Increased breast size after radiation

Hi sfboggs, and welcome to the Breastcancer.org community. We're so sorry you have to be here, but so glad you found us!

Enlarged breast is not a typical side effect, but the truth is that each individual person has a unique response to radiation, and treatment can cause some swelling of the breast. Anyway, swelling should go down over a few weeks once the treatment ends. We encourage you to let your doctor know if the swelling continues.

Hope someone comes along with more information about it or similar experiences soon.

Best wishes,

The Mods

seven years after treatment - radiated breast still larger. I had few ill effects from radiation - in fact felt like the energizer bunny. thought it might be caused by a seroma which felt hard - bs offered to drain it, but I refused due to location and concern that, deflated, my nipple direction would change and it would look worse. It doesn't feel swollen - just looks larger - I think about those old science fiction movies from the 50's with ants/bunnies/spiders all growing to huge sizes due to radiation exposure........could be worse!!!

I've read that you may have a larger or smaller breast after a lumpectomy and RADS-that either is common. I did have a lot of skin problems with RADS and due to an infected seroma my breast became very swollen (think twice the size of the other) and painful. But after this was resolved and the swelling went away, my radiated breast continued to be somewhat firmer and larger than the other for quite awhile.

Since the surgeon took out a pretty large piece of breast tissue, I was prepared for that breast to be smaller, but not larger. After about 1 year they became the same size again, although the radiated breast still feels a bit firmer. Everything I've read says you don't really know what you are going to end up with for a year or so after RADS are completed. It takes quite awhile to get to your new "normal" in terms of breast size and texture.

My breast started larger. After a significant LX and rads it was a cup larger than my healthy breast. I had some breast lymphedema that took about 4 years to resolve. Now the treated breast is still larger and I'm 4.5 years out from rads. We are all different.