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10/04/26 | Revised 10/04/26
chemo and cancer
Swimming During Chemo and Cancer Treatment: What to Know and What Helps
When you can get back in the pool during chemo, radiation or after surgery, what to ask your care team, and what to wear once you’re in the water.
Getting back in the water is a good goal, and your care team will tell you when.
Swimming is gentle on sore joints, and for many women it’s the exercise that feels best during and after treatment. Studies of aquatic exercise programs for breast cancer survivors have found improvements in pain, shoulder movement, fitness and quality of life.1
Whether you can swim right now depends on your treatment, so ask your care team before your first swim. These are the main things they’ll consider. If swimming is part of your routine, being told to wait can be frustrating. You can still be poolside.
what to ask your care team
- Is swimming okay for me at this point in my treatment?
- Do my blood counts, my line or port, a healing wound or my skin mean I should wait?
- If I can swim, is there any kind of water or activity I should avoid?
- When should I check with you again?
can you swim during chemotherapy?
your treatment and blood counts both matter
Sometimes, with your oncologist’s okay. Chemotherapy can lower your body’s ability to fight infection, and people with weakened immune systems are the most at risk from germs in pool water.2 Your oncologist can tell you when your immune system is strong enough to swim.
Swim England’s general advice is to avoid swimming during chemotherapy. Lakes and the ocean are less controlled than a well-kept pool, so they carry more risk.3
- If swimming is off for now, ask whether wading or dangling your feet is okay. Some care teams say no even to that while your immune system is low.4
- The ocean, bays and lakes. Warm salt water and brackish water can carry Vibrio bacteria, and people on cancer treatment or with an open wound are more likely to get sick from them. Stay out of salt or brackish water if you have any open wound, including a healing incision.5
- Hot tubs. Germs grow easily in warm hot tub water, and the CDC lists people with weakened immune systems among those most at risk from breathing in mist from a contaminated hot tub.6 Ask before you use one.
- On oxaliplatin? Watch out for cold water. Oxaliplatin can cause strong sensitivity to cold, which may last for days or longer after an infusion.7,8 Ask your care team how long to avoid cold exposure, including cool pool water and cold showers.
can you swim with a port or PICC line?
it depends on the line
A PICC or Hickman line can’t go in the water while it’s in: water raises the risk of infection and can dislodge the line.3,9 A port often can, once the incision has healed and no needle is in place.3,10 Wait until the needle is out and the site has closed before you get in, and if there’s still a dressing on from your last infusion, ask before you swim.
Shower covers are for the shower. Waterproof covers for PICC lines are made to keep a line dry in the shower, and hospital instructions say never to put a PICC under water, in a bath or a pool.11 Don’t count on a cover in the pool.
Every line and every patient is a little different, so check with the nurse or doctor who looks after your line.
can you swim during radiation?
ask first, and watch your skin
Pool chemicals can irritate skin that radiation has made sensitive, so you may be advised to avoid swimming during radiation and for a while afterward.9 Ask your team before you swim. Stay out of the water if the treated skin is blistered or peeling, and stop if swimming irritates it.12
When you do go back, rinse the treated area in the shower after your swim to wash off the chlorine.9
when can you swim after surgery?
when the wound has healed and your surgeon says so
Wait until your wound has completely healed and your surgeon has cleared you to swim.9,3 Drains, stitches or any open skin mean waiting longer, and that includes the incision after a port is removed.
can you swim after a mastectomy?
yes, once you’re healed
Yes, once your wounds have completely healed and your surgeon says it’s okay.9 After that, how you swim is your choice. Some women are comfortable swimming flat, some prefer a breast form in the pocket of their swimsuit, and some go flat at the beach and wear a form at the pool.
should you wear your regular breast form in the pool?
We recommend a swim form instead. Your everyday form is heavier, so once your swimsuit is wet it can drag the pocket down, and chlorine or salt left on silicone breaks it down over time.13
A swim form is made for the water. It’s lighter, it resists chlorine and salt water, and it dries quickly.14 Rinse it in fresh water after every swim. We carry several:
can you wear a regular swimsuit with a breast form?
You can, with a pocket to hold the form in place. A form loose in a swimsuit cup tends to shift as you move.
- Use the pad pockets your swimsuit already has. A lot of swimsuits come with removable pads, and the pocket they sit in can hold a lightweight swim form. Take the pad out and slip the form in, or tuck the form in behind the pad on your mastectomy side.15 A swim form is lighter than an everyday form and easier to fit through a small opening.15 Before you swim, lean forward and move around to make sure it stays put. If the opening is wide, a few stitches across part of it keep the form from slipping out. If the pads are sewn in, there’s no opening, so you’d need a pocket added.
- A mastectomy swimsuit. If you’d rather not fuss with pads or sewing, a swimsuit made for after surgery does the work for you. The pockets are sewn into the lining on both sides, so they work for either side or both, and they’re sized by cup so the form sits snugly against your chest without shifting. Many have higher necklines and armholes that cover scars, and some come in chlorine-resistant fabric for regular swimming.16 A swim form is the best fit for them.
- Add a pocket to a suit you love. If your suit has cups but no pad pocket, a pocket can be sewn in: a piece of swimsuit lining stitched inside the cup, open at the top or side. It’s a simple job if you sew, and a tailor or alteration shop can do it if you don’t.17,16 Use a lightweight swim form with it.
