How Breast Cancer Affects Your Skin

breastcancerskin Treatments for breast cancer also can affect your skin at times, leaving it dry or flaky and more sensitive to exposure to sun, wind, and other elements.

Chemotherapy and Skin Care

Chemotherapy can affect your skin’s natural moisture because it reduces the amount of oil your glands secrete. You can help your skin by using moisturizer more frequently, or using a heavier weight moisturizer than you did before treatment. During the day, use a product that protects your skin from the sun, blocking UVA and UVB rays. Be sure to use a gentle, moisturizing soap or cleansing cream, and avoid soaps with heavy deodorants or scents. Soaps for babies may be a good choice because they’re usually mild and perfume-free.

Radiation and Skin Care

Radiation to the breast causes skin changes:

In all races, the skin color will change—lighter skin will turn red; dark skin will get darker or become ashen. Usually the affected areas are limited to small patches. There can be some itching, burning, and tenderness of the skin. You may have some dry peeling, like an old sunburn, as the skin rubs off.
If you are big-breasted, or if your doctor is treating the area after a mastectomy, there is a greater chance for “wet” peeling, like a blister. This is usually limited to specific spots.
The skin generally heals quickly and completely. The red reaction goes away the fastest. The change-over to tan shading, if you have light skin, can take a few weeks to go away. In women of color, the darkening of the skin can be more significant and may also take longer to disappear.
Ordinary freckles and moles can become much darker within the treatment field. These spots are almost always benign, but they will darken because of the treatment. After you finish radiation, they usually return to their normal color, and some eventually disappear.

Many products can help ease your way through treatment. These include aloe and aquaphor, which can be found in some drugstores and large convenience stores.

In addition, at some point you may need to use some type of steroid cream, such as a 1% hydrocortisone cream. Some women also benefit from a prescription-strength steroid cream. Ask your physician if you need a referral to a dermatologist.

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