Hi all
I would like to thank you for allowing me to have a moan yesterday and for your encouragement and understanding. I woke this morning after a really goodnight sleep feeling so much more positive than I did yesterday.
So once again thank you.
I had the same as you and I see that you have been doing the same as I did (getting back from work and leaving the air to get to it). I was a 38D at the time and yes, it is mega painful isn't it? I had no other side effects to the radio. nor from the tablets that for ER+ (I'm 4.5 years down the line and feel very lucky that unlike a lot of ladies, no really nasty side effects to the tablets - long may it continue for you too! I think the only thing I've found with the tablets is weight gain because of an 'extra push' of losing oestrogen - so I am now a 40D bra size. Still not overweight for the BMI, but have the weight gain around my waist and boobs got bigger)..
Anyway, back to the sunburn under the breast - When I was 17 I had a major road accident and my right shin was de-gloved. I had one skin graft where they grafted a muscle graft over the open shin bone and the rest they left to heal naturally. I'm 56 years old now and the scar tissue does open up every now and again. The plastic surgeons recommendation is that it is left open to the air to allow it to heal. I followed this advice for under my breast. I just wore my bra to work and then in the afternoons, took it off and sat in a very loose shirt and 'aired it'. It did heal very well doing this. Every now and again, I am 'forced' by my doctors to see their nurses / specialist ulcer nurses at the local hospital who want to treat the open wound on my leg. They always say, it needs to be moist as it will heal better. This has happened 3 times now and EACH AND EVERY TIME they have made it worse and naturally the skin becomes more damaged, which makes it harder to heal. I have learned now to refuse their treatments and when the doctors suggest seeing their nurses, I refuse and say I will be happy to see the plastic surgeons at the hospital who carried out the skin / muscle graft.
However, the further away from the heart a cut is, the less blood flow there is, which is why they suggest keeping the wound moist to encourage healing. It doesn't work for my leg because scar tissue follows the pattern of scar tissue with moisture - so it stands to reason if they are breaking down the tissue by using moisture, then the rest will follow and make the cuts worse. (unfortunately, the ulcer specialists don't seem to know this with scar tissue, hence making it worse each time). If you just put a standard dressing on your 'sunburn' without moisture, then it will stick and prevent healing because it will keep opening up each time you remove it.. So, you have 3 choices - (1) do as you have been doing and leave it open to the air (which they say, does risk an infection getting in) or (2) putting a dressing on with a special moisture gel to prevent it sticking and pulling off any healing scabs. (3) non adhesive dressings which must be held in place without the risk of moving to rub the burn.. I was lucky that because I decided to follow my leg's plastic surgeon's advice and leave it open as much as possible, I didn't get an infection and it healed within a week.
Hope it gets less painful for you soon!
Best wishes, Lesley
