NEW YORK (CBS) ― There are many trials and tribulations that come when women find out they have breast cancer, but one of the things women fear most is losing their hair during chemotherapy treatments. Now, one Manhattan salon is helping cancer patients rebuild their self-confidence.

Debbie Katz knows firsthand how just the idea of losing hair can be so daunting. Katz went through chemo four years ago, and she's going through it again right now. Family and friends are helping her through it and this time around she has some additional support: Joseph Paris, a master wig maker. Paris has a remarkable new approach to hair loss. He calls it the Medical Hair Prosthesis System, or MHP. Paris claims the key is to use the person's own hair to make a wig that's unique to every woman. 

"What we do is, we harvest the hair from the back of the head, and we take out a one inch strip, and then we replace it into the front hair line so that when she looks in the mirror its totally undetectable and it is her own hair," he says. "So psychologically this has tremendous benefits in the recovery process."

Since many patients start losing their hair by the second treatment, Paris says it's important to get fitted early, so that the wig will be ready when  needed.

It's also important to discuss the process with a doctor so the patient has a chance of getting her hairpiece covered by her insurance carrier. And though Debbie's insurance did not cover the cost of her wig, she's thrilled with the outcome and so is her husband.

"The first time she got a hair piece four years ago, she cried the whole time. When Paris put the hairpiece on her, she smiled and I am not kidding, within seconds she smiled sitting looking in the mirror," David Katz says.

Debbie did, in fact, lose her hair recently and had a final fitting and styling in Paris' salon on Thursday. She was thrilled with the outcome.

visit the wbtz website
visit yourHAIRx.org by Joseph Paris

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