Am just about to start radiotherapy and wondered if anyone had any advice before I start. I have been told to moisturise now before I start. Can anyone recommend any thing for this ?
Hi SEP welcome to the forum and I am not sure about the creams to use I think a lot of the ladies seem to use Aveeno and they also seem to find that good but the unit should recommend creams for you.
Whatever you do do not leave any cream on your skin prior to treatment or they may to be able to do the Radiotherapy that day.
My radiotherapy unit provided zerobase emollient cream. I didnt have any burns or skin breakdown while having the 19 sessions of rads. on consecutive weekdays. However, the following week I had some skin breakdown. A bit nippy to put it mildly. Into my third week post rads now and it has just about fully healed. I had to get special dressings from my practice nurse. Her advice is to still put Zerobase on all unbroken skin and the non-stick dressings on the broken bits. She is very happy with how it is doing and I dont need to see her again.
I was told to drink lots of water, and followed that faithfully. Someone also suggested keeping aloe vera gel in the fridge and putting that on if things felt hot.
You mightn't get burnt skin but if you do, they can give you creams that you can use on non-radiotherapy days. When it was all over, I liked Palmer's cocoa butter moisturiser.
Hi Sep, I've just completed five days of Radiotherapy. I used Aveeno & found this worked really well. I didn't put any on in the morning before my session & instead put lots on when I got home & again when I went to bed. The unit advised to moisturiser the whole of the side the treatment is on & not just the scar as the machine covers all that area. I also kept the moisturiser in the fridge & this was lovely & cooling. Whilst my skin is a bit tender & pink so far it isn't too bad. It can peak a couple of weeks after treatment so I'm going to continue to moisturise as I have been. Wishing you lots of luck with your treatment xx
It's 6 years ago for me. I'm a G cup so I had a mould made to keep the ladies in place during treatment!
I was told to use E45 before & during treatment and use H&B aloe vera gel - kept in fridge to keep breast cool during treatment. I had 15 sessions over 3 weeks and I had skin breakdown underneath the breast - virtually guaranteed with large breasts as you get skin on skin burns. It wasn't too bad and I was given special dressings but found them useless. I used a panty liner and that kept area dry and healed quickly.
Bra wise I bought post surgery bras even though I didn't have a mastectomy. They were so soft and lined inside (Debenhams own brand) with cotton. I normally wear underwired bras as I need support but during radiotherapy it wouldn't have been good to have wires pressing on skin. They gave me awful shape but they were so blooming comfy I became addicted to them. I also had "step into" stretchy bras to wear at night to keep my pantie liner in place.
I am recovering from radiotherapy treatment. I didn't do anything when I started because I didn't feel anything at that moment. I started applying moisturizer after the treatment because I was starting to feel the sun burn feeling on my skin. I hope this will help you. Thanks
Hi I start mine on Wednesday and I was told to keep using whatever cream iam using I told her it was aqueous cream and she said yes that fine but most ladies use Aveeno also wear a bra that isn't lace or have underwire in good luck. X
