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frankie's avatar
frankie
Member
8 months ago

Radiotherapy burns

Hi everyone. I’m new here & wondering if someone has gone through something similar. I was diagnosed with grade 1 breast cancer & had a lumpectomy in June 2024. I finished 15 sessions of radiotherapy two & a half weeks ago. I’m quite shocked how severe my burns are near my arm pit. The burns peaked around 5 days ago. I’ve seen the nurse twice in the last week & she has assured me it all looks normal. She suggested applying solugel & keeping it bandaged. The problem is every bandage I’ve tried either slips off or the sticky part irritates my breast. I’m not sure how to get it to stay in place. Not even the bandage that the nurse put on lasted more than 2 hours. Any ideas? Also how long before your burns started to heal? Thanks
radiotherapy

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  • Tri's avatar
    Tri
    Member
    8 months ago
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    @frankie  sorry to hear about your skin, it sounds really uncomfortable. 
    A friend who had been through it suggested putting the cream on and then putting glad wrap over the breast etc during the course of radiation and before putting on a bra. I don’t know if it helped, my skin was very red and a bit itchy but it didn’t break and was more like bad sunburn, so perhaps not as challenging your condition. My nurse added a cream with a small amount of lignacaine towards the end of the treatment and yes, similar to you, towards my armpit was where it was a bit more sensitive. 
    It took about 3-4 weeks to settle down. All the best. 

  • MrsMorrisey's avatar
    MrsMorrisey
    Member
    8 months ago
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    Are the burns an open wound? Has the skin broken? 
    If not use sudocreme, the zinc has excellent healing properties and then out a fresh chux ior soft cloth to stop it ruining your clothes. 
    Slathering it on at night is good and wear an old T-shirt. 
    When it’s healed use calendula oil to heal any residual skin damage.