External Beam Radiation Therapy

External beam radiation therapy may be used to treat skin cancer itself or to relieve pain from cancer that has spread.

Radiation oncologists (physicians who specialize in treating cancer with radiation) deliver external beam radiation therapy to the cancer from a machine outside your body. Radiation beams are targeted at your tumor, giving more radiation to the skin cancer while keeping it away from sensitive parts of the body underneath the skin cancer.

Skin cancer is often treated with superficial forms of radiation. That means the radiation penetrates only a short distance below the surface. Radiation treatments are usually scheduled every day, Monday through Friday, for several weeks to effectively deliver radiation to the cancer. Your treatment schedule will depend on your cancer.

Radiation therapy can be given on its own or may also be given in addition to surgery, chemotherapy or biologic therapy.