Photodynamic therapy (PDT) for skin cancer

Before treatment, the doctor or nurse may remove any scabs from the area. Then they put a cream that contains a light-sensitive drug onto the area. They usually cover this with a dressing. You then wait for around 3 hours before having the light treatment. This allows the cream to soak into the layers of the skin.

Next, the doctor or nurse cleans the area. Then they shine a special light directly onto your skin. The light treatment usually lasts between 8 and 45 minutes, depending on the light source they use. Some people may find they get a stinging or burning feeling in the treatment area. Tell your doctor or nurse if you are uncomfortable. They can give you something to help.

After this, they put a dressing over the area to cover it and protect it from light. This stays on for up to 48 hours after your treatment. Your doctor or nurse will give you instructions about this before you leave hospital.

We want everyone affected by cancer to feel our information is written for them.

We want our information to be as clear as possible. To do this, we try to:

• use plain English
• explain medical words
• use short sentences
• use illustrations to explain text
• structure the information clearly
• make sure important points are clear.

We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.

You can read more about how we produce our information here.