It may seem obvious, but both patients and physicians often do not address the issue of skin care as part of regular cancer care. Cancer and its treatments often impact skin quality, especially when there are appearance changes and discomforts such as pain and itching.

Cancer can be life-altering in many ways. When you’re dealing with cancer, your main focus is your health, but for many people the disease and its subsequent treatment causes other changes that are just as challenging.

Chemotherapy and radiation cause physical changes that also may affect you emotionally. Hair loss with chemotherapy is common knowledge, but the treatment also affects hair growth on other parts of the body, while radiation may cause skin damage.

Though these changes are difficult, you can do a few things to cope with them and feel better about how you look.