Saturday May 14, 2022 – 11:44 am
Sime: consent document for aesthetic treatments for cancer patients
It will be the first in the world
Rome, May 14 (askanews) – Taking care of your appearance has an important impact on both a psychological and social level. And even in a particular moment of life, such as that of a course of oncological treatments, it can be of great help for the overall well-being of the patient, especially when it comes to a woman. But which aesthetic therapies are indicated and which ones not recommended during oncological therapies? At the moment there are no guidelines on the topic that is becoming a hot topic as many patients do not want to give up taking care of their appearance, even during the experience of a tumor. On the contrary, aesthetic medicine therapies can also have a cathartic effect and contribute to the psychological well-being of patients with real beauty pampering, offered by adequately trained professionals. To fill this gap, SIME has put together a multidisciplinary working group with the aim of producing a consensus document with suggestions and indications of the dos & don’ts of aesthetic medicine in cancer patients. We asked for some anticipation of the document, which should see the light at the end of the year, from Dr. Gloria Trocchi, internist, aesthetic doctor, coordinator of the aesthetic medicine clinic at Fatebenefratelli and vice-president of SIME.
“SIME has always been very sensitive to the topic of aesthetic medicine in cancer patients, to which last December it dedicated a day of social medicine. However, guidelines are lacking to establish which aesthetic medicine therapies can be carried out and with what timing in the cancer patient. For this, we have set up a multidisciplinary working group made up of oncologists, radiotherapists, dermatologists expert in skin toxicity, aesthetic doctors trained to follow these patients, nutritionists, biologists, pharmacologist in order to produce a consensus document with clear indications and suggestions. Our goal is that in the future the figure of the aesthetic doctor will be included in the multidisciplinary teams alongside the patient suffering from cancer to ensure care and support during and after cancer treatment “.
When to intervene with aesthetic medicine therapies on these patients? “Never during cancer treatments, whether they are surgical, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other combined therapies. At this stage we limit ourselves to a skin check-up to non-invasively evaluate some skin parameters and prescribe an appropriate and personalized dermocosmetics for the prevention and treatment of the side effects of oncological therapies, from mild skin discomfort to the most serious toxicities. In prescriptions dedicated to such patients, great attention must be paid to the formulation of the cosmetics themselves to avoid active ingredients that are contraindicated during an oncological process; some oncological therapies in fact produce toxic effects on the skin. After the evaluation, we make a prescription with an appropriate dermocosmetics, excluding the active ingredients which, depending on the pathology present, cannot even be used as topicals. When the patient has finished the cycles of therapy and wants to resume a complete path of recovery of the quality of life, including the social one, we will evaluate her therapeutic indications. We generally wait a minimum of six months from the first negative follow-up and the end of all active therapies.And even beyond this time interval, the treatment choices are modulated on the clinical condition of the patient and always in agreement with the patient. ‘oncologist of reference, to avoid any side effects inherent in aesthetic medicine therapies “.
What therapies do you offer for the face and body? “Our patients are mostly women. Already during the course of therapy, the skin is generally more dehydrated, so after the skin check-up, we change the dermocosmetic prescription, using more specific products. Six months after the completion of oncological therapies, we can also proceed with corrective interventions with botulinum toxin and fillers, always evaluating the patient’s immune status, which if compromised, exposes to the risk of infections. If there are ongoing skin and subcutaneous immune reactions, these treatments should be avoided because there is a risk of triggering a serious inflammatory reaction. If the problem is face spots, we can intervene with soft peels, but only on healthy skin, that is, free from lesions related to chemo and radiotherapy. Whatever medical-aesthetic therapy is considered, it is essential to know the patient’s oncological history well and to consider the term of active therapies.The patient may have an indication for treatment for cellulite (panniculopathy) with mesotherapy or carboxytherapy, which must be carried out only after excluding that the oncological therapies have caused damage to the hypodermis (subcutis), with an ultrasound scan for example and after consulting the oncologist to find out the type of pathology, the possible presence of metastases, the type of therapy performed “.
For weight changes, there is often a dietician who follows the patient from the beginning of the cancer treatment, also because nutrition plays an important role in the response to cancer treatments. In case of skin flaccidity due to weight loss, carboxytherapy and radiofrequency which are indicated on skin laxity problems, are intervention methods that could be considered; but at the moment, the companies that produce the machines do not give indications on cancer patients. So it will be our study group to evaluate what kind of effects, even unwanted ones, these therapies can give on these patients and to merge these indications in our consensus document. At the moment we only use elasticizing dermocosmetics that help improve the appearance of the patient’s skin.
“From what has been said – comments Professor Emanuele Bartoletti, president of SIME – it is therefore evident that, despite a growing demand for aesthetic therapies by cancer patients, due to the knowledge of the possibility of speeding up the social recovery determined by aesthetic medical therapies, this type of patient cannot be treated in a standard way. It is necessary to have specific training and to share all the information together with the various specialists. The initiative for a consensus document with clear indications on the subject came from SIME, which has a long tradition of aesthetic medicine in cancer patients. What we also ask is that the figure of the aesthetic doctor be inserted within the oncology teams, from the beginning of the patient’s treatment path “.
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