Hi I am awaiting my referal by my oncologist for radiotherapy who I will be seeing in clinic tomorrow (3 weeks post chemo this wednesday) and have been reading the posts about being tatooed for the alignment when having treatment, my question is seeing as my body has become so so tender to everyrhing do I have to have tatoos is it possible to be marked in some other way and am I going to be made to feel like a whimp and pressurised into having them done. My treatment is going to be at the QE in birmigham.
From experience I can tell you that the tattoo marks are tiny and when I had mine done it was a feeling of a tiny pin prick for each one. The tattoo marks provide a reliable way of ensuring the radiotherapy hits the correct area every time. Some places use ‘permanent’ marker and I have heard of stickers! But I understand they are not as reliable for lining up the linac machine each day.
Hi. I have the 3 tattoo dots, 1 on each side and 1 right in the middle of my cleavage. They do look like blackheads particularly the one in the middle but it is so low down that no one except me would ever be able to see it. Maybe long term if it bothers you, you could have them lasered off fairly easily but I’m not sure about any lymphoedema risk that would be linked to doing that.
Hi there I have 4 and one is high up my chest so visible if you look for it(but that one is because I had radiotherapy up my neck. But they do look like black heads and will fade a little in time I was told but always be permanent. I dont like them and my son asked why a henna tattoo couldnt be used instead! Im sure there are many reasons why they cant. To me the dots are just another reminder of what our body’s have been through which is daft considering I have a breast missing anyway ! Lol Whats a few black heads compared to that…? Anyway they dont hurt however tender you are. The one on chest bone was the most I felt. The one to my surgery side I couldnt feel as still numb from surgery etc . All the best with radiotherapy and it wont hurt to ask them if their is another alternative to being marked permanently, I wish id asked at least.x