Hi, I had a red/purplish blotchy rash start in my radiotherapy area, particularly under the operated breast and round the nipple where I had 3 boosters, which started about 6 weeks after my rads finished. I had gone through the predicted skin soreness and peeling that they said might happen during and just after rads, and my skin had healed perfectly. My surgeon biopsied the rash and found it to be caused by chronic deep dermal ( the deepest layer of skin) inflammation. It was very sore and I got a heat/ burning sensation coming from it. I was also getting a lot of breast an axillary pain, so they referred me to a dermatologist and a chronic pain specialist. The dermatologist was baffled and sent me to two different London specialist dermatology clinics for second opinions and tests. The consensus of opinion was that I had a chronic radiation dermatitis, the initial flare up of which would be the worst, followed by less intense flare ups indefinitely, possibly for the rest of my life. They gave me steroid creams and a natural menthol cooling cream. I now have milder flare ups, as they predicted, and don't need the steroid cream any more. I use something called " derma cool" which is very soothing. My onc initially said it was nothing to do with radiation when I spoke to her on the phone, but she eventually saw it in the flesh and had to agree that , though rare, people did sometimes have chronic reactions to radiation damage. Hope this helps, good luck with sorting yours out. Xxxx
