Radiation therapy for non-melanoma skin cancer

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells.

Radiation therapy is sometimes used to treat non-melanoma skin cancer. Your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan the amount of radiation and when it’s given. You may also receive other treatments.

You may have radiation therapy to:

• destroy the cancer cells if surgery can't be done
• destroy cancer cells left behind after surgery to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back (recur) (called adjuvant therapy)
• relieve pain or control the symptoms of advanced non-melanoma skin cancer (called palliative therapy)

External radiation therapy is the type of radiation therapy used to treat non-melanoma skin cancer.

During external radiation therapy, a machine directs radiation through the skin to the tumour and some of the tissue around it. External radiation therapy is also called external beam radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy is used when surgery can’t be done or when the area of skin is hard to treat with surgery. Some areas that may be treated with external radiation therapy are the skin around the eyes, eyelids, ears and tip of the nose.

Sometimes radiation therapy is used along with other treatments. It may be used after surgery when the cancer has grown into or around many nerves (called perineural invasion), or when the cancer was not completely removed by surgery (called incomplete excision) or has spread to nearby lymph nodes. It may also be used as a palliative therapy to help relieve or control symptoms of non-melanoma skin cancer that has grown into nearby areas (called locally advanced) or non-melanoma skin cancer that has spread to distant areas of the body (called metastatic).

Radiation therapy is usually given daily for several weeks. The dose of radiation and length of treatment depend on several factors, such as size of the tumour, the effect on the skin's appearance and your overall health.

During radiation therapy, your healthcare team protects healthy cells in the treatment area as much as possible. Side effects of radiation therapy will depend mainly on the size of the area being treated, the specific area being treated, the total dose of radiation and the treatment schedule. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think are from radiation therapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.

These are common side effects of radiation therapy for non-melanoma cancer:

• skin problems, such as red and irritated skin
• swelling (edema)
• long-term redness, irritation, scarring and soreness (called chronic dermatitis) if a large area of skin is treated
• new non-melanoma skin cancers

Find out more about radiation therapy and side effects of radiation therapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about radiation therapy.