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Treatment for cancer can change what a person’s body looks like, either temporarily or permanently.

This may include the removal of body parts, changes in the shape of body parts, new scars or skin changes, weight loss or gain, loss of muscle, changes to posture, the addition of new medical devices such as a stoma or feeding tube.

Physical changes can impact how someone thinks and feels about their body and how they feel others may view them.

It can also affect a person’s self-worth and confidence, and cause difficulties such as depression and anxiety if they find it hard to adjust to these changes. These changes may also make a person feel more/less masculine or feminine, or impact someone’s gender identity.

In addition to the general tips about managing your emotional wellbeing at psychological wellbeing, it may be helpful to consider the following:

  • Allow yourself time to adjust to the changes with your body and remember it is normal for this to take time and to feel sad, or grieve parts of your body or self that have changed.
  • If you are avoiding looking at the part of your body that has changed, gradually work towards doing so by first looking at it covered up, then slowly uncovering parts of it and building up to looking at the whole area.
    You can also involve a partner in this if helpful and move from looking at to touching your body (alone and then with a partner). This may take some time, so go at your own pace.
  • If you are worried about your appearance spend time thinking about other parts of your body that you like or are grateful for.
    You can do this by thinking about it, or by looking at a mirror and working downwards from your head and saying what you like and appreciate out loud.
  • Thinking about the positives alongside the difficulties of changes to your body, for example “it saved my life”.
  • Think about other aspects of your personality and life (e.g., hobbies) that you can engage with to rebuild your confidence if you are struggling with how you view yourself.
  • If you are finding it hard to leave the house due to reduced confidence about your appearance, try to take steps to slowly challenge yourself to getting back out.
    This may look like initially going for a small walk with a friend for 5 minutes and build up to going to a public event such as a concert or to watch live sports, or whatever interests you.
    It is important to do this in a slow and gradual manner.This is helpful as when people stay at home, they may lose connection with others and their hobbies, and as a result feel more isolated and lower in mood.
  • It can be helpful to recognise and challenge negative thoughts as they arise by using a technique from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) called ‘thought challenging’.We often make assumptions and jump to conclusions that may not be true, so by recognising and taking a step back from our thoughts and challenging them we may be able to see things differently.For more information on this the Macmillan page has a helpful section called ‘Challenging Negative Thoughts’
  • If you are feeling that the changes to your body have made you more/less feminine or masculine, it may be helpful to think about other ways in which you still are or can be (e.g., through your behaviour, clothing, prosthetics).
  • If you are transgender or non-binary it may be that changes to your body have impacted your sense of identity.If you are struggling with this, you may benefit from speaking about this or seeking further support from the UK Cancer and Transition Service

Resources

For more information on how to manage with body image concerns:

Stories about people’s experiences of self-image and cancer

Further support

If your body image concerns are difficult to cope with, remember that often things will improve with time, however if you are struggling and the tips on this page do not help then please do reach out for help.

Look Good Feel Better Workshops

These workshops provide a chance to meet other people living with cancer and provide professional advice to support people with their changing appearance.

Peer support

Peer support can often be helpful, especially when people feel alone in their experience. There are a range of support groups available, you can speak to your cancer team about this for advice or look online

Psychological therapy

Psychological therapy can be useful, and usually involves meeting with someone one to one or in a group. Therapists may use a variety of techniques to support you including (but not limited to) ideas from cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and compassion focused therapy.

You can ask your cancer team for a referral to the Macmillan Cancer Psychological Support Team (CaPS) at St George’s Hospital if you are a patient under their care. Alternatively, you can speak to your GP about psychological therapy available, including your local Talking Therapies service.

You can find information about the CaPS team at

You can find your local talking therapies service at:

Support from cancer charities:

Maggie’s Centres offer a range of psychological support including support groups, drop-in services, workshops and courses, and one to one psychological therapy: Our centres | Maggie’s. You can either drop in, email or call them.

Macmillan offer a free support line on 0808 808 0000, or you can email them for support

Community Mental Health Teams

If you are already receiving support for your mental health, tell your team or therapist about your cancer diagnosis and how this is impacting you and your body image or confidence. For more information on this you can go to Mental Health teams webpage.