I think I did something stupid

No, I think you'll be fine. By all means call tomorrow if you want to reassure yourself, but they're proper tattoos, and won't come off. The stickers were probably just to prevent irritation while they were still fresh.

(I've had them twice: once for my middle spine and once for my prostate; they managed to reuse one alignment dot for both.)

I googled and it seems that sticker should stay on BUT do not panic - just call them and explain. You did nothing stupid - how would you know if nobody took time to explain. Google said that they will just put on new stickers using your tattoo dots. Just call them in the morning and all will be well 👍😌.

I just had the tattoos that is what they go by. If you can peel them off, they’re definitely not gonna depend on them being there for any treatment. When they get you on the table, they line up those tattoos so that they are hitting the right spot.

Not a worry. They'll just stick new ones on. They know exactly where to place them. It's just the entry point for the radiation beam. Protects the skin a little from burn.

Unless they said "Do Not Remove" in big red letters, I think you'll be fine.😁

@johndavis60
Originally I had the tatoos and was used to line me up as close as they could on my bed. But they they did a low dose xray and looked at my markers and would adjust me in my bed as needed. My tatoos washed away and asked them about it. I was told don't use them after initially set up and first treatment. They advised we then do a low dose xray and realign you or your bed as needed.

Probably every other time they would come in an adjust me on my bed. Sometimes you don't get in exactly inside the mold of your bed and they move you around.

This is my experience with the tatoos. Your treatment doctors and tech may use the tatoos long term but as I posted mine did not use them at all after first treatment.

Mine weren't entry points; just alignment dots. While always targeting the same spot inside you, the giant SBRT machine spins 360° around your torso and zigzags, so there's no single entry point with that type of radiotherapy (that helps avoid surface burns, since no one spot of skin gets much radiation).

northoftheborder, oh, interesting. Mine was proton with precision point targeting. So the radiation is constant during the zigzagging spin.
I didn't lose my markers, a friend did. And we had the same bit of panic that johndavis has.

Hi All, thank you for your responses. Update: I called oncology and they told me the techs were supposed to take them off after the scan was completed and only the permanent tattoos are needed. So it’s ok that I took them off. Phew!!! 🙂

I'm glad. I doubted there was any problem, but this is a stressful time, and anything can feel like a big deal. At least you can cross this one off your worry list now.