Happy New Year to you all - wishing you strength, courage and wisdom this year. I get all of those from this forum, so thank you.
One daft question: my breast cancer nurse said that after 14 days I could gently use soap on my scars to remove any remaining glue. I am now 17 days post-op. The glue isn’t bothering me but is still pretty firmly stuck on. Is it OK to just let it do its thing or should it come off?
And I have had conflicting advice re moisturising in preparation for radiotherapy, unless I have misunderstood. The hospital seems very favour of keeping any possible cause of irritation or infection away from the scars for at least another couple of weeks ie no baths, no moisturising, but I think the lovely nurse on here and radiologists I have watched chat with Dr Liz O’Riordan on Instagram advise plenty of moisturising in advance as well as necking lots of water. My scars still don’t look very pretty and I am still very bruised - which is like me- but they do look healed. I wouldn’t go near the seroma in my armpit, and would probably avoid the scars.
Lastly, and not really in the right place, can anyone tell me if radiotherapy just zaps the exact area of the tumour, or is it wider? Mine was just above my nipple, gulp!
Hospitals and even different staff in the same hospital seem to give different advice.
I was told when leaving the hospital on the day of surgery, 19th September, to keep the outer dressing on and not to shower for two days. I was given waterproof outer dressings to put on after the two days and then I began showering making sure to keep soap, shampoo etc away from the area of surgery. I had to go back to the hospital seven days after surgery for a wound check and to have four prolene stitches removed and all my dressings were removed then. I wasn’t given new ones or advised to put on new dressings. My scars continued to heal well without dressings but I still made sure to keep them as dry as possible and away from soap etc when showering. The glue peeled off by itself after a few days.
I saw my surgeon 17 days after surgery and he was pleased with the way I was healing but advised me to start using bio oil on the scars because they were very dry. I started to use it but there was a tiny hole at the junction of my scars and although I tried to keep the oil away from it some got in and made it sting quite badly. I later saw my GP about the hole and he said it was nothing to worry about and would heal but to keep a small waterproof dressing over it when showering and moisturising. I got some of those tiny round plasters and used those for a couple of weeks until it healed. I continued to use bio oil until a couple of weeks ago before starting radiotherapy. I was advised to switch to Aveeno or E45 cream. I have both but prefer the Aveeno so far, I started radiotherapy last week and have had three sessions, twelve to go. My scars are well healed and quite supple but still look red, which I am told is normal at this stage.
Everyone is different and seems to get different advice but I hope telling you my experience helps. My tumour was just above my nipple too. I am having radiotherapy to my whole breast with an integrated simultaneous boost to the tumour site but I have no idea if this is normal, radiotherapy is individually planned for the needs of each patient so others experiences and treatment will be different.
I hope you continue to recover well from surgery, try to concentrate on that for now you will find out all about your individual radiotherapy treatment when you have your planning appointment.
im glad you are healing well . I would definitely take care not to make the incision sites too wet so soon after surgery . A gentle shower works well . My wounds were not so quick to heal so sounds like whatever you have done so far is great .I didn’t have glue . Just strristrips which came off really quickly .
I didn’t have my radiotherapy until 12 weeks after my surgery so my scars were healed . I use bio oil every few days now . I’m not really keen on the smell . I didn’t start moisturising until just before my radiotherapy . I used some body moisturiser I already had that suited me - I’m just using up all my bottles . I don’t notice a difference with brands . I must say that the only thing that I have had a problem with is where my bra rubbed under my arm about 3/4 weeks post radiotherapy . It’s left me with darker skin there which is annoying . I’m not really sure if makes a difference what your skin type is but my skin is not usually dry so wouldn’t normally moisturise my boobs . I had radiotherapy in a square shape about 2 inches under my boob across to my armpit and about 3 inches above my nipple. I finished my radiotherapy 3 months ago. I get the odd twinge , my scars are a bit tight - so that’s why I oil them . I have a bit of rib pain but apart from that feel pretty good . Can’t believe I don’t have to wear underwires bras anymore !
I have developed a lot of allergies due to previous surgery in 2003 and would advise anyone not to put any creams or potions on scars based on my experience. I can’t even use Aveeno as it appears I am now allergic to Vaseline and anything with petroleum/paraffin wax in it. I am also allergic to dermabond (aka superglue) surgical tape and almost everything else used in surgery. I am about to have patch tests in hospital to determine exactly what is happening. I may also be allergic to dissolvable sutures as mine still haven’t dissolved after four months and are working their way to the surface of my skin. Every so often I pick one out. The last one was on Christmas Eve but I can still feel a few just near the line of my diep scar.
NB when I had radiotherapy in 2003 the advice I read conflicted so much that although I did exactly as the oncologist told me I got serious burning a bit like I used to get if sunburnt and he was really rude to me and blamed me for it. That was the last I saw him as I voted with my feet.
I concluded that it would go once I stopped being blasted with rays and that was what happened a couple of weeks after. This time no radio as I could only have a mastectomy. You can’t have radiotherapy twice.
So there you go I was spared another bad bout of sunburn this time.
I had internal stitches only for both of my lumpectomies and steri strips and waterproof dressing first time and glue and waterproof dressing second time.
I was told I could shower etc from day 2.
In both cases I was told to remove the dressings myself on day 10 (the surgeon who used the glue said I really didn’t need a dressing at all as the glue was a waterproof seal but he used it for aesthetic reasons so we didn’t see the wound)
the glue took forever to get off. I used lots of Vaseline to soften it.
I was told to use Vaseline or bio oil twice a day on the scars but that the massage was just as important as the moisturising.
I have just started radio and have been moisturising my entire breast and armpit for the past 10 days pre radio and three times a day during.
so far no skin breakdown … 2 more sessions to go … but very sore and aching breast