Exploding the myths around x-ray harm

Did you know that each year the average person is exposed to the equivalent radiation from 75 chest x-rays, just from the soil and surrounding air? That's not considered harmful, so why are we so spooked about x-rays? UniSA radiography lecturer Shayne Chau puts our fears to rest in this Health Explainer.

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[TheMadFleasWife]

My 83 year old friend suffered 3rd degree radiation burns from a botched x-ray at her dentist and now she’s scarred for the rest of her life

[andrewweaver]

Let’s all listen to the people making money off these machines about how safe they are! Nothing could go wrong right?!?

[robertcampos]

How many xrays are safe within a period of 3-4 months ?

[mariamaria]

Finally, a short real answer I was looking for thanks

[johnnyhun]

if its not harmful then why you have to hold a lead cover front of your body during x-ray exam ?

[adeyemibabatunde]

The safety instruction from the manufacturers of x-rays machine should be followed

[benxamin]

But it's like saying that drinking 8 liters of coffee in one day is ok, because it's the amount of coffee you safely drink in a month.

[andygroomer]

Comparing apples and oranges. the amount of background radiation is receive during a very long time and uniformely over your body at very low dose during a year wich let ur body time to repair itself. Its not the same as receiving an x-ray dose that last second and highly localised in your body at a much higher dose in time. i can use the comparison of energy. what would cause more damage, the energy of a bomb released over a wide area and release uniformlaly during a year or that energy released in seconds and highly localise. an x-ray dose from 1 xray test is million or billion time more than what you receive naturaly from background radiation.

[djr]

No discussion of dose/time dependence and their implications on cellular health, DNA damage and so forth. Exposure to ionising radiation from normal every day activities bears no similitude to receiving a concentrated, comparatively high dose over a fraction of a second. A bit like saying most people eat 3 meals a day. Try consuming the three meals rapidly and in one sitting and see how that works out.

[madjack]

these comments are something else. the lack of understanding of basic physics really shows how ignorant some people are when they buy into fear mongering.

[SonzOfEnoch]

I've had 3 chest x rays in the past year what is my risk factor I wont be getting anymore that's for sure

[seanrowshandel]

Look at the imaging behind him which appears that he must have made: the setting is Too High; there's too much "whiteness" in the image for it to be clear. That's because he used an inappropriately high power setting. Although he's standing up for people who have gotten bad chest X-Rays, it's certainly different from when a 29-year old is drugged with opiates at the clinic, told to forget everything he knows about medicine, and then given an X-Ray on a similar setting (too high) on his testicles for no reason. There are MUCH worse things that happen in hospitals than inappropriate chest X-Rays. In America, they're trying to bring oversight into these practices by having illogical healthcare legislation. It seems like the only way. If someone is supposed to be able to practice medicine, he should also be expected to be able to practice medicine with a few intentionally-placed obstacles. That's it.

[Ramrajput]

does harm the body from pcb x-ray machine?

[ant]

75 cheet x-rays a year?? Are you awesome if true

[Cornerboy]

I got several x-rays yesterday. Today I feel absolutely miserable; my whole core is sore and I'm feeling nauseous. Harmful? I don't know but I do think there are side effects.

[lukaslukas]

Please answer me this. Why are when X ray operator always hiding when taking X ray image of someone, If X rays are so dangerous, then they should be banned, all the patients that took X ray images recently Never complained of any problems, then why are you operators always hiding when talking of X ray images of someone else?