Dumb Question?

Mikki332
Mikki332 Member Posts: 49
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Does anyone know if there is a link between radiation and skin cancer? My husband is one week post treatment for Stage IVa SCC. I've noticed that there are quite a few new "freckles" that are very dark colored. Maybe the radiation just changed some of his existing freckles, but it made me wonder if radiation can bring about skin cancer......
any thoughts (and feel free to tell me that I'm paranoid!).....

Comments

  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #2
    I seem to, as well
    I've noticed a lot more dark spots than I had prior to radiation. Some are in the areas that got irradiated, others are not. I suspect they are benign, but I will be following up with my dermatologist.

    Deb
  • Bigfuzzydoug
    Bigfuzzydoug Member Posts: 154
    #3
    There are no dumb questions...
    ... only dumb people!

    ;-p

    The answer is yes - in the long run. 35 treatments is about 200 centigrey. I once "did the math". How does 200 centigrey or 70 rads compare to 1-time exposures?

    RADS
    0.001-0.003 is a coast-to-coast airline flight
    0.3-0.6 is a medical x-ray
    0.2 is the background radiation from radon in the air
    0.3 is the background radiation in North America
    1.0-1.2 is a full body CT scan
    2.0 is what a nuke plant or uranium miner gets in 5 years
    5.0 is the OSHA highest regulated occupational dose
    10 in a single dose is known to cause some cancers
    70 is what we're getting over 7 weeks - NOT IN A SINGLE EXPOSURE
    100 is being 225mi away from a 1-megaton nuclear bomb
    1,000 is being only 75mi away from a 1-megaton nuclear bomb

    I talked to my doctor and asked the same question. The answer was a definitive "yes", radiation therapy can and does increase the risk of skin cancer in the neck area. Does it cause it? No. Does it increase the risk? Yes. "So from now through the rest of your life you'll always use sunscreen," the doc said. "And do we not treat your potentially terminal illness now because of a risk later?"

    So your husbands skin changes are normal. My skin fried, blistered and peeled off. TONS of freckles came out. Now they're gone. Are those freckles skin cancer? Probably not. But should you in the next 5-40 years keep an eye on the area and see a skin doc when something new or strange pops up? Most definitely!
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #4
    Hi Mikki
    There are no dumb questions when it comes to Cancer and its treatment, I would say your concern is possible but I think it would take a lot more radiation then what you would get for just 35 treatments. However have your oncal doc take a look just to be sure, it don’t hurt to ask, stay out of direct sunlight.

    All the best to you.
    Hondo
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,030 Member
    #5
    Awareness
    Mikki332,

    As everyone has already mentioned, your husband will need to keep an eye on his skin from now on. Unfortunately, after my Base of Tongue cancer, I got what looked like Melenoma around 13 months later on my left cheek. It had been a large freckle roughly the size of a dime for many years prior to the BOT cancer. It was now changing color and dimensions,I went to the Dermatologist and found it was cancer after a biopsy. Had the same Surgeon that did my Surgery for the Base of Tongue do the surgery for the Melenoma which required some plastic surgery as well to balance my face out from the removal of tissue to get the proper margins. That was 5 years ago.

    The surgeon had done a Sentinel node procedure on me prior to the surgery.

    I now go to a Dermatologist every 6 months to make sure I don't miss anything.

    My Best to You Both and Everyone Here
  • DrMary
    DrMary Member Posts: 531 Member
    #6
    MarineE5 said:

    Awareness
    Mikki332,

    As everyone has already mentioned, your husband will need to keep an eye on his skin from now on. Unfortunately, after my Base of Tongue cancer, I got what looked like Melenoma around 13 months later on my left cheek. It had been a large freckle roughly the size of a dime for many years prior to the BOT cancer. It was now changing color and dimensions,I went to the Dermatologist and found it was cancer after a biopsy. Had the same Surgeon that did my Surgery for the Base of Tongue do the surgery for the Melenoma which required some plastic surgery as well to balance my face out from the removal of tissue to get the proper margins. That was 5 years ago.

    The surgeon had done a Sentinel node procedure on me prior to the surgery.

    I now go to a Dermatologist every 6 months to make sure I don't miss anything.

    My Best to You Both and Everyone Here

    I was just about to ask the same question
    And it certainly isn't dumb. I saw the increase in freckles and worried. A few of his back freckles are larger and less symmetric. His rad doctors aren't worried but said to go see a dermatologist (the question Doug asked was whether he should see one and if they cared who he went to - yes and no). I have a great one who has handled my own skin cancer concerns and my daughter's eczema, so we'll just have him go there.

    I'm glad to hear you all agree with what I heard - it can increase the chance, but not cause skin cancer. I can live with him going to the derm 2x a year (I go 1x a year now anyway).

    BTW - for the alligator skin on the neck during radiation, we used Bert's Bees hand salve (after daily radiation, not before). It really helped. His skin looks slightly reddish now, but not bad at all.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #7
    Bigfuzzydoug said:

    There are no dumb questions...
    ... only dumb people!

    ;-p

    The answer is yes - in the long run. 35 treatments is about 200 centigrey. I once "did the math". How does 200 centigrey or 70 rads compare to 1-time exposures?

    RADS
    0.001-0.003 is a coast-to-coast airline flight
    0.3-0.6 is a medical x-ray
    0.2 is the background radiation from radon in the air
    0.3 is the background radiation in North America
    1.0-1.2 is a full body CT scan
    2.0 is what a nuke plant or uranium miner gets in 5 years
    5.0 is the OSHA highest regulated occupational dose
    10 in a single dose is known to cause some cancers
    70 is what we're getting over 7 weeks - NOT IN A SINGLE EXPOSURE
    100 is being 225mi away from a 1-megaton nuclear bomb
    1,000 is being only 75mi away from a 1-megaton nuclear bomb

    I talked to my doctor and asked the same question. The answer was a definitive "yes", radiation therapy can and does increase the risk of skin cancer in the neck area. Does it cause it? No. Does it increase the risk? Yes. "So from now through the rest of your life you'll always use sunscreen," the doc said. "And do we not treat your potentially terminal illness now because of a risk later?"

    So your husbands skin changes are normal. My skin fried, blistered and peeled off. TONS of freckles came out. Now they're gone. Are those freckles skin cancer? Probably not. But should you in the next 5-40 years keep an eye on the area and see a skin doc when something new or strange pops up? Most definitely!

    Sun Exposure
    Just to re-enforce what Doug said...my doctors all, made sure to tell me on several occasions to minimize sun exposure especially during treatment. To use skin protection both fabric and lotions with high PF and visit the Dermatologist twice a year.

    You tend to be more sensitive and susceptible initially and it's definitely a concern. But from the Sun, like Doug says.

    They all know that I fish a lot and I'm out in the sun for long periods of time. That's why they hammered me a lot about using protection if I "had" to be in the sun.

    Best,
    John

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