Topic four: Radiation

Injuries to the skin or tissue caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays (sunburn), radiation therapy for cancer treatment. Rarer instances of radiation injury are nuclear emissions or explosions.

The effect of radiation reactions is dependent on the type of radiation, its energy, penetration and ionisation power, total dose, fractionation and overall exposure/treatment time.

Radiation-induced skin injuries range from erythema to dry or moist desquamation, skin necrosis, ulceration and death. (Jeschke et al., 2018)