Getting X-ray scans often could put you at a health risk
When 35-year-old Shivani Malik broke her leg a few months ago, she would go in for an X-ray every two weeks to check if it was healing. “My leg was in a cast and I felt I needed to know how much it had healed,” she says. After six weeks and three X-rays, Malik realised that her skin had started peeling off from the ankle and she was losing hair. It’s then that her doctor told her to stop getting X-ray scans. 

X-rays are electromagnetic radiations in a wave form just like gamma, ultraviolet, infrared and radio waves— but with a different wavelength. “X-rays, for instance, can pass through wood and the human body just like light can pass through glass,” says Dr Sneh Bhargava, radiologist, Sitaram Bhartia Research Institute, New Delhi. 

While there’s no way X-rays can be avoided completely, getting them done regularly can be extremely harmful. “In the human body, there are three systems which are affected by X-rays. First is the genitalia, which, if affected, may have a negative effect on children. X-rays are also very bad for the skin. It can result in skin rashes, hair loss and, in some cases, skin cancer. The third system that is affected is the blood, both red and white corpuscles,” says Dr Bhargava.
If the red blood cells are affected, one can suffer from anaemia. Damage to white blood cells can weaken your immune system and make your body more vulnerable to various diseases. 

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