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Chemotherapy Skin Problems - Preventing Skin Infections

preventing skin infections during chemotherapy best skin care

Preventing skin infections and staying healthy is really important when you are on chemotherapy. One of the biggest - and most preventable - health problems for us chemo patients are skin infections. Your skin protects you from the outside world, including germs, during chemo. Your skin is also your biggest organ; it's exposed to a world full of germs which can hurt you when your immune system is under chemotherapy stress. It is extremely important to keep your skin healthy when you are a chemo patient.

As a dermatologist, I know that skin infections can become very serious, especially in people who are immune suppressed such as those on chemotherapy.

dermatologist advice for healthy skin preventing skin infections during chemotherapyDuring this last year I received four months of very strong chemotherapy for the treatment of hereditary breast cancer. I used my training for my own benefit and I took special steps to protect my skin from infection. My strategy worked, which is why I want to share it with other chemotherapy patients. (Please note, this information is NOT a substitute for advice and care from your treating physician - it is informational and educational only and can be brought to your physician's attention to help you discuss your own personal care. As a chemo patient you are fragile and all of your personal care choices need to be discussed with your oncology team.)

We know that everyone’s skin is constantly exposed to a myriad of potentially dangerous germs, both at home, out in public, and sometimes from our own bodies. On chemo, I wanted to avoid any infection that would need treatment with oral antibiotics.

As a doctor, I know that if I was given oral antibiotics during chemo, I could suffer from yeast infections, more drug side effects, more overall suffering, and ultimately I could even need prescriptions for anti-fungals medicines.

As cancer patients, we face additional skin infection threats because our well-meaning medical team is constantly poking, prodding, and cutting open our skin for tests, treatments, and surgical procedures - all while our immune system is compromised. We also get breaks in our skin due to the itchy rashes we get from medicines and surgical tape adhesive.

All breaks in our skin during chemo are at risk for infection. 

I’m sure the steps I took saved me at least two different courses of antibiotics for minor skin problems that I “fixed” with good skin care and wound care, and I’m grateful. Here are the steps I took to protect my skin during my chemotherapy. They are steps that apply to anyone prone to skin infections, not just cancer patients.

Dermatologist's tips to avoid skin infections during chemotherapy

I kept Mupirocin Ointment on hand and used it promptly for all minor skin wounds during chemotherapy.

Mupirocin is a topical antibiotic ointment that treats the most common skin infection germs called Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus. It is a prescription. I asked the chemotherapy nurse navigator for a prescription on my very first chemotherapy education appointment. She was unfamiliar with the medicine, telling me that my request was one she had never heard before.

Comically, I was given prescriptions for all sorts of strong oral medicines to counter other chemo side effects including heart burn, constipation, anxiety, nausea, etc., but not a simple ointment and advice known to effectively fight early skin infections. (Of course you would need to clear this prescription treatment with your personal treating doctors and all skin wounds during chemo need to be medically evaluated by your treating team!)

In my dermatology practice, I commonly make and treat skin wounds. It's part of my job and expertise so I'm very familiar with skin wounds including treating and preventing infection of them! I prescribe Mupiricin all the time for wounds I think may become, or are, superficially infected. I always have wound patients apply a Vaseline-type ointment and cover the wound with a Band-Aid, changing the dressing and ointment daily until the wound is healed. I use Mupiricin for this wound care if a patient has an early sign that might suggest an impending wound infection. I have them apply it three times a day under the Band-Aid. Mupiricin also provides the occlusive Vaseline-type of ointment base that helps to heal wounds.

On chemotherapy, I decided that all my skin wounds would benefit from this extra precaution and that’s how I treated them. It worked beautifully and I know for a fact that two wounds I developed would have required oral antibiotics were it not for this simple and preventative wound care routine that turned them around and allowed them to heal.

I constantly washed or sanitized my hands AND applied a really good hand cream often during chemotherapy.

Frequently washing your hands is important for preventing an infection, but it also puts your hand skin at risk for dryness, itching and fissures. As a dermatologist, I know that skin-infecting germs are everywhere. Healthy skin in people with a normal immune system can usually fend them off. Not so when you are immuno-suppressed from chemotherapy.

The best protection from germs during chemo is simply obsessive hand washing and hand sanitizing so that you remove the germs you touch before transferring them to other areas of your skin, nose, mouth etc where they can make you ill. By “obsessive hand washing and sanitizing,” I mean clean your hands after touching anyone else’s hands, public items like the ink pen at the doctor’s office, elevator buttons, hand rails, shopping carts, etc.

If my hands touched any of these things I washed or sanitized them, which is the perfect storm for dry and chapped skin that breaks down and gets infected. For this reason I also moisturized my hands immediately after washing, which meant numerous times a day. I use either my Dry Skin Hand Cream or my Natural Face and Body Lotion immediately after washing. These products are part of my Chemotherapy Skin Care Kit.best hand cream and lotion during chemo

 

 

HBOC survivor Dr. Cynthia Bailey cancer advocacy workI created this kit during chemo to help other patients undergoing chemotherapy. It includes all the products I relied on for keeping my own skin healthy. I donate all the profits from my Chemotherapy Skin Care Kit to cancer advocacy. 



During chemo I avoided some of my favorite high-risk environments for skin infection.

For me this means that during chemo I did not do my weekly lap swim at our local public pool, I did not get a pedicure, I did not cut any of the beautiful fall roses in my garden, and I really limited my exposure to public places. And, I am grateful that I made it through the four months of treatment without a skin infection that required oral antibiotic treatment.

Of course, if you are a chemo patient or are immuno-suppressed for other reasons, you need to bring all possible skin infections to the attention of your treating doctors promptly.

Bring this article to the attention of your cancer care team and ask them if these steps might be appropriate to help keep your skin healthy and to help you avoid needing oral antibiotics for skin problems that can possibly be treated topically.

To see the turn-key skin care kit I developed during my chemotherapy to keep my own skin healthy all over click here for my Chemotherapy Skin Care Kit.

To see the other products that I personally used and have recommended to my dermatology patients undergoing chemo click here for the full Chemotherapy Skin Care tips on DrBaileySkinCare.com.  

If you have found these chemotherapy skin problems/preventing skin infections tips useful, thanks for  your likes, share, tweets, pins, and comments on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. Photo attribution: Thanks and gratitude to © Push Pictures/Corbis