The Oncology Aesthetics Podcast
Nurturing well-being through the cancer journey.
The Oncology Aesthetics podcast is a guide to enhancing well-being, self-esteem, and resilience during your cancer journey. Join us as we share expert skin care tips, practical self-care strategies, and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's challenges. Let's rediscover strength, radiance, and joy together—because thriving is possible throughout treatment and beyond.
The Oncology Aesthetics Podcast
What is an Oncology-Trained Aesthetician, and how can they Help?
Navigating the cancer journey involves much more than medical treatments alone. In this deeply insightful conversation with Andrea Wendich, Director for Navigation overseeing 18 nurses across North Texas, we uncover the critical yet often overlooked role of specialized skincare during cancer treatment.
Andrea reveals why skincare education should begin immediately following diagnosis, preparing patients for the physical changes ahead. "I think having that education about how to take care of your skin, what are some things you can do to promote skincare along the way but also really focus on those side effects not being as severe" becomes an essential part of comprehensive cancer care. While dryness, redness, and sensitivity are expected side effects, patients shouldn't simply accept living with discomfort that can sometimes become debilitating.
The conversation shifts to a powerful revelation about misconception—skincare during cancer treatment isn't about vanity, but necessity and dignity. "I think everybody wants to look and feel their best," Andrea explains, "So why would we not want to provide them with something to help them make them feel a little bit better? Because we all know that when you feel better, you feel healthy." This wellness component provides crucial mental health support, allowing patients to "zone out for an hour, hour and a half, and just pamper themselves and get the needed rest and relaxation."
Most compelling are the stories of patient advocacy that emerge when individuals experience specialized oncology aesthetics services. Andrea shares how patients in support groups spread the word about these life-enhancing treatments, with one patient telling their physician, "You need to go, you need to send all your patients there." This grassroots enthusiasm underscores the profound impact these services have on quality of life during treatment.
Ready to discover how specialized skincare might support your cancer journey or that of someone you love? Subscribe now to hear more expert conversations exploring the intersection of oncology and aesthetics—where science meets compassion to create a more comfortable healing experience.
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This podcast is brought to you by the Ricardo Fisas Natura Bisse Foundation, produced by Lyons Creative. All the information contained in this podcast is intended only to provide general skincare guidance. The information is not a substitute for consulting with a physician or other qualified medical professional. Welcome to the Oncology Aesthetics Podcast, where we explore ways to enhance well-being, self-esteem and resilience while navigating cancer. We bring you expert skincare tips, practical self-care strategies and inspiring stories to help you rediscover strength, radiance and joy. Welcome everyone. My name Raejan. I'm the National Educator with the Ricardo Fisas Natura Bisse Foundation. Today, I have Ms Andrea Windich with me. Andrea, welcome to the show. It's great to be here. Thank you, Andrea. Can you tell us a little bit about your role?
Andrea:Yes, so I am a Director for Navigation. I actually have 18 nurses that help navigate patients all over North Texas. So if you come to my hospital you will be navigated by one of my nurses. So we really focus on helping patients kind of go through their cancer journey from the start of their cancer diagnosis all the way through end of treatment. So helping patients kind of overcome any hurdles, any barriers need support. Our nurses are there to walk through them and walk with them on their cancer journey.
Raejan:That's amazing. So you and your team are very involved, from the beginning all the way to the end of treatment, correct?
Andrea:Yes and what I like about our navigation program is that we are very involved with the physicians. Our physicians truly love our navigators and really have that connected piece . So a lot of the times our nurses get the referrals directly from our providers because they want them to be navigated sooner
Raejan:Amazing. from your perspective, you really are involved with those physicians and also the patients as they're navigating this. Where do you see
Andrea:the importance of skincare in this process???
Andrea:That's a great question.
Andrea:I think we obviously know that there are a lot of side effects from all the medications that they take, and so I think for me, I actually think skincare needs to start in the very beginning.
Andrea:So as a cancer patient gets diagnosed, they're going to go through some form of treatment. I think having that education about okay, so I can prepare my body, what am I going to do to make sure that I am physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for this journey? I think there's also an opportunity for us to make sure that, from a skincare perspective, my skin needs to be healthy, kind of all the way through, so that I'm going to prevent that those side effects from reoccurring or being far worse than they could be. So I do think that having that education about how to take care of your skin what are some of the things that you can do to be able to promote skincare along the way but also really focus on those side effects not being as severe, and if there's an opportunity for our patients to do that, I think that's fantastic!
Raejan:I love that you touched on that preparation aspect, kind of getting the skin to a point where it's healthy even prior to treatment starting, so that we can kind of mitigate some of those side effects Absolutely. And what are some of the side effects that you see most commonly on things like the hair, the skin, the nails?
Andrea:Yeah, I think we see a lot of dryness, a lot of redness. I think every patient experiences side effects very differently, but I think most of the time we see sensitivity, just overall skin dryness, redness. But again, I think each person is going to experience something different and so I think it's really important to be able to understand if I have this type of side effect, then what can I do to prevent it or make it so it's not so uncomfortable.
Raejan:Yeah, and you've worked alongside us at the foundation. You know that we provide sort of skincare education sessions and some of those services to provide a little bit of relief from those side effects. In your experience and kind of seeing how your patients and your navigation teams patients have worked with us, how have you seen that make a difference with working with an oncology trained esthetician?
Andrea:Oh I, think it's fantastic. I think one of the things for me. I think I want to encourage all of our patients to go to the right people when they find their education. Don't go on the internet and Google stuff. I think our nurses have the ability to provide this resource to them, to know that these people are trained. I think having that education up front is so important. But I think this program also checks the box, because we're always trying to advocate for our patients.
