Problem healing after 2nd time
Problem healing after 2nd time Had radiotherapy to my right breast eleven years ago and ten days ago needed mastectomy to same one. Now having problems with healing due to the previous rads. Anyone else out there had same?? give me a light at the end of the tunnel - please.
Not an authority on this but had pump attached to skin graft over excised mast scar and its purpose was to keep the area DRT to help healing and prevent infection- so keeping your scar as dry as poss should help. Mine had NO soap/water/bath immersion until it was COMPLETELY healed and took 10 weeks. Yours should be MUCH quicker because no waiting for skin graft mesh to become overall cover.
You should be having the area monitored and if necessary dressed by District Nurse or the ward where you had your op. Just leaving you to get on with it without help or advice is ridiculous. If you are not getting this phone GP and ward to get it done. The ward letter to the GP may have gone astray.
RT sites are slow to heal after ops so you need to be patient and watchful- any reddening needs the experts-who should be taking care of it anyway until it has healed properly.
amdamc I hope this helps and that you are/will be getting proper care, best wishes for speedy healing dilly
Hi amdanc Ten days is very soon after surgery to expect complete healing even without irradiated skin. I had to have a mastectomy after rads 7 years previously and though most of the scar healed well, if slowly, there a short section (approximately where my original WLE scar had been)which was very stubborn and kept breaking down for weeks.
I found the thing which helped most was Vitamin E oil, though some people swear by Bio Oil. I was told not to worry about keeping it dry, but to shower gently and use very mild products like Simple soap or shower gel. I then rubbed some oil gently into the scar once or twice a day and waited patiently for it to heal. It took somewhere between 2 and 3 months for the last bit to heal completely.
Now, nearly 18 months later, i have a beautifully smooth, pale, flat scar, eith only one very small slightly rough section where healing took longest.
Don’t despair - it WILL get better.
Kathy xxx