Shannen Doherty prepares for radiation therapy after months of chemo sessions

Shannen Doherty has been updating her fans about her road to recovery through her social media accounts. In her latest post, the American actress reveals that she is gearing up for radiation therapy, the next stage of her battle against breast cancer.

The 45-year-old actress shared a video of her visit to the reconstructive surgeon in order to increase her tissue expander — a health measure to be taken before the radiation therapy begins. "This is Dr. Jay Orringer, who is my reconstructive surgeon and my friend. What he's doing is I have an expander in. And because I'm starting radiation soon, he has to over expand me to make this placeholder larger because radiation shrinks it," she says in her Instagram video.

Orringer, Doherty's surgeon, further explains the reason for the expansion. "Radiation acts like a shrinkwrap effect around the expander. Whether you lose 20 percent volume or 30 percent, it's difficult to know," the doctor explains.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress has been documenting her cancer treatment and is putting up a brave face before her fans in order to spread the awareness about the disease. She has always urged people suffering from cancer to find the right doctor to get the best treatment. After praising her expert team of doctors, Shannen talked about her reconstructive surgeon in the video she shared on 17 November.

"I consider myself very lucky and very blessed to have this man as my doctor. The last couple of days have been busy gearing up for radiation," the ailing actress said about her doctor. The actress underwent months of chemotherapy sessions after being diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015.