Typically, no significant bleeding. Because we’re not cutting the skin, you won’t have the kind of bleeding you’d see with a surgical wound. As treatment progresses, the lesion and surrounding skin might get a bit moist or oozy in the sense of a superficial skin reaction – like how a bad sunburn can sometimes have tiny blisters or a bit of clear fluid. There might be some crust or scab formation that has a little serous (clear) drainage. This is more like oozing than bleeding and is part of the skin’s healing response. If the tumor was an open sore to start with, you’ll notice it gradually drying up and crusting over, then that crust might fall off and re-form, etc. Minor pinpoint bleeding can occur if a scab is knocked off or if the skin cracks, but it’s usually very little. Nothing like the bleeding associated with a surgical excision. In fact, many patients have no bleeding at all during the whole course. If you do see some drops of blood when, say, a scaly part peels, just gently clean it and apply some ointment – it should stop quickly. The risk of meaningful bleeding is extremely low. One context to mention: if you’re on blood thinners, you continue them during IG-SRT (no need to stop), and even then we don’t usually see troublesome bleeding, which is a big advantage over surgery for patients on anticoagulants. So, aside from possibly a little crust or minimal fluid, the site stays quite manageable. If an area of the tumor was prone to bleeding before (some skin cancers bleed easily when bumped), you’ll find that after a few treatments it usually stops bleeding as the tumor cells die. In summary, major bleeding is not an issue with IG-SRT – just keep the area moisturized and let any crusts heal naturally, and you should experience minimal to no bleeding.
Category:
IG-SRT
