SEME aesthetic medicine

Benefits of aesthetic medicine in cancer patients

Cancer is a disease that also affects the physical appearance of people who suffer from it.

 To counteract the side effects of therapies applied against tumors, many patients resort to aesthetic medicine treatments to improve their image. These treatments are applied once authorized by the oncologist treating the patient. This issue was debated on the first day of the XXXIII edition of the national congress of aesthetic medicine, organized by the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME), in which some 2,000 experts participated at the Málaga Trade Fair and Congress Centre.

At the event, the first 'Dictionary of oncological terms for non-oncologists' was presented, prepared by aesthetic doctors Nuria Ugarte, Pilar Lacosta and María Ramos, under the coordination of radiation oncologist Raquel Benlloch. The dictionary was presented at an event moderated by doctors Juan Antonio López L. Pitalúa and Paloma Ramos.

According to Doctor Juan Antonio López, the methods that aesthetic doctors apply to cancer patients vary depending on the phase of the disease they are in. And he also stated that: «The doctor must try to cure, first of all; secondly, to relieve and, lastly, to accompany. As aesthetic doctors, we have the function, above all, of providing relief to our patients.

Among the aesthetic treatments given to cancer patients is preventive micropigmentation of the eyebrows, which is used before the hair falls out due to the effect of chemotherapy. Other aesthetic medicine treatments for cancer patients are to take care of the nails and to hydrate the skin. Likewise, the cosmetic products used cannot be the same as those used before cancer. What is carried out is a multidisciplinary approach to cancer patients, who are offered advice on nutrition and are informed of how chemotherapy will affect their skin and nails.