments, such as exfoliation or lightening, be performed? The short answer is: never during active cancer treatments. You should monitor the client carefully and proceed only after her treatment, and then proceed only if, and as, she needs it (usually around six months after treatment). A According to the American Cancer Society, there are 14 million cancer survivors in the United States today. With 1.6 million cases diagnosed annually, that number is expected to grow to 18 million by 2022. Chances are you, or someone you know—a client, family member, or friend—is either going through cancer treatment or has in the past.