Passing through airport security scanners is a mild inconvenience, if anything, for most people.

But for some, like Gillian Horton, the experience can cause intense anxiety.

Ms Horton was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 after a routine mammogram.

She had a single mastectomy and now wears a silicone breast prosthesis — or breast form — which fits into a specially designed bra with a pocket.

She recalls going to the airport to fly overseas for the first time after her cancer treatment and being faced with two security options.

"There was the metal detector, and then there was a full-body scanner," Ms Morton says.

"As you go through security, you get directed one way or the other, and I was hoping I would go through the metal detector.

Ms Horton was undergoing what she calls "scanxiety" — an experience that "brings back memories of perhaps your breast cancer treatment or your diagnosis".

Not only does going through the scanner revive difficult memories, the machine may also detect a breast form fitted under clothing.

"I always know that I'm going to get stopped," Ms Horton says.

Discussing a sensitive problem

To address the concerns of people like Ms Horton, Canberra Airport has teamed up with Cancer Council ACT to deliver first-of-its-kind training to security staff.

Ms Horton was asked to be part of the training by showing staff what different breast forms look like, describing how cancer patients feel when faced with scanners, and outlining what language they could use with customers who have similar concerns.

Ms Horton was excited to be involved, as "people were realising this was important, and can be an issue for so many women".

"There were plenty of questions and I was happy to share my experience," she says.

She says she once went to the airport and told a security officer she was wearing a breast form.

"I was told, 'You don't have to worry about that,' but I do worry about it," Ms Horton says.

"It was much more about the language used — just to be mindful."

Ending airport 'intimidation'

Cancer Council ACT chief executive Verity Hawkins says she was pleased the airport took the matter seriously.

She says involving Ms Horton was crucial because "there's nothing like that personal story and that lived experience to bring different perspectives to the conversation that the staff might not have thought about otherwise".

"They have privacy concerns, they have anxieties about the scanners and just to be heard and understood, and for people to take into account their experience, is really so important," Ms Hawkins says.

The airport's head of aviation, Michael Thomson, says staff feedback has been positive.

Mr Thomson says security staff wanted to help customers and were keen to learn more about the problem.

He says the training is the first of several improvements, adding the airport is consulting disability groups about delivering similar training.

"We will continue to develop our screening practices and procedures to acknowledge some of the challenges that some people with hidden disabilities face when they come to the airport," he says.

Ms Horton says that, after taking part in the training, she is more confident about using the scanners because she knows how the process works.

She hopes other women with the same concerns and anxieties will feel more at ease.

"Knowing the security staff in Canberra have had training, that just makes me feel so much more comfortable," she says.