Skin Breakdown - how long to heal?

Suepen:  I had 33 RAD treatments.  It is all accumulative-- meaning that I didn't really have any skin reactions the first couple of weeks but near the end and especially "after" treatments had ended is where I experienced the worse skin side effects. 

For me- it took about 3 weeks after Radiation to where my skin started to heal-- for others it might not have taken so long?  I had a bollus placed on me for all 33 treatments in which I was told by the Oncologist that they were treating me like if I had skin cancer and wanted the skin to react.

I was given a prescription for Silvadene after about 3 weeks of having RADS in which I used ALOT of until I started seeing skin improvements.

Take Care-- This will soon be behind you.

Loretta

Suepen-I had the exact same thing happen to me as happened to you. The skin under my rather large breast broke down during the 5th week of my 6 1/2 weeks of treatment. My rads nurse gave me some gel pads called Carradress and they saved my life. I sort of wedged them in under my breast, over the sore area, and kept them in place with my bra. Once I was switched to my boost treatments, that area got a break and healed in about a week. I'm 7 weeks out from rads now, and the area that was broken down is still discolored, but it is totally healed. Believe me, when I was going through it, I thought it was never going to heal. 

Ask for some gel burn pad dressings. They're about 3' by 3' and they were a lifesaver for me.

Mary 

I had the same problem! My large girls and milky white skin started to break down just before I started the boosts. I thought it looked horrible, but the Doctor, and Nurse said it looked ok to them, and I didn't use any sort of creams, except for "Jeans Cream". I just had to wear a gauze bandage, so my bra wouldn't rub up against it. Thought my right breast looks odd with the "extra padding", but my husband said he couldn't even notice anything was there. It took about 3 weeks for everything to be "back to normal".

I just went to my breast surgeon last month, and she was amazed how great my radiated area looked. She said most people don't heal as good as I did. I lucked out with that!

I read somewhere that it's better to do the rads the way they do MRIs and needle biopsies - face down, with the breasts hanging thru a hole. Might not work for sites near the chest wall, but it would have for me. but my clinic didn't do it that way. Breakdown started like yours - in the fold. But also on my nipple.

I don't think you should wait a week to "show off" the skin breakdown to the rad onc -- talk to the nurse tomorrow and ask if it still looks uninfected - or something. Just call attention to the fact that it's getting bigger pretty fast. The same nurse who told me to expect skin breakdown was horrified how bad mine was. She had told me, at the beginning, how she sat topless at home to try minimize discomfort, but when she saw mine, she said hers was never that bad! Thanks, now you tell me! Of course i should have asked sooner... only i thought it was normal because everyone got it (just like you're hearing, here...)

Nearly there Sue! I'm liking the idea about the knickers as a boob-tube.....  

Hey Sue!!!!  My skin broke down also from the right side of right breast area and all of my underarm area.  I was scheduled for 33 rad treatments, and got them in, but the breakdown of the skin faster than it was healing caused me to have a week off--they just extended my treatment 1 week longer because of the breakdown.  I used Aquaphor vaseline based ointment, and my sister gobbed it on me to make sure it would soak in, and about 3/4's of it did.  It worked wonders, and was recommended by my rad onc. If any of you ladies are having this issue, get some of this ointment.

I have weeping skin.  It has been doing that for a little over a week now.  Dr, said it was okay.  Hurts like you know what especially if you touch it and you have to touch it to put the meds on it.  Good Luck.