Body image and cancer

If you have cancer, there can be times when your body hardly seems like your body anymore. But whatever happens, it’s important to remember that you’re still you. 

Worrying about your appearance is completely natural. We get insecurities about our bodies at the best of times and it can be tough if cancer or cancer treatment changes the way your body looks or feels, or how it works.  

The way we feel about ourselves can be closely linked to our appearance. So if you do look different, you might feel less confident, or more self-conscious, or shy, or just angry that your body doesn’t work or look like it used to. 

All of these feelings are totally normal – but try to remember that, even if your body does change, you’re still you. And there are always people you can talk to about how you’re feeling. 

It’s normal to have complicated and difficult feelings about the ways that cancer or cancer treatment changes your body. You might feel less confident and worry about seeing people. You might feel like you’re a different person now or you might also not feel that different to how you felt before being diagnosed. 

All these feelings are totally normal and there’s no right way to react to a cancer diagnosis. Everyone’s experience is different and everyone’s experience is valid.  

Not everyone who is diagnosed with cancer will go through physical changes. Physical changes will be different depending on the person and their type of treatment. Some of the changes – like hair loss and weight change – usually aren’t permanent. 

There might be changes to how you look, for example:  

• hair loss 
• changes to your weight    
• changes to your skin 
• swelling 
• changes due to surgery, such as scarring, amputation. 

There could also be changes to how your body works, for example: 

• you might find you move or speak slightly differently 
• swallowing might become tricky 
• concentration and memory can sometimes be affected 
• your fertility can sometimes be impacted 
• you might have a weaker immune system than before treatment – this means your body might find it harder to fight off infections  
• you might be more fatigued (very tired) 

Changes to how you feel, for example: 

• in terms of physical feelings, you might feel pain if a tumour is pressing on a nerve after surgery, or you might find the area that has been operated on feels numb or slightly different 
• in terms of emotional feelings, you might be more anxious about your health or your daily life, or feel very relieved after finishing treatment. There are lots of different emotions you might feel after your diagnosis, during treatment and afterwards, these are all very normal 

While any physical changes you go through might be emotionally upsetting, there are different things you can try that might help you feel more comfortable in the meantime: 

• Be around the right people: try to spend time with people who you trust and who are kind to you. Hopefully they’ll make you feel good about yourself and make space for you to express your feelings openly and honestly 

   

• Getting moving: doing some movement or light exercise when you feel up to it might help with your mood as well as helping you get as much good quality sleep as possible. Finding something that works for you and your schedule might help you make this part of your regular routine 

   

• Experiment: you could try finding a new hobby, or have a look for some new TV shows or music. Or maybe you want to try some different clothes, hairstyles, wigs or make up that might make you feel more comfortable 

   

• Prepare for strange questions: if you experience physical changes that you think people might ask questions about, it might be helpful to think about how you want to reply beforehand. It’s also important to remember that you don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to, so it might be worth thinking about how you would express that too. You could talk to your friends, or those close to you, about this too so they know what you’re comfortable with. They might also be able to step in, in conversations where you don’t feel confident talking about yourself.  

It can be really helpful to talk about the changes you’re experiencing. This isn’t always easy, but there are different ways to make it easier to talk about any changes to your body. 

If you have people around you that you find it comforting to talk to, you might find it helpful to share some of your feelings and concerns with them. This might be friends, who may or may not have had their own cancer diagnosis. It could also be your carer, a sibling, your partner or someone in your extended family.  

You could talk to your doctors or nurses. They talk about things like this a lot and should be happy to answer any questions you might have. If you think it might be helpful, you can write down some of your worries to read to or show your care team later.  

Depending on what you’re worried about, they might refer you to other health professionals such as a Speech and Language Therapist or an Occupational Therapist. 

If you have access to a Teenage Cancer Trust Youth Support Coordinator, they might have suggestions for how to help, like talking through your worries and concerns with them. They might also be able to link you with local groups with other young people, or professionals to talk to.  

You can also ask your nurse or doctor to refer you to a therapist or psychologist too. This could be useful in helping you think about changes to your body and make sense of difficult feelings.