How soon is it safe to use bio oil on a mastectomy scar? I am 7 weeks post op this week.
Hi Chrissy,
I didn’t have a mastectomy so the advice may be different. I had a wide local excision with therapeutic mammoplasty and sentinal lymph node biopsy, my surgeon told me to start using bio oil 17 days after surgery. Once I had sorted out a suitable tiny waterproof dressing for the tiny area of my scar which was not quite healed I started using it regularly just about 3 weeks after surgery and carried on using it until a couple of days before I started radiotherapy when I was advised to switch to something like Aveeno or E45 cream as bio oil isn’t recommended during radiotherapy. My scars healed well and stayed moisturised and quite supple when using bio oil. It is now almost 4 months since surgery and I have now had 12 radiotherapy session, 3 more to go, and so far my skin is still ok. I now use Aveeno and occasionally E45 cream 2 or 3 times a day but will go back to the bio oil when I am advised it is safe to do so after radiotherapy.
Hello Chrissy
Thank you for posting your question.
When to start using products on a mastectomy scar will be different for everyone, based on how your scars have healed. Once the skin has fully healed it is usually ok to start using creams. As @Neesie found, this is often around 2-3 weeks after surgery. Your treatment team or breast care nurse will be able to let you know if your scar is healed enough to apply bio oil to.
You may find our information about post op scar care helpful.
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