Andrea:I understand you're going through a difficult diagnosis. You've got things going on. They have families, they've got children. Some may be single moms and who are single dads who are needing to provide resources. They can't not work. There's so much going on I think they miss the most important part of being diagnosed with cancer is that there's a kind of a wellness factor that goes into play with it too. People need to take care of their overall mental health and wellness, and I think this checks the box for us because it really provides them with this opportunity just to zone out for an hour, hour and a half, and just pamper themselves and get the needed rest and the relaxation that they need. So I think this program for me not only provides great education about how to take care of your skin and what things to do for your skin, but also kind of fills that gap for those patients when their overall wellness just is so important.
Raejan:Yes, yeah. You could maybe even say it's a lot deeper than skin, huh?
Andrea:Exactly.
Raejan:What are some of the common misconceptions that you see in this sort of realm of taking care of the self and taking care of the skin, maybe even the hair, the nails, the things that kind of may be more perception based of appearance?
Andrea:Yeah, yeah. I think the biggest thing I think I see is our patients tell us a lot, they'll report to their providers that they've got dry skin, or they'll tell them that there's a common side effect and the expectation is that's what's? That's the side effect of chemotherapy or radiation, so they just have to wait and see if it goes away. I think the piece that I really like about this program is that piece of how to take care of that, because although it is a side effect, it's still something that they have to live with every day and so if there's something that we can do to alleviate the uncomfortableness of it you know, sometimes there could be situations where people you know can't put clothing on because it hurts so bad. So I think we all know it's expected side effect, but it doesn't have to to provide them with treatments and different regimes that will help them. Even though it is expected, we can make it a little bit more comfortable and livable for them, absolutely.
Raejan:Yeah, that's a great point and I feel like something that I hear from a lot of our clients that come to us is they often, before receiving a referral from their nurse navigator or from their doctor, kind of perceive getting a facial service or a body hydration service as more of an aesthetics thing, something that maybe even I've heard the term even be used vain or vanity. So I love that you touched on the points of actually making the skin more comfortable so that it can kind of mitigate some of those side effects that may be affecting their day-to-day life.
Andrea:Absolutely. And I think the one thing that goes with a cancer diagnosis, we understand your body is going to go through a change, I think everybody wants to look and feel their best and so, even though they expect it, their body's changing and they may not be prepared for it. So why would we not want to provide them with something to help them make them feel a little bit better? Cause we all know that when you feel better, you feel healthy. You know I get the vain word. I don't think it's vanity. I think you know if you are used to having a full head of hair and you no longer have a head of hair, or you know your skin is changing, your eyebrows are gone, there's ways for us to make patients feel whole again and I think that's important and I think you know some people may affect more than others, but I think having that opportunity just to make them feel you know normal again I think is tremendous, absolutely.
Raejan:From your standpoint, what seems to be the most important aspect of making sure that someone is finding the correctly trained esthetician or cosmetologist?
Andrea:Yeah, absolutely. So I think that I thought about this a lot too. I think that it is so important because we all know that there are specifics that are in your skincare guide that I even didn't even know about. I even learned about you know how to take care of my skin a little bit better.
Andrea:I think one of the things that I think are so crucial is there are so many estheticians and hairdressers that are out there that don't feel comfortable taking care of cancer patients.
Andrea:So once they find out they have cancer, you know they're not trained and they don't know what to do.
Andrea:They don't want to do any harm, which is obvious, but I think there is such an opportunity for those estheticians and those hairdressers who really do want to help those patients and what would be a great way for them to kind of gain some more education about it, to not have to turn these patients away. So I think making sure that you vet somebody that knows exactly what they're doing, as far as not just a skincare guide or you know skincare products, because we all know some skincare products could cause more harm than good and it could and it may not necessarily work for that patient. So having the ability to kind of find somebody who knows, that education, specifically who is trained, I think is so important. But there is such an opportunity to do more for our patients by making everybody aware of these tips and tricks and these education pieces that I think would be phenomenal for estheticians that are out having their own, their own salons and their own areas that they work, would be fantastic, absolutely.
Raejan:Yeah, and then, lastly, I would just love to hear from you what has been the most rewarding part of working alongside us and really incorporating these oncology skincare services into your own team and seeing the difference in the patients that you work with.
Andrea:Yeah, I think the one thing we hear patient stories and testimonials from different events that we've been at and I think the one thing I love about this program and working alongside with you guys is that it is a resource that nobody knows about, and unless they talk about it and we've had patients that'll tell other patients on support groups hey, did you know this exists? And I just think that they, say you know what? I would have never have made myself do that, or I would have never just taken the time to do it, but it was right there for me. So, as I'm getting educated, I'm also being pampered and being, you know, able to just relax a little bit.
Andrea:I think that the patients feel like it's phenomenal. They can't say enough about it. Sometimes they're kind of lost at words about it. We have one patient who actually told one of our physicians you need to go, you need to send all your patients there, because look at this service that's available to them, and so I think that the most rewarding part is just what you guys do every day for these patients and just how great they make that, that you can make them feel. I think that speaks volumes.
Raejan:I love to hear it. Thank you so much and thank you so much for being here. We are so grateful for you and everything that you do and can't wait to have you back.
Andrea:I'm excited, I love, I love, I love being here with you guys.
Raejan:Thank you for joining us. We hope you found this information helpful. It's your reviews and feedback that help make this podcast even better. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who might benefit. Until next time, take care, stay radiant, and we'll see you soon.