Does radiation hurt your eyes?

Possible side effects of radiation therapy

The main concern with radiation therapy is damage to parts of the eye, leading to problems such as blurry vision, dry eye, cataracts, retinal detachment, glaucoma (increased pressure inside the eye), loss of eye lashes, problems with tear ducts, or bleeding into the eye.

Is radiation worse than chemo?

Since radiation therapy is focused on one area of your body, you may experience fewer side effects than with chemotherapy. However, it may still affect healthy cells in your body.

Does radiation stay in your body forever?

The radiation stays in the body for anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. Most people receive radiation therapy for just a few minutes. Sometimes, people receive internal radiation therapy for more time. If so, they stay in a private room to limit other people’s exposure to the radiation.

Do people survive radiotherapy?

The median survival time of 580 patients with malignant disease treated during this period in 1988 was 12.4 months. The overall 5-year survival rate was 27%. For 105 patients treated definitively with radiation therapy, the median and 5-year survival rate figures were 26.0 months and 40%.

Do you lose hair with radiation?

Radiation therapy can also cause hair loss on the part of the body that is being treated. Hair loss is called alopecia. Talk with your health care team to learn if the cancer treatment you will be receiving causes hair loss.

Does radiation shorten your life?

“Rapidly dividing cells, such as cancer cells, are more affected by radiation therapy than normal cells. The body may respond to this damage with fibrosis or scarring, though this is generally a mild process and typically does not cause any long-term problems that substantially affect quality of life.”

Do tumors grow back after radiation?

Normal cells close to the cancer can also become damaged by radiation, but most recover and go back to working normally. If radiotherapy doesn’t eliminate all of the cancer cells, they will regrow at some point in the future.

How long is a session of radiation therapy?

In most instances, treatments are usually spread out over several weeks to allow your healthy cells to recover in between radiation therapy sessions. Expect each treatment session to last approximately 10 to 30 minutes.

What is the success rate of radiotherapy?

When it comes to early stages of disease, patients very frequently do well with either brachytherapy or external beam radiation. Success rates of around 90% or higher can be achieved with either approach.