I start radiation (and chemo w/amifostine) on 11/28 and the nurse said not to wash the area radiated only use water. Is this what others did? Or can I use something like Cetaphil? May be a silly question but there's so much going through my head I'm just trying to get info. Thanks.

Radiation to both side of the face and front throat to collar bone.

Emagster,

I washed it in baby wash for most of the Tx that's what the RO nurse said to do. Then when it started peeling the RO nurse have me a spray to use on my neck. Mine did get fairly nasty looking but that only laste about a week or 2 and that was after the radiation was over.

It's funny , the things you can't remember,after certain parts of tx. are over, but I do remember the nurses telling John to not use soap on his face and neck during rad., to always gently PAT dry after a shower and to keep Aquaphor on his face between rad txs. Remember, you face has to be free of all "stuff" on the day you have rad. It drove John nuts because he is a clean skin freak.

Yeah I had forgotten about this too.... they told me at MDACC to only use Dove, because it would not dry the skin out. 'Course at the time I had so much burn cream on my neck between treatments that probably wasn't likely. The important thing was that on radiation day it had nothing on it at all.

Yeah, they told me to wash with something really mild and to rinse really well. Like Stoj, I used a baby wash though no one specifically suggested that to me.

The Hopkins oncology nurses said to use Dove soap and if a washcloth was used, to get "baby washcloths" which are very very soft. Wash carefully and pat dry, then apply Biafine cream *except* just before radiation (as others have noted). After radiation, apply layer of RadiaCare gel and then, after it dries (it is aloe vera-based and goes on "wet") apply the Biafine wound dressing, a thick layer. Hydrocortisone cream to itchy areas first. (Scratching, esp. during sleep, can really damage the skin.)

The nurses pointed out that folks who were diligent about skin care had less problems with broken skin etc. However, our radiation tech said that in his opinion, there was a lot of individual variation and that some people's skin was just more sensitive to radiation and would blister and peel no matter what they did. (Though he agreed you had to do as much as possible to ameliorate the problem). The nurses had dressings to use if the skin became broken and oozing, luckily Barry never got to this point but some folks did.

The nurses at the Hopkins Recovery Center (who deal with a lot of breast cancer patients) advised Barry to "condition" his skin before radiation, starting about 2 weeks before, using Burnblock or similar gel. They have their breast cancer patients do this, it apparently helps prevent the worse skin damage. They also emphasized need to keep area clean.

Gail

Also use a facial cream called Aquaphor. I got it at Walgrens. DO NOT use it prior to a Rad treatment, only afterwards. That's what I was told...it had something to do with reflection.

I was told to wash with nothing but Dove on face and neck prior to radiation and to use Aquafor or Biafine after radiation. At the time Biafine was very new so I wasn't given it initially. It worked far better than the Aquaphor and had I had it the entire time, I may not have burned at all. I think the instrcutions on Biafine said to start using it two weeks before treatment. Make certain area is clean and NOTHING on it before radiation treament.

Take care,
Eileen

Take care,
Eileen

The reason they want your skin clean and free of any cream or chemical of any sort prior to radiation is that many compounds serve as a bolus to the radiation, concentrating the beam where they don't want it and missing targetted areas.

I think a good rule of thumb is to do EXACTLY what your RO tells you to do; nothing less, and certainly nothing more unless the Doc approves it. You will develop such sensitive skin that you really don't want to do anything that will make it worse, and it's easy to develop a really nasty mess, doing nothing other than applying OTC creams.
Wayne

Not everyone reacts the same to rad. My skin was never a problem. It did get redish but I didn't even apply the cream until the week after rad ended when only the skin on the left side of my neck turned a slight brown color and flaked off in a non painful way to reveal a soft baby like skin. I have never been one to get sunburn easily and my RO says that's why I did so well.

I more than made up for the "no skin problem" in the "nausea dept" though. Boxers have a glass jaw; I must have a glass stomach. LOL