Is there anything I can do to prepare my skin for radiotherapy which I will be having soon have had a WLE and SLNB no node invasion DCIS of 16mm with 2.5mm into surrounding tissue clear margins unsure as to whether I need chemo until I see oncologist next week want skin to be in as good condition as possible any tips would be appreciated want to try to avoid as much damage as possible by rads thanks in advancex
Hi loobyb
Whilst you wait for the other users to reply with their experiences you may find it useful to read the BCC booklet on radiotherapy. To read this on line or order a copy just follow this link below:-
I hope you find this helpful.
Best wishes Sam, BCC Facilitator
Hi…I don’t think there is anything specific you can do to ‘prepare’ your skin for radiotherapy. What is most important is to ask your radiotherapy team…sure they will tell you anyway…about skincare during and after rads. There is a difference of opinion it appears in different nhs trusts about what’s best; mine for example was to use aqueous cream a squillion times a day, 99.99% aloe vera when my breast felt ‘hot’, wear a crop top rather than bra, and let the air/fan/cold hairdryer blast the skin as often as possible. The skin under my breast ‘broke’ about halfway through and they gave me a special gel to use. I bought ‘burn dressings’ from a well know £1 store which helped the healing, along with good old salted, boiled water.
They should also give you advice on deodorants, bath and shower gel to use/not use…again probably best to wait and see what your team says.
Your skin may react very well…again it’s one of those individual things. One thing to watch out for that I wasn’t told, is that the rads has to ‘exit’ somewhere…for me that was inside my left shoulderblade and I had an itchy rash for a few days…think a bit of sudocreme helped!
And finally…remember that the effects of rads carries on for several weeks afterwards so continue to moisturise, moisturise, moisturise!!
Hooe that helps a bit? Best wishes x
I was told by my BCN that a moisturised breast responds best to rt and so I started moisturising befre my sessions started. However, I had chemo so there was plenty of time for my scars to heal between surgery and rt. Perhaps ask your bcn what she thinks as they see the process from beginning to end