While my husband, Bill, was having the radiation treatments on his neck to remove a cancerous tumor, his neck started getting large burn scabs. We tried the Cetaphil lotion and did not work. Luckly, we have aloe vera plants in our back yard and I found the ones that had the larger leaves, sliced them open and applied the gel to the infected area. I would literally drench his neck with the gel from the plant. His neck was always hot, like a really bad sunburn, so the gel would give him immediate relief. Within days, the scabs would dry up. His doctor was amazed how soft his neck felt and left him no scars.

Aloe was the best for me..there also a aloe gel from (fruit of the earth) brand that I would use right after therapy and after I showered.

We have several aloe plants in our yard and appreciate hearing others have used them for radiation burns w/good results. The RO's RN recommended Aquaphor over aloe and supplied a couple of coupons. I bought a couple jars of Aquaphor (14oz) as part of the arsenal.

Carol goes in Monday for her Simulation and will inquire if any scripts would be written for her burns.

Just as a side note, when leaving the hospital last night after Carol getting her PEG, the brakes went out in the van. Looks as if we'll be using the Transportation Services the hospital offers. Thank god we're only 20 minutes from the facility, with traffic.

Let the stress continue...

Linda

Hi. Check with your RO. We were told absolutely no aloe. Not sure why. They gave us a tube of cream that John used through treatment and he never got badly burned. I will look up the name of it when I get home.

Slim,

That's strange. I was told pure aloe and was given a tub of Aquaphor for when it got bad. I did have discomfort but nothing more painful than a bad sunburn.

Kelly

I was also told to use pure aloe and Aquaphor - which I did. I came away with just an odd looking tan on the bottom of my face and neck. No burning. I am sure that is partially because of my olive colored skin. Good Luck

I suppose it depends on the Doctor's preference. I believe I read on one of the threads here someone had used lotions from day one of Tx to help against burning? Is this recommended? I understand all lotions, creams must be removed prior to treatments. Carol begins her 7 week rad TX 2/8. As Carol will be doing 2 rad Tx per day (one early am, one late pm), would it be recommended to apply the lotion after each treatment?

Linda

Another thing to remember is DON"T SCRATCH IT! You can get a very nasty infection with a weakened immune system. When the skin starts to recover it may get itchy. The docs can give you a steroidal cream to mitigate that. That phase should pass quickly. I only had to use the cream a few times. I believe it was called Desonex.

The skin is the fastest to heal.

Biafine, which is also a deep wound cream, is supposed to help prevent radiation burn besides healing it. I think the brochure said you can start using it two weeks prior to radiation. This is a prescription cream. It was brand new in 1997 when I had my treatment. I was not given it until the end of my treatment so cannot attest as to how good it is at preventing the burns. It was real good at healing them.

Take care,
Eileen

linda,
personally i would just apply the lotion after the last tx. let it soak in all nite.