PEER REVIEWED
SUMMARY SLIDE
•
•
•
Overall, the most frequently reported symptoms and impacts were red
lesions or open sores that failed to heal (41%, N = 14), cancer-related
stress (41%, N = 14), impacts on daily activities (65%, N = 22), and
emotional impacts (62%, N = 21), with more frequent and bothersome
symptoms and a greater health-related quality of life (HRQL) impact
described by patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease.
For patients with advanced disease (G2), cancerous lesions or cancerrelated surgeries resulted in visible scarring (9%, N = 2), malformation of
the skin (24%, N = 5), or having part or all of a body part (i.e., ears or
eyes) removed because of surgery (19%, N = 4); all of which contributed
to emotional impacts for patients, such as feeling embarrassed, stressed,
or ashamed of their appearance.
Although more subtle, non-advanced disease can impose bothersome
sequelae and negative impacts on patients’ HRQL. Anxiety related to
existing or potential scarring as well as tumor recurrence was
communicated by one-third of the sample.
This summary slide represents the opinions of the authors. Sponsorship for this study was funded by Eli Lilly and Company. Editorial assistance for this
paper was provided by Kawthar Nakayima, Evidera. For a full list of acknowledgments and conflicts of interest for all authors of this article, please see
the full text online. Copyright © The Authors 2015. Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (CC BY-NC).
Steenrod AW, et al. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2015.