Changes to how you look

How do changes affect you?

Changes to how you look can affect you in different ways. They can affect:

• how you feel about yourself and how you look

• how you think other people feel about you

• your sexuality and relationships

• your career and social life

This can be upsetting. Some people find that they have intense feelings including depression, grief, anxiety and anger. But there are lots of things you can do to help you cope.  

Read about coping with changes to how you look

What changes might happen

The changes you might have depend on the type of cancer you have and the treatment you need. Some changes are temporary but some can be permanent.

It is important to discuss any changes to your body with your healthcare team before you start treatment. They can help you understand what to expect, and cope with any side effects or emotions you may have.

Weight changes or a change in body shape

You might lose or put on weight. 

Weight loss is very common with some types of cancer such as stomach and oesophageal cancer. You might lose weight because you have:

• loss of appetite

• taste changes

• mouth problems

• constipation or diarrhoea

• difficulty swallowing

Weight loss can sometimes be a sign of advanced cancer.

Read about diet problems and how to manage them

Some people with cancer put on weight. There may be a number of reasons for this. Some types of treatment, for example, ​steroid​ treatment can cause weight gain.

Some cancer treatments can change the amount of ​sex hormones​ in the body. This can cause different changes to your body shape, such as:

• weight gain

• loss of muscle mass

• breast swelling (gynaecomastia) in men

Find out more about how sex hormones can affect your weight

Hair changes

Hair loss and hair thinning are common side effects of some cancer treatments. This includes:

• chemotherapy

• targeted cancer drugs

• immunotherapy

• hormone therapy

• radiotherapy

For most people, the hair grows back or starts to thicken, either with time or when you finish treatment. But your hair might not grow back exactly the same as it was before.

Sometimes the hair doesn't grow back. For example, if you are having radiotherapy to try to cure your cancer, you usually have a high dose of radiation. So your hair may not grow back in the area you have treatment. 

Read more about hair loss and cancer treatment

Some cancer drug treatments can cause excess hair growth on your face and eyelashes. Talk to your healthcare team about how to manage this.

Skin and nail changes

Some cancer treatments can cause skin and nail changes such as:

• itching

• sweating

• dry skin

• nail ridges or splitting

• infection

• sensitivity to the sun

Skin rashes can be a side effect of some cancer drug treatments. These changes can be severe.

Find out more about different skin changes you might have

Scarring and changes to different parts of your body

Surgery can change the way you look. Even small changes can have a big effect on how you see and feel about yourself.

Remember, not all operations leave big scars. Your surgeon will try to minimise how big any scar is and how visible it is. Scars often fade and become difficult to see with time.

Changes to your face after surgery

Surgery to your face might change the way you look. It may also affect how you eat and your speech. There might be quite a big change but even a small change can have a big effect on how you see yourself. This can be very difficult to cope with.

It is important to remember that even with big operations, you might not have a great deal of scarring. And many scars fade and become very difficult to see over time.

Your surgeon will aim to make scars in the creases already on your face or neck. And if you need to have bone removed from your face, they will rebuild them using bone from other parts of your body.

A team of skilled specialists will look after you. This usually includes a plastic surgeon as well as your cancer surgeon. They will try to keep the shape of the face and reduce scarring as much as possible.

Changes after lip surgery

Scarring from lip surgery might be more difficult to hide. So if you have cancer in this area, it is likely you will have to cope with changes in the way you look.

Read more about appearance changes after facial surgery

Loss of a body part

Losing a part of your body is distressing. There are different reasons why you might need this type of surgery. For example, you might need surgery to remove your breast (mastectomy) because of breast cancer.

People react differently to losing a part of their body. The first few months after surgery can be difficult as you begin to adjust to the change in your appearance.

You might be able to use a false body part (a prosthesis) or an implant if you want to. Your healthcare team will be able to help you.

Swelling

You can have swelling because of the cancer or its treatment. For example cancer and some treatments can affect the ​lymphatic system. This can cause a build up of lymph fluid so a part of your body becomes swollen. This swelling is called lymphoedema.

The most common areas of lymphoedema include arms or legs, but it can happen in other parts of the body.

The changes you have depend on where you have the swelling. Even if other people can’t see it, the swelling may affect how you feel about yourself.

Find out more about lymphoedema

An opening (stoma) in your neck or tummy

Treatment for some head and neck cancers can include making an opening in your neck to help you breathe. This is a breathing stoma or tracheostomy. Breathing stomas can also affect the way you speak and swallow.

Surgery for cancers affecting the bowel might mean you need to have a stoma on your tummy (abdomen). This might be a colostomy or ileostomy depending on the part of the bowel the cancer is affecting. This means that your bowel empties into a bag which sticks to the skin of your abdomen.

If your cancer affects your bladder you might mean you need an opening in your abdomen to allow you to pee. This is called a urostomy.

Many stomas are temporary but some can be permanent.

Getting used to the stoma will take some time. It is common to feel self conscious at first. You’ll have a specialist nurse, a stoma nurse or a speech and language therapist to help you get used to your stoma and show you how to look after it.