RADIATION THERAPY FOR SKIN CANCER
Understanding Your Treatment Options

Treating Skin Cancer

Your treatment depends on several factors including your overall health, stage of the disease and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body. Treatments are often combined and can include:

• Radiation therapy that uses X-rays to kill the cancer cells.
• Surgery that removes the cancer cells.
• Electrodessication where the cancer is dried with an electric current and removed.
• Cryosurgery where the cancer is frozen and removed.
• Laser surgery that kills the cancer cells with laser beams.
• Chemotherapy in which the cancer cells are attacked by a drug that is either taken internally or applied on the skin.
• Photodynamic therapy where the cancer is covered with a drug that becomes active when exposed to light.
• Biologic therapy in which doctors help your immune system better fight the cancer.

Understanding Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is the careful use of radiation to treat many different kinds of cancer.

Radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, is the directed use of radiation to safely and effectively treat various types of tumors.

Radiation oncologists are physicians that use radiation therapy to try to kill tumors, control growth of the tumor growth or to relieve symptoms.

Radiation therapy damages tumor cells’ ability to multiply. The body naturally eliminates these cells after they die.

Radiation may not affect the healthy cells near the tumor, but if they are affected, they can repair themselves in a way tumor cells cannot.

External Beam Radiation Therapy

External beam radiation therapy may be used to treat skin cancer and to relieve pain from cancer that has spread to the brain or bone.

• Treatments are usually scheduled daily, Monday through Friday, for several weeks to accurately deliver radiation to the cancer.
• Treatments are painless and take less than half an hour each, start to finish.
• Radiation therapy is often given in addition to surgery, chemotherapy or biologic therapy.
• Skin cancer is often treated with superficial forms of radiation that penetrate only a short distance below the surface.
• Doctors will target the radiation beams at your tumor to give more radiation to the skin cancer while keeping it away from underlying organs.

Potential Side Effects

You may have little or no side effects from radiation therapy and be able to keep up your normal activities.

• Side effects are usually limited to the part of the body that receives radiation.
• Skin changes such as redness, dryness or itching are common side effects.
• Patients are likely to lose their hair in the area treated.
• Side effects should end when the treatment ends.

Talk to your doctor or nurse about any discomfort you feel. He or she may provide drugs or other treatments to help.

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