For your convenience, the Tuality/OHSU Cancer Center accepts more than
200 health plans. If you have questions or concerns about your billing
or insurance coverage, please call Patsy Kucera, billing specialist,
at 503-681-4248.
Skin Care and Radiation Therapy
One of the most common side effects of radiation therapy is skin irritation.
Carol Lamper, RN, OCN, works with patients to prevent or minimize skin
reactions related to the therapy. Just as with overexposure to radiation
from the sun, skin exposed to radiation therapy needs special care.
Here are some tips to promote comfort and healing:
- You should start with a moisturizing soap like Dove, Tone, or Basis.
- Care should be taken not to rub or scrub the skin.
- It is helpful to apply lotions to the skin three to four times daily
after the course of therapy is completed. Carol recommends an
aloe vera gel, Lubriderm, or Aquaphor. - She reminds patients not to use lotions at least three hours
before treatment as the heavy oils might disrupt the radiation
dose at the skin level. - Drinking lots of fluids during this time also helps to hydrate skin.
- Good nutrition, with particular focus on calories and protein,
also helps skin to heal and maintain its health. - Cotton clothing, as we all know, feels good on our skin,
and is usually the least abrasive material.
You must pay careful attention to preventing skin exposure to heat,
cold or sunrays.
With prevention, careful observation and education, Carol and the
Cancer Center staff work with you to minimize the uncomfortable
effects of radiation on your skin.
Radiation is usually confined to specific areas of the body. For example,
if you have breast cancer, it is expected that the treatment will be confined
to the chest area. For this reason, side effects are usually contained within
the treatment area, or as radiation oncology nurses like to say "inside the box."
This framework of thinking can almost predict what side effects a patient
may experience. For example, if it is in the lower abdomen, diarrhea can
be a factor. If it involves the head, hair loss can be an issue.
Modern advances in radiation oncology technology allow planning and
treatment to be more specific than any other time in history. We are
now able to treat areas while minimizing side effects like never before.
And great strides continue to be made in making treatment easier to
tolerate, and less disruptive to your lifestyle.
