What should I wear to radiation therapy?
Comfortable clothes in a soft fabric such as fleece or cotton, and easy to take off. You may need to expose the treatment area or change into a hospital gown, so anything with complicated fastenings slows the visit down.
What to leave off
The National Cancer Institute is specific about four things to avoid.
Nothing tight near the treatment area. That means no close-fitting collars and no snug waistbands over the spot being treated.
No jewelry in the treatment area. No adhesive bandages there either. And no powder on the skin being treated.
That last group matters more than it sounds. The treatment area is marked with small dots of colored ink, tattooed or drawn, each about the size of a freckle. Those dots are how the therapist places you in exactly the same position at every session. Adhesive bandages can lift them, and powder can obscure them.
Be careful not to remove the marks, and tell the radiation therapist if they fade or lose color. Tattooed dots stay for life; ink markings fade over time.
Dress for a cold room and a long wait
The treatment room is kept very cool. Layers you can add back after treatment are worth having.
The radiation itself takes only 1 to 5 minutes. Most visits run 30 minutes to an hour, and most of that is spent getting you positioned. NCI suggests bringing something for the wait: a book or magazine, puzzles or needlework, headphones for music or an audiobook, or a relaxation practice such as meditation, deep breathing, prayer, or imagery.
Because most people have treatment once a day, Monday through Friday, for weeks, a repeatable outfit saves a surprising amount of thought.
What happens once you are in the room
Depending on where your cancer is, you either lie on a treatment table or sit in a special chair. The therapist uses your skin dots, plus a body mold or face mask if you have one, to position you. A body mold is a plastic or plaster form that stops you moving. If you are treated in the head or neck area, you may be fitted for a mask with air holes that attaches to the table.
You may see colored lights pointed at your skin marks. They are harmless positioning aids.
The therapist leaves the room and runs the machine from next door, watching you on a screen or through a window and talking to you over a speaker. Say something if you feel sick or uncomfortable, because they can stop the machine at any time. You will hear it move, but you cannot feel, hear, see, or smell radiation.
Ask about your own treatment area
Guidance varies with where you are being treated, so the useful move is to ask your radiation therapy team directly about anything you use daily.
Specifically, ask whether your usual lotion, deodorant, or sunscreen is allowed on the treated skin, and when to apply it relative to your session. Ask which fabrics rub, if your treatment area is somewhere clothing sits. And ask what to do if the skin there becomes red, sore, or peels, since skin care advice is treatment-area specific and should come from your team rather than a general rule.
Most external beam radiation is given as an outpatient, at a clinic or radiation center, so you go home the same day. Our guide to what to expect at a radiation therapy session walks through the visit, and the overview of external beam radiation therapy explains the machine types.
Sources
Want the full picture? Read our complete explanation: What to Expect During a Radiation Therapy Session
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