How to Care for Your Skin After Radiation Therapy
Key takeaways:
Radiation therapy uses high-energy waves to target and kill cancer cells. It can also injure healthy tissue, causing side effects like radiation dermatitis.
Radiation dermatitis is skin irritation, itching, burning, redness, and pain caused by radiation therapy.
Skin care after radiation therapy includes keeping the skin clean, avoiding further irritation, and protecting your skin from ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy waves to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy can be very effective, which is why it’s used to treat many different types of cancer. Side effects of radiation therapy happen when healthy cells are damaged. Injury to the skin caused by radiation therapy is called radiation dermatitis.
People with radiation dermatitis often have symptoms similar to a sunburn. Radiation dermatitis symptoms are usually mild and improve over time. But in some cases, radiation dermatitis can be severe and lead to long-term damage.
Skin care after radiation therapy can help relieve symptoms and reduce the risk of long-term effects of radiation therapy.
Does radiation therapy affect the skin?
Yes. Most people experience skin changes after external beam radiation therapy — a type of radiation therapy where a machine sends radiation through your body to target the cancer in your body. Sometimes, the radiation has to pass through your skin to get to the cancer. This can lead to skin changes.
In most cases, skin changes after radiation therapy are mild and improve over time. The most common symptoms of radiation dermatitis include:
Dryness
Peeling
Itching
Color changes
Increased sensitivity to the sun
There are many types of radiation treatments. Learn more with our guide to radiation therapy.
Radiation therapy is an important part of prostate cancer therapy. Here’s how radiation therapy can help if you have prostate cancer.
Navigating a cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. Our cancer information center can help you get started.
About 1 in every 5 people with radiation dermatitis will develop severe symptoms like:
Swelling and blistering of the skin
Open ulcers
Bleeding
Does radiation therapy cause long-term skin damage?
Sometimes radiation therapy can cause long-term damage to the skin. This is called chronic radiation dermatitis. Chronic radiation dermatitis doesn’t show up right away. It may not develop until years after treatment.
Chronic radiation dermatitis includes skin changes like:
Atrophy (thinning)
Fibrosis (scarring)
Color changes
Telangiectasias (spider veins)
Keep in mind that radiation dermatitis only affects the skin directly in the path of radiation therapy. The rest of your skin isn’t affected. And while most people will have skin changes similar to a sunburn during or immediately after radiation therapy, not everyone will get chronic radiation dermatitis.
Can radiation dermatitis be prevented?
Radiation dermatitis may be able to be prevented. Many risk factors for radiation dermatitis are out of your control — like the kind of cancer you have, its location, and the type and dose of radiation you receive.
But there are things you can do to lower your risk of severe radiation dermatitis:
Maintain a comfortable weight. Having an elevated body mass index (BMI) may increase your risk of radiation dermatitis.
Quit smoking, if you smoke. Smoking has a lot of negative effects on your body, including your skin. Not smoking during radiation therapy can lower your risk of radiation dermatitis.
Control your blood sugar levels, if you have diabetes. High blood sugar levels make it harder for your body to repair damage and fight off infection.
You can also help prevent radiation dermatitis by taking care of your skin during treatment.
How can you care for your skin during and after radiation therapy?
Being a cancer patient can be overwhelming. There are often many appointments to keep, new healthcare professionals to see, and a lot of information to keep track of.
If you’re wondering how to take care of yourself during radiation therapy, here are a few tips for skin care:
Keep your skin clean. Wash the area daily with a gentle cleanser and lukewarm water to remove bacteria from your skin. Pat your skin dry.
Avoid irritating your skin. Hot water, scrubbing, rubbing, and shaving can cause more irritation.
Choose loose-fitting clothing. Tight clothes can rub against your skin. Opt for looser styles made of breathable fabric like cotton.
Stay out of the sun. Your skin is going to be more sensitive to the sun during treatment. So try to stick to the shade, or keep your skin covered.
Use sunscreen. Whether you plan to spend a long time outside or not, applying sunscreen every day is a good habit.
Skip cold packs or heating pads. While cold or warm compresses are helpful for many skin conditions, they aren’t typically recommended to treat radiation dermatitis.
What skin care products are safe during radiation therapy?
Other than keeping your skin clean and avoiding things that can irritate it more, what else can you use to soothe your skin? Your cancer treatment team will likely have recommendations, but in general these types of creams are safe to use during radiation therapy:
Steroid creams: Your healthcare team may give you a prescription for a topical steroid cream, or you can get an over-the-counter (OTC) cream like hydrocortisone.
Fragrance-free moisturizers: Choose a moisturizer that is fragrance-free and alcohol-free to reduce the risk of skin irritation.
Researchers are investigating what other treatments can help reduce the chances of radiation dermatitis. There have been small studies showing that topical treatments with olive oil, silver sulfadiazine, and mupirocin and chlorhexidine may help prevent radiation dermatitis.
If you aren’t sure whether a product is safe for your skin, ask your radiation oncologist. And get any skin changes during radiation therapy checked out. You may be experiencing a more serious reaction or a different skin condition altogether.
Frequently asked questions
Most of the time, radiation dermatitis heals after 2 to 4 weeks. In some cases, it can take longer.
Use your fingers for gentle scar massage to break up the fibrous scar tissue. Or try an anti-scar cream that contains silicone gel.
The bottom line
Most people undergoing radiation therapy will experience irritation of their skin, called radiation dermatitis. Most of the time, symptoms are mild and resolve within 2 to 4 weeks. But sometimes the effects are more severe or result in permanent skin changes. You can help take care of your skin during radiation therapy by keeping your skin clean, avoiding other irritants, staying out of the sun, and using sunscreen. Topical steroid creams and fragrance-free moisturizers can also help soothe and hydrate your skin during treatment.
Why trust our experts?
References
American Academy of Dermatology Association. (n.d.). Why should a dermatologist diagnose what type of scar you have?
American Academy of Dermatology Association. (n.d.). How to care for your skin during and after radiation therapy.
Behroozian, T., et al. (2023). MASCC clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and management of acute radiation dermatitis: Part 1) systematic review. EClinicalMedicine.
Hemati, S., et al. (2012). Topical silver sulfadiazine for the prevention of acute dermatitis during irradiation for breast cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer.
Hughes, R. T., et al. (2022). Smoking and radiation-induced skin injury: Analysis of a multiracial, multiethnic prospective clinical trial. Clinical Breast Cancer.
Iacovelli, N. A., et al. (2020). Topical treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis: Current issues and potential solutions. Drugs in Context.
Kao, Y. S., et al. (2022). Topical prevention of radiation dermatitis in head and neck cancer patients: A network meta-analysis. In Vivo.
Kost, Y., et al. (2023). Bacterial decolonization for prevention of radiation dermatitis: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncology.
MedlinePlus. (2022). Radiation therapy - skin care.
Moffitt Cancer Center. (2010). Managing your scar.
National Cancer Institute. (2018). External beam radiation therapy for cancer.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. (2023). Skin diseases.
ScienceDirect. (n.d.). Radiation dermatitis.
Spałek, M. (2016). Chronic radiation-induced dermatitis: Challenges and solutions. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology.
Xie, Y., et al. (2021). Risk factors related to acute radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients after radiotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Oncology.
