Look Good...Feel Better

American Cancer Society Program Helps Women

Overcome Effects of Cancer Treatment

JERSEYVILLE (March 11, 2008) - The American Cancer Society offers its Look Good…Feel Better® program to residents in Alton and surrounding areas, including Jersey County. Guided by volunteer cosmetologists, female cancer patients who participate in this class will learn how to use make-up and skincare techniques to overcome the appearance-related effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

The two-hour sessions are held at Alton Memorial Hospital and Saint Anthony’s Health Center throughout the year. This is one of many patient service programs that are funded by the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. Please call 618-288-2320 or 800-ACS-2345 to register for the sessions or for more information.

“It was nice to meet and share with other cancer survivors,” says Debra C., a recent Metro East Look Good…Feel Better® participant. “After applying the right make-up, I could feel good again about the way I looked. I had my confidence back and I felt so pampered.”

“Look Good…Feel Better® is as much about improving and maintaining self-image and confidence as it is about appearance,” says Shelley Romanik, Patient Services Representative with the American Cancer Society. “Patients enjoy the opportunity to spend time in a relaxed, non-medical setting with others in the same situation. And the free make-up and instruction from professionals helps them look and feel better.”

On top of the very real physical and emotional concerns of the disease itself, the side effects of cancer treatment can be devastating to a woman’s self-esteem as well. In her mirror she sees someone she doesn’t even recognize—tired and discolored, with thinning hair and no eyelashes. Patients who have participated in Look Good...Feel Better® call the program an emotional lifesaver, because it returns them to a sense of normalcy and allows them to smile once again at the person in the mirror.

According to the American Cancer Society, there are dozens of anti-cancer drugs in use today, each with its own set of possible side effects. Possible appearance-related effects of chemotherapy and radiation include hair loss on the scalp, eyebrows or lashes; weight gain or loss; changes in skin pigmentation and texture; skin oiliness, itchiness or peeling; and alterations in nail texture and growth rate.

Look Good…Feel Better® is offered through a partnership of the American Cancer Society; the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association Foundation; and the National Cosmetology Association. Classes and materials are provided free of charge to women in active cancer treatment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jennifer Monken
American Cancer Society
618-288-2320 (Option #3)