Breast cancer radiation care – Why oils? + more. Part 1
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
How did 512organics ™ joined the global breast cancer support team?
In 2016, my dear friend Anita (more about her awesomeness below) requested that I do something: create products specifically designed for breast cancer radiation care. She’d heard about the potentially devastating effects of radiation, and wanted to be proactive, start early.
Anita was very confident that whatever I came up with would be helpful and amazing and just what she needed. That helped so much.
After a couple days pondering, we tackled it.
What could oils & botanicals do for irradiated skin?
The answer, it turns out, is may be everything.
Radiation, especially in the final weeks of treatment, can, and most likely will, cause dermatitis and ulceration of the skin. In some cases, there’s a low to moderate risk of side effects – in others, it’s very high, up to 95%. This depends very much on the type and location of cancer being treated, with breast cancer having a higher percentage than most. Damage can range from a mild, red rash (erythema, roughness, swelling, tenderness), to itchy, peeling or flaking skin (dry desquamation), to a more severe reaction with blisters and wet, peeling skin (moist desquamation). Moderate to severe reactions can occur near the end of treatment or even several weeks later.
The problem? Radiation causes an imbalance in tissue damage and repair. Exposed skin is injured faster than it can replicate and repair itself. Resulting wounds are not “damaged” skin as much as they are “missing” skin. A reaction might look like a thermal “burn”, but is not actually a burn.
Answers on how to treat it vary, from aloe to emu oil to fancy dressings. But hardly anyone argues with this.
“It is generally agreed that the ideal method for preventing and minimizing skin reactions is moisturization of the irradiated area.” (source: National Institute of Health – link here)
Once that part was settled, it was simply a matter of narrowing down the most effective oils in our botanic arsenal.
These are the basic concepts that drove every decision
- Strengthening the skin prior to beginning radiation is paramount to successfully managing potential damage.
- Providing hydration and nutrition to the skin cells throughout the process helps keep them strong & allows for faster repair.
- Applying oils that deeply hydrate and encourage cell renewal, repairing and rejuvenation can go a long way toward preventing and minimizing radiation damage.
So what strengthens, provides hydration and nutrition, and encourages cell renewal, repairing and rejuvenation? I already knew the answer, because oils that are amazing for your skin is what I do! All the ingredients were here.
A few days later, I presented Anita with her three-step Breast Cancer Radiation Care Kit ™. Secretly I crossed my fingers. I felt optimistic, but my science brain wanted strong evidence that what we were trying to do was effective. She needed something truly awesome for this piece of her journey. I was hoping these oils were it. Step 1 was started immediately, about 3 weeks before radiation started.
By the end of her treatment & for the weeks following, it perfectly clear
We’d done something very right.
Anita’s results were outstanding. There was no moderate or severe reaction to radiation. She had one so mild and easily managed that her lymphedema physical therapist was blown away. So were her oncologist and radiation doctors. So was she! So was I!
Later, she wrote a lovely review, which you can read here.
Note: feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. Even from people who are using the oils for radiation treating a different type of cancer!
(photo by Freepik)
Gratification is a wonderful thing
The nature lover in me was floating on a sea of joy. My medical professional (and friend) self was thrilled. Helping others be well and heal naturally is a great job already. Breast cancer radiation care added another “why”.
There’s another piece to this story, though, and it’s so important that I have to include it in the next post. You won’t want to miss the rest of Anita’s journey. In the meantime, hop over to her site and hear some of it straight from her. Go here.
xo, Brenda