Radiation dermatitis can continue to get worse even after your last radiation treatment.
Great. You made it through treatment. You thought things were looking up, and maybe they are, but this lingering dermatitis is irritating.
You expected that after you finished treatment, your skin would start calming down. But perhaps over the next several days or weeks, it became redder, darker, itchier, tighter, more tender, or it might have even started peeling.
What’s going on?
In many cases, this delayed reaction is part of the normal healing timeline. Radiation may be finished, but your skin is still dealing with the effects of treatment and needs more time to adjust, rebuild, and restore itself.
Fortunately, this stage usually doesn’t last forever. Understanding what may happen next can help you protect your skin while it recovers, preventing further damage and helping you to get better faster.
Be Extra Cautious with Radiated Skin
Almost everyone who has radiation therapy develops radiation dermatitis. It’s essential to take extra precautions to care for your skin after radiation therapy to help protect it and aid in healing.
Always follow the skincare instructions from your radiation oncology team, as your recovery may be different depending on the area treated, your radiation dose, and your unique skin type.
After my radiation treatment, for example, my skin was extremely fragile and inflamed, and I experienced intense pain. The last thing I wanted to put on my skin was anything that would further irritate or cause harm, yet my healthcare providers recommended many products that contained petrolatum, which coats the skin and can clog pores. Some included parabens (that have been linked with cancer) or even products with fragrance that can further irritate skin.
Keep in mind that doctors and healthcare providers are there to focus on getting rid of the cancer, and may not be as experienced in treating skin issues afterward. It may be up to you to figure out what your skin needs to start behaving more normally again.
Pick products that are fragrance-free and made for sensitive or medically treated skin. Look for simple formulas that focus on hydration and barrier repair like those from CV Skinlabs. Read on to see what we recommend that can help heal, and protect skin without anything harmful or cause further irritation and rebuild your skin barrier to its healthy radiant best.
Why Radiation Dermatitis Can Get Worse After Treatment
Radiation therapy targets all fast-growing cells. That’s why it can go after cancer cells, as they are usually fast-growing. But other cells in our bodies grow quickly too—including the cells in our skin.
The skin normally replaces damaged cells all the time. During repeated radiation treatments, however, those cells often don’t have enough time to repair themselves between sessions. The radiation comes and kills them off sooner than they can prepare for it.
The damage doesn’t usually happen after just one or two treatments, but instead accumulates over time. So when your last radiation session ends, your skin is still dealing with that built-up damage and disruption.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) explains that radiation can kill healthy skin cells and that daily treatments may not give those cells enough time to grow back before the next treatment. And when your final radiation session is over, your skin may still need time to recover from that accumulated damage. The institute also notes that skin changes can hang around for several weeks after radiation ends.
UM Medicine offers a similar timeline, noting that radiation skin reactions can continue or get worse for about 7-10 days after treatment ends before the skin starts to feel better.
What Radiation Dermatitis May Look Like During the First Two Weeks
Everyone responds differently, but during this early post-treatment period, the treated skin may look or feel:
- Red, pink, or darker than usual
- Dry or flaky
- Itchy
- Swollen or tender
- Tight or unusually sensitive
- Blistered or peeling
Some people develop moist desquamation, where the top layer of skin breaks down and the area becomes moist, sore, or weepy. This is more likely in areas where skin rubs together, such as beneath the breast or in other skin folds.
The NCI notes that these reactions usually heal within two or three weeks after radiation treatments stop.
Don’t try to treat open, blistered, or weeping skin like ordinary dry skin. Contact your radiation team for specific wound-care instructions.
Radiation Dermatitis Recovery: What Happens Next?
Once the reaction reaches its peak, the skin gradually starts to repair itself.
You may notice less burning or tenderness first. Then peeling and redness may start to back off. Dryness can take longer to adjust.
This all takes time because the skin is having to repair both the outer layer or surface, as well as the deeper layers. Inflammation is present as a natural immune reaction, which leads to swelling and redness. A large review published in eClinicalMedicine looked at 235 studies on the prevention and management of acute radiation dermatitis and found that reactions can be complex, which is one reason why no single treatment works for everybody.
It can be difficult to be patient, but what your skin really needs is time. Try not to hurry back to exfoliation, acids, retinoids, scrubs, strong cleansers, or elaborate beauty routines. Your skin isn’t ready for all that yet. Your skin barrier has had a rough few weeks. Instead, stick with a simple, gentle routine for several more weeks before you ask your skin to do more work.
