October 3, 2010 - The Great Wig Controversy

OK, so I bought a wig.  There are lots of places that offer wigs of various styles and costs.  The first consideration for a wig is: synthetic or human hair.  Given the choice, human hair would appear to be the desired choice; after all, the purpose of a wig is to resemble one's natural hair, so a wig made of human hair will look the most natural.  Yes, but ... there are two big considerations:  ease of maintenance and cost.  Think about your natural hair - you have to wash it, dry it ... and style it (that includes blow dry, setting, teasing, iron curling or whatever women do to their hair).  A human hair wig requires the same care.  It's a fair amount of work to keep up.  And the cost?  I guess it depends on where you go, but they can start at $500.

A synthetic wig, on the other hand is relatively inexpensive and the style you choose is the style that's permanently set into the synthetic fiber.  So care is as easy as wash, gently shake out, set on a stand to dry and you're ready to go.  The drawbacks of synthetic are, essentially, twofold:  it doesn't look natural on close inspection and you have to keep it away from heat (the most likely culprit is the oven).  Many a perfectly good synthetic wig has been permanently ruined by the cook wearing a wig who opened the oven door and singed/melted the front of her wig.

I knew I wasn't going to want to wear a wig all the time - only for those occasions when it's kind of important to look "normal."  I didn't want to spend a lot of money for something I might wear once a month over the next 6-12 months, and then (hopefully) never need again.  Besides, we're not made of money these days.  I found a cute synthetic wig at www.paulayoung.com that was even on a web special, so I got it for $39 plus shipping.  It's cute and I'm happy with it, as far as wigs go.  But every wig gets warm, itchy and generally uncomfortable after a couple of hours, so it's not my first choice for headwear.

But for those cancer patients who feel this is their number one head cover option, there's a little bit of controversy over the obtaining of a nice new wig at little to no cost, as the American Cancer Society leads one to believe can be easily done.  The process to obtain one is not an easy one, and there are some "moral" issues involved.

The first step to getting a "free" wig is to see if one's health insurance covers the cost of a wig for a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy.  Most health insurers do not.  However, they do (are are required to by MN statutory law) cover the cost of a wig for a patient suffering from a condition called "alopecia areata" (permanent hair loss) if the attending physician writes a prescription for the wig, calling it a "cranial prosthetic."  (I kid you not.)

Many providers of wigs, such as DK International in Chanhassen which I visited, will tell you that you can get your insurance company to pay for the wig (their synthetics start at $250) if your physician will write such a prescription for you, even instructing you to make sure the prescription specifically says it is for "a cranial prosthetic due to alopecia areata."  The problem is, hair loss due to chemotheraphy is not alopecia areata, so asking your physician to write such a prescription would be to participate in a fraud against your insurance company.  (My oncology clinic actually gives its chemo patients a handout on the subject which, in essence, says, "Don't even ask.  We won't do it.")

OK.  So let's rule that out.  The next step would be to get assistance directly from the American Cancer Society, which says it can provide a free wig to a cancer patient undergoing chemo.  The caveat here is that, in order to get the free wig, you have to answer two questions:

1) Does your insurance company cover the cost of a wig? (the required answer here is "no" which, as discussed above, is likely also the honest answer); and

2) Can you afford to pay for a wig?  If you say "no" here, that means you couldn't afford a synthetic wig from Paula Young that costs $39 plus $5.95 shipping.  Granted, some women could honestly answer "no" to that question.  I couldn't.

So, I have my cute synthetic wig, and I've worn it a couple of times so far - to my first BNI meeting after I buzzed my head, to the shop during Steamboat Days, and to a couple other places (that I can't remember).  But mostly you'll see me wearing a knit turban, or a scarf or maybe even a scarf and hat.  They really are the most comfortable head cover.

At home, where only Al needs to look at me, I prefer to go bald.  But it never occurred to me, prior to chemo, how comfortably warm a natural head of hair is.  There have been times this fall when open windows make the house "comfortably" cool, but I need to put something on my head.  And I'm anticipating as winter sets in, and nightime temps in the house go down, I'll need to wear something on my head to sleep in.  But that's a minor inconvenience.