During the summer, cancer patients are at greater risk for sun damage and need to be extra vigilant about sun safety, researchers say. “Cancer patients may be more at risk for sun damage because of their treatment,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kvale, director of outpatient supportive care and survivorship in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in a university news release. “Skin that has been treated with radiation therapy may lose some of its natural protective capacity because of the changes that occur with treatment,” she said. “Radiation-exposed skin should be completely protected from sun exposure.”
