Fragrantly Beautiful

Battle with beauty: Program helps cancer patients through appearance

By COURTNEY KLEMM - H&R Staff Writer

DECATUR - In the midst of mascara tubes, foundation bottles and powder compacts, cheers rang out from a small group gathered in the Women's Health and Breast Center of Decatur Memorial Hospital: It was time to learn how to create eyebrows.

"Always blend in the direction of the natural brow," instructed Tess Leckrone as she dabbed light brown eyeliner on the brow lines of three women with thinning or no hair. "You peak it straight up from the eyeball, then blend it all with a Q-tip."

Leckrone, a cosmetologist and owner of Artistic Cosmetics, has been helping to give female cancer patients a piece of their self-confidence back through teaching makeup application and demonstrations of scarf-tying in a program called "Look Good ? Feel Better."

The bimonthly class at DMH is part of a national program for women undergoing cancer treatment. The program offers instruction and advice for dealing with the temporary appearance-related side effects of chemotherapy or radiation for patients who have been newly diagnosed, are actively receiving treatment or are past treatment, up to one year.

"When they come, they are so pale and don't have eyelashes or eyebrows. I put on their makeup, and they just look so good," said Leckrone. She has volunteered with her longtime friend Bonnie Propst to work with the women since the class first started at DMH, after first taking a training course through the American Cancer Society.

The class becomes a source of self-esteem for patients, said Courtney Heiser, patient service representative for the American Cancer Society,
"It gives them a sense of hope," she said. "Treatment is such a draining and devastating time in their lives, and this is an opportunity for women to be able to get to know each other and give each other support as well."

Doris Helfing, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2003, said she wasn't aware of many of the appearance changes from cancer treatments until she attended "Look Good ? Feel Better." The support she found from other participants has grown into several lasting friendships, she said.

"We needed something to cheer us up at that point. It's a good way to talk to other ladies about what you're all going through," she said. "I would say it was fun, if you can have fun at that time."

The class itself covers 12 steps to makeup application, skin care tips, nail care, wig care and scarf styles. Participants receive a free kit with at least 200 various kinds and brands of makeup.
"They get a lot of individual attention, so they feel comfortable," said Pam McMillen, director of the Women's Health and Breast Center. "Sometimes the treatment can affect pigmentation or dryness in their skin, so they can ask certain questions about that. They learn ways to counteract hair loss so they still feel confident enough to go out in public."

The American Cancer Society also has partnered locally with Wig N' Out in Mount Zion to provide women with a "wig bank," where they can choose up to two free wigs. The store also sells hairpieces, turbans, hats and hair jewelry. Owner Nancy Gregg said she has seen the importance of hair to women.

"Men are able to go bald and look fine, but a lot of women aren't comfortable with that look," she said. "Having a wig gives them back their self-esteem, and they feel presentable again."

Losing your hair is one of the lowest points of the fight against cancer, said Linda Hochstetler, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. Hochstetler, however, wasn't able to find a wig that fit as her hair began to fall out when she started chemotherapy, said Melva Behrens, owner of Caring Touch by Melva in Decatur.

When Behrens' aunt became ill with cancer, Behrens tried to assist her in shopping for a wig but found it wasn't as simple as she thought it would be. Behrens, a longtime hair professional, decided she could make a difference to cancer patients; she first began working with handmade hairpieces and has since added lightweight breast prostheses, created from a casting of a woman's chest, to her services.

"Losing your hair or breast is very difficult; it's like losing your identity," Behrens said. "This is one more step to the healing process."

Melissa Dixon, who was diagnosed with cancer in June 2005, said she allowed Behrens to shave her head when she received her hairpieces so her illness and gradual hair loss would not be obvious. She wanted to look as healthy as she could, despite her changing skin color and baldness, to counteract the physical sickness the chemotherapy brought, Dixon said.

Behrens said her clients like to have very little or no transition between losing their hair and receiving their hairpiece.

"They like to have no one know what's going on with them; they're very private," she said. "These girls are my heroes. It's absolutely phenomenal what they've been through. Not only have they had their bodies be violated with surgery, but then they have chemotherapy or radiation, so it's years before they actually feel normal again."

Women cancer patients have a great desire to "look nice" and seem normal, said Hochstetler, who bought two hairpieces from Behrens.

"I don't like having to wear a wig, but I am so grateful for it," Hochstetler said. "When you're diagnosed with cancer, you're faced with all this uncertainty, but you still try to maintain the normalcy of going to the hair salon and putting on makeup."

Heiser said she enjoys the excitement of the women when they see their newly made-up faces and hairstyles in the mirror during "Look Good ? Feel Better."

"At first, some women are hesitant and don't know what to expect. We take the time to really adjust to their needs," she said. "It's really a time to be themselves, and they are able to see themselves the way they used to look before they lost their hair or started treatment."

Courtney Klemm can be reached at cklemm@herald-review.com or 421-6968.

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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 4:38 PM