Skin cancer treatments such as surgery, curettage and electrodesiccation, and cryotherapy often leave a scar. In most cases, your doctor will do everything they can to make the scar less noticeable. Most scars will fade with time. Skin treated with radiation therapy may change in colour, and appear lighter or darker depending on your skin tone. Talk to your radiation therapy team about the best options for skincare.
Talk to your doctor or nurse about treatments that can help improve the appearance of scars, such as silicone gels and tapes and non-perfumed creams (e.g. sorbolene). Steroid injections to flatten out lumpy scars may also be an option for some people.
You may worry about how scars look, especially on the face. Cosmetics, your hairstyle or clothing may help. You can talk to a counsellor, friend or family member about how the changes make you feel.
Learn more about emotions and cancer.
Look Good Feel Better
Look Good Feel Better is a national program that helps people manage the appearance-related effects of cancer treatment. Workshops are run for men, women and teenagers. For information about services in your area, call 1800 650 960.
I had skin cancer removed from my arm followed by a skin graft from the same arm. I have a large ‘indent’ from the removal of the cancer and a large scar at the donor site. I didn’t expect the amount of pain and appearance changes.
David
All updated content has been clinically reviewed by Prof Victoria Mar, Director, Victorian Melanoma Service, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, VIC and Prof Anne Cust, Acting Director, The Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW, and faculty member, Melanoma Institute Australia. This edition is based on the previous edition, which was reviewed by the following panel: Prof Victoria Mar (see above); Tracey Bilson, Consumer; Raelene Buchan, Consumer; Alison Button-Sloan, Consumer; Dr Margaret Chua, Radiation Oncologist, and the Skin Radiation Oncology team, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Prof Anne Cust, (see above); A/Prof Paul Fishburn, Skin Cancer Doctor, Norwest Skin Cancer Centre, NSW and Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland; Danielle Goss, Melanoma Clinical Nurse Specialist, Amie St Clair Melanoma (part of Melanoma Institute Australia), Wagga Wagga, NSW; Louise Pellerade, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA; Dr Shireen Sidhu, Head of Dermatology, The Royal Adelaide Hospital, SA; Dr Amelia Smit, Research Fellow – Melanoma and Skin Cancer, The Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW; Dr Tony Tonks, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Canberra Plastic Surgery, ACT. We also thank the health professionals, consumers and editorial teams who have worked on previous editions of this title. Thanks also to Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Centre for providing the dysplastic naevus photograph on page 11, A/Prof Paul Fishburn for providing the sunspot photograph on page 10, A/Prof Andrew Miller for providing the age spot photograph on page 10, and Prof H Peter Soyer for providing the other photographs on pages 9–11.
View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.