How to Care for Radiation Dermatitis While Your Skin is Healing
The most important thing is to be gentle. Your skin has just gone through a lot of damage, so go easy on it.
Mild Cleanser
Start with a mild cleanser. Wash the treated area gently with lukewarm water and a mild cleanser. Skip washcloths, brushes, loofahs, and anything else that creates friction on your skin. Pat dry instead of rubbing.
Soft Clothing
Choose loose, soft clothing made of natural fibers when possible. A tight bra strap, rough seam, or stiff fabric rubbing against healing skin can be very uncomfortable and may cause more damage.
Mild Temperatures & Sun Protection
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends avoiding heat and cold on treated skin and protecting it from sunlight. That means holding off on the hot baths and showers and choosing lukewarm instead. Use sun protection like clothing, hats, and umbrellas, as well as an SPF of 30 or higher made of zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide.
Safe Moisture
Once your skin is closed over (no open wounds), it’s time to get really focused on moisture. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials found that moisturizers may provide benefits in acute radiation dermatitis, particularly for itching and skin-barrier support.
CV Skinlabs’ products were created for this purpose—to be safe enough for use by those going through medical treatments. They’re formulated to calm inflammation, restore the skin barrier, recover comfort level, and soothe that deep-down irritation that regular lotions don’t touch. They do all this without harmful chemicals or ingredients that would cause irritation. The ingredients are clean, non-toxic, and clinically tested and supported.
Our solutions cool down the heat and inflammation, sooth and heal damaged skin, and deeply moisturize to allow for faster recovery with minimal scarring.
Which CV Skinlabs Products to Use
CV Skinlabs’ Body Repair Lotion is a great option for dry, fragile, intact skin. It was created to deeply moisturize and soothe stressed skin and calm inflammation. It’s free of things sensitive skin would rather avoid, including:
- synthetic fragrances
- parabens
- petrolatum
- silicones
- many other ingredients that may be found in “intensive repair” products
Our Calming Moisture is also a good option for dry, sensitive skin on the face and scalp. It helps provide lightweight moisture while calming skin that feels stressed, tight, or uncomfortable. It will calm redness, irritation, and promote repair.
Apply to your face twice a day to help rebuild the skin barrier. If your scalp is itching, part your hair and apply to the affected areas before bed and let it moisturize overnight.
For areas that remain especially dry or chapped after any acute reactions have healed, apply our Restorative Skin Balm to provide a rich layer of moisture protection. This one is great for using overnight. It’s an occlusive healing ointment that will help soften severely chapped, cracked, or burned skin, while encouraging faster restoration of healthy skin.
Cooling Hydration
If skin feels hot, itchy, or uncomfortable, our Rescue + Relief Spray offers lightweight hydration and soothing, calming ingredients including aloe, oat, cucumber, beta-glucan, bisabolol, turmeric, and reishi mushroom.
Store it in the refrigerator for a nice, comforting cool blast on the skin when you need it. A spray-on product like this provides instant, no-touch relief for skin that is too tender or raw to touch. It’s perfect for rashes and to soothe throbbing redness, itchiness and burning. It will always help tame inflammation and encourage healing.
Radiation Dermatitis Can Leave Skin More Sensitive Later
Even after your skin looks healed, keep in mind that it may never act exactly the same as it did before. After radiation, skin is often more sensitive as a whole.
The American Cancer Society notes that treated skin can remain darker and more sensitive after radiation. The NCI also says some people experience longer-lasting dryness, thickening, pigmentation changes, or greater sensitivity to the sun.
That means it’s best to prepare yourself for more long-term, gentle care. Continue moisturizing regularly. Use gentle, non-fragranced products and protect the treated area from the sun. Avoid unnecessary friction, and pay attention to how your skin reacts to any new products.
The key is to give your skin what it needs to heal in terms of gentle, nourishing products, and not to overstress it with harsh actives or routines that will send it backwards.
When to Call Your Medical Team
It’s normal that your skin may get a little worse for a while after radiation treatment.
But if you notice significant or sudden changes, it may be wise to contact your medical team. Symptoms that should be reported include:
- Significant swelling
- Increasing pain
- Open or weeping areas
- Severe blistering
- Fever
- Spreading redness
- Signs of infection
- Skin reactions that concern you
When radiation ends, you’d like everything to be done and for your skin to just return to normal already. Just hang in there a little longer. Give it time, protect it from unnecessary stress, and be kind to yourself. Your final radiation appointment may be the end of treatment, but for your skin, it’s often the beginning of recovery.
How did your skin behave after radiation treatments?
Featured image by Michelle Leman via Pexels.