Hello all. I posted this yesterday on the wrong site but a nice lady did reply. Does anyone have experience of tattos after radiotherapy. Mine has bled under my skin and its quite large and quite high up. I had my treatment under my private health cover but radiotherapy at NHS although still as a private patient. They were so nice and its unfortunate that this has happened. My health company won’t pay for laser treatment and my GP won’t refer me so am up againt a brick wall. I has mastectomy and Dorsal Flap reconstuction, chemo and lymph removal followed by radiotherapy. Am now on Arimadex and will be starting Alendronic Acis in the next two weeks after some dental work!!! Last thing I want is what looks like a large blackhead on my upper chest. Oh and I think my Thyroid may be overactive. I’m sure I have seen a post on this but can’t find it.Sorry to go on a bit. Any advise would be welcome.XX
hi sorry cant be any help but gonna have radio treatment in few months …dident know this could happen as ive 3 tattoos…is it a common thing???goin 4 masectomy tomorrow …
Hello, Don’t worry I don’t think its too common. Good luck for tomorrow, my thoughts are with you. Its a long and hard journey but when you get to the end you will look back and be so proud of yourself. Be strong, Anne X
Hi there,
I had breast cancer 5 years ago and my treatment included radiotherapy. I didn’t want the tattoos but was basically bullied into it. When I felt well again I hated the tattos. I am fair skinned and every time I looked in a mirror all I saw was the two black dots over my collar bone. I phoned my private insurer and initially they said no. I then wrote to the Senior Medical Adviser there and 6 sessions were approved - have you tried that? The key point is that the tattos are iatrogenic i.e. caused by the disease. I had those at a local clinic called sk:n (yes that it how they spell it!) and each one was a 5 second laser blast to each spot. You have to leave 8 weeks between treatments so that took a year. They were much much fainter.
At the same time I went to my GP and laid it on a bit thick about how psychologically damaging it was and she referred me to a dermatology clinic and they got the PCT to approve the treatment. That all took a year to approve so when my private payment ran out I then had another 6 treatments paid for by the PCT. Now you cannot see where they were. The lady who did my treatment said mine were quite persistent but they vary.
They really ought to pay for it - can you try pressurising your GP or maybe one of your hospital doctors would refer you?
I am really glad I did it and would actually have paid for it myself. From memory each session cost about £85.
Has anyone had radiotherapy and been given an alternative to tatooing?
Lilac
i didn’t have tattoos - they stuck clear plastic tape over marks made with a felt tip pen.
So I haven’t had any tattoos. They like them as they are permanent so if you need to have radiotherapy again they can avoid blasting you again in the same area.
I decided the likelihood of me having radiotherapy again was too low to merit having them. But you have to decide your view of risk etc
Mole