Nov 08
3
Breast Reconstruction a Personal Choice After Cancer
Reconstructive surgery after mastectomies and double mastectomies from breast cancer are actually not as common as you thought (or maybe it’s just me that thought they were more common than they really are). I was just reading that only almost 20% of women who have had radical mastectomies choose to have reconstructive breast surgery, which usually involves breast implants to fill out the area where the breast tissue was actually removed.
Many women actually don’t want their breasts to be reconstructed, perhaps a feeling of freedom sets in, some women actually say not having to worry about wearing a bra is nice, but others say that it was just more of a personal choice to not have something artificial put in to replace what was once theirs, or that they do not want to endure more invasive surgery or pain, which of course reconstructive surgery