- Choosing a bikini? Look for a top sized by bra cup, with a full cup and a supportive band.17
- Rinse your form and your swimsuit in fresh water after every swim.
- Start gently. Water exercise may help you regain shoulder movement once your care team clears you.1
Our breast form guide explains the types, and you can browse all our breast forms.
scalp comfort, new hair and sun protection
what helps, in the water and out
- A tender scalp. Pool chemicals can make a tender, itchy scalp worse. Rinse well after your swim and follow with a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner.3 A soft Lycra Swim Cap stretches on without pulling.
- Water up your nose. If water up your nose is uncomfortable, a Rubber Nose Clip may help.
- New hair growth. Your first new hair is soft and fragile. A rubber or silicone cap helps keep pool water off it, and a gentle rinse and conditioner after your swim help. Our hair growth after chemo guide has more.
- Sun on a bare scalp. Some chemo drugs make skin burn more easily, and hair loss leaves more of your scalp exposed to the sun.18 When you swim outdoors, use a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher on any bare skin, and reapply about every two hours and after swimming.19 Out of the water, a sun hat on a dry head covers your scalp.20
what’s best for covering a bald head in the pool?
soft, close-fitting, retro, for water aerobics, or for lounging
It depends on whether you’re swimming or lounging, how tender your scalp is, and how you want to look. We have a lot of fashionable options.
Customers tell us the cute caps make them feel special at the pool. When you feel like you’ve lost something, a pretty cap gives you a little something back, and a lot of women keep wearing theirs long after treatment. They have a retro charm nobody expects at the pool, so while you’re hanging out poolside, you can look cute too.
Lycra is the softest on a tender scalp, a silicone cap fits closest, petal caps add a retro look, lined turban caps are popular for water aerobics, and soft turbans suit lounging poolside. A swim cap doesn’t make swimming safe if your care team has advised you to wait.
- For a tender scalp: our lycra caps. They stretch on without any tug, which makes them the kindest on a tender scalp. Water passes through lycra, so they cover your scalp without keeping it dry. Lycra Swim Caps.
- For a retro look: our petal caps. A lot of our customers love them. They’re rubber, so they keep more water off than lycra, and they’re fun to wear. Flower Swim Cap.
- For a close fit: a silicone cap. A close-fitting silicone cap can help reduce water on your scalp, although some water may still get underneath. It doesn’t suit everyone, though: some women find silicone grabby on a bare, tender scalp, and if you do, a lycra cap or a turban is the kinder choice. Sync Silicone Long Hair Swim Cap.
- For extra coverage: the Hair Guard. Under a cap, it covers your hairline, your ears and the back of your neck, helps keep water out, and pulls down as low as you like. On its own, it covers your ears. Hair Guard.
- For water aerobics: a lined turban cap. Customers tell us water aerobics gets them out of the house, lets them be with other people, and gives them something to look forward to. Our Shower and Swim Cap in One, Turban Bathing and Swim Cap and Gathered Retro Swim Turban are lined in water-resistant vinyl, and lots of women love them for water aerobics. The Gathered Retro Swim Turban has three ruffled gathers across the front and is one of our cutest, and the Turban Bathing and Swim Cap looks like a turban you chose for the beach.
- For lounging at the pool: a soft turban. Our Pleated Polyester Turban, Terry Cloth Turban and Three Seam Terry Cloth Turban are all popular poolside.
- Take your wig off before swimming. Chlorine and salt water are hard on wig fibers, so a swim cap is what goes on for the pool.
Browse all our swim caps and turbans. Our swim cap guide covers choosing a cap, and how to put on a swim cap shows the gentle, cupped-hands way to get it on.
Need help choosing a cap for the pool? Call us at 1-800-264-4287 and a person will talk the options through with you.
Ready for the pool?
Soft caps for tender scalps, and the Hair Guard to help keep hair dry.
keep learning
1 Mur-Gimeno E, et al. Systematic review of the effect of aquatic therapeutic exercise in breast cancer survivors. European Journal of Cancer Care, 2021.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing swimming-related illnesses.
3 Swim England. Swimming during and after cancer.
4 Patient Power. How to have safe summer fun as a patient with cancer.
5 District of Columbia Department of Health. Vibriosis fact sheet.
6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Legionella from hot tubs.
7 Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Oxaliplatin injection.
8 MD Anderson Cancer Center. How to cope with cold sensitivity during chemotherapy.
9 Breast Cancer Now. Physical activity, exercise and primary breast cancer.
10 MD Anderson Cancer Center. Should you get a central line for chemotherapy?
11 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. About your peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC).
12 Cancer Research UK. Radiotherapy and your skin.
13 Amoena. Benefits of swimming after breast surgery.
14 Amoena. Aqua Wave breast form.
15 Breast Cancer Now. Choosing swimwear after breast surgery.
16 Breastcancer.org. Bathing suit tips.
17 Breast Cancer Now. Clothing and swimwear.
18 Weill Cornell Medicine. 8 tips to combat chemo-related sun sensitivity.
19 American Academy of Dermatology. Sunscreen FAQs.
20 American Cancer Society. Getting help for hair loss.
This guide is for informational purposes only. It does not replace advice from your physician. Please consult with them before making any decisions, including whether to swim.
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