How Did Radiation Change the Appearance of your breast

Now that I'm ~ 4 months out, I look back on the whole rads. thing and it was so much more about the psychological worry up front (and it was a challenge numbing my mind for the 30 zap treatments, but I just did it -- had no choice) than the physical. I'm in my 40s, not so young or old.

I am very glad I did it, good insurance policy, and I really have no physical change at all, just a light tan that is nearly faded completely. In fact, I wore a low dress recently and was surprised how nicely even the full breast region (it was sort of like a rectangle) had really faded away. All of the stories of it making breasts perkier or thinker or harder or whatever just aren't the case with me. They feel the same and look the same - less the scar and slight dent from the lumpectomy -- and I continue to be happy that I was given the option for lump+rads or mastectomy . . . and that I chose the former.

Good luck. You'll get through it OK.

As others have said, I still have some very slight tanning in the treatment area that's hard to notice but the nipple/areola is lighter.  Scars are dramatically reduced in appeareance compared ot the non-rads side.  That's it.  In the end, it was more emotionally challenging than anything else.

I had a lumpectomy followed by a reexcission and zaps.  I would say that the left nipple points slightly to the left but thats about it.  The scar itself is barely visible.  The post zaps skin was a bit tanned and it also was more sensitive to heat when we got a warm spell this summer but, appearence wise, there really isn't much difference.

I'm one month out from rads and my skin is almost completely back to normal.  I can just barely tell where the tan/burn line was. I can barely see my scar.  Definitely harder emotionally than it is physically to go through.  You may (everyone is different) have a few weeks of feeling sunburned and itchy.  That was the worst part for me, but it goes away quickly thankfully!  Good luck to you.  It will pass by much quicker than you think and you will meet other wonderful women going through it - which was nice - comparing notes with others in the same boat.

I had almost no side effects whatsoever during 5 weeks of radiation with a concurrent boost (each day).  The only physical effect was some very, very slightly pink skin that didn't show up until the very end.  Kind of like being out in the sun just a tiny bit too long. I did, however, develop some itchy little bumps, which my rad onc said were damaged sweat glands.  I had had them before (not knowing what they were) but they were worse during radiation.  She (rad onc) said they are common for women, including women who don't have radiation, and I, in fact, have some now on the non-radiated breast.  They appear in the skin folds.  

 Radiation for me was very easy.  I had to drive about an hour a day to get to and return from the treatment facility, but the procedure itself took about 10 minutes.  

 Overall, my breast looks almost exactly the same as it did before the lumpectomy and radiation, except that I now have a small carved scar.

I had 5 boosts also, I thing that's the norm.

My incision is half way around the areola after 3 yrs the scar from the node removal and surgery are very light.