Today show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin credits Dr. Mario Lacouture with mitigating the side effects of chemotherapy treatment. “I am so grateful for Dr. Lacouture’s expertise and empathy, because I feel that every day I am looking more like myself,” she says.
Courtesy of Jill Martin
As a lifestyle contributor to the Today show and a fashion expert, Jill Martin, 47, leads a very public life. So when she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in June 2023, she decided to share her cancer experience—including a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation—with her more than 500,000 Instagram followers. Her reasoning was simple: she wanted other women to learn from her experience and get tested.
Now, there’s something else Martin wants women to know: just because you go through chemotherapy doesn’t mean you have to lose all your hair.
Martin had tried to preserve her long blond locks by “cold-capping”—placing frigid gel on her head during her infusions to preserve hair follicles. Despite this, she lost about 70 percent of her hair during treatment, and her eyelashes and eyebrows largely vanished. Sensitive about her appearance, she broke down in tears while wig shopping and rejected the well-meaning “It will grow back” reassurances.
Finally, multiple acquaintances offered some welcome advice: Go see “an amazing doctor” named Mario Lacouture, MD, chief of dermatology at ٺƵ Hospital—Long Island. After an initial consultation, Dr. Lacouture recommended a special shampoo that Martin credits with thickening and strengthening her remaining hair, and prescribed a medication for her brows and lashes that helped them fully regrow. “I am so grateful for his expertise and empathy because I feel that every day I am looking more like myself,” Martin says.
To Dr. Lacouture, helping patients receiving cancer therapies deal with aesthetic concerns is anything but superficial. Treating these maladies can not only help patients look better and feel better about themselves, but it can also prevent them—and their doctors—from discontinuing lifesaving cancer treatments. “Looking like oneself can be critical to a person’s self-image and, ultimately, improve their outcome,” Dr. Lacouture says.
For the past two decades, Dr. Lacouture has focused on devising methods to manage the skin-, hair-, and nail-related side effects of cancer treatments. These extend beyond hair loss and may include everything from measles-like rashes to painful blisters to unbearable itching.
Dr. Lacouture happened upon what would become a new branch of dermatology in 2006, when he treated a patient with a facial rash resulting from cancer therapy. It was so severe that the man planned to stop treatment and skip his daughter’s wedding. On a hunch, Dr. Lacouture prescribed an acne medication. “Lo and behold, the rash improved, and I realized, ‘Wow, this patient now is going to be able to continue therapy, go to his daughter’s wedding, and live a longer life,’” Dr. Lacouture says. “And I thought, ‘How many times, as a dermatologist, can you impact a person’s life like that?’ That’s what started my commitment to this specialty.” Later that year, Dr. Lacouture founded the first clinical and research program in oncodermatology at Northwestern University, a model that has been adopted by nearly 70 percent of the National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States.
Dr. Lacouture, the medical director of the Symptom Management Program at Perlmutter Cancer Center at ٺƵ Hospital—Long Island, is focused on maintaining and restoring the whole patient’s health during treatment. One of his innovations at previous institutions that he plans to adopt at ٺƵ is a system of same-day referrals to gastroenterologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, and other specialists who can address pain, fatigue, nausea, and other non–skin-related side effects. He also oversees a portfolio of clinical trials and the development of preventive strategies for side effects.
A majority of oncodermatology medications are used “off label,” meaning they have been approved to treat a different condition. Thus, antibiotics may be prescribed for acne-like treatment symptoms, steroids can improve eczema-like skin problems, and pain medications can help ease itching. Dr. Lacouture and his team recently identified an injectable asthma medication that clears up certain rashes for patients with breast cancer.
Some fixes are simpler. For instance, to prevent nerve damage and keep fingertips from becoming inflamed, oncodermatologists may recommend that patients place their hands on ice bags during infusions.
“Our goal is to meet patients wherever they are in their cancer journey with empathy, explore every therapeutic option available, and support their complete healing, inside and out,” says Dr. Lacouture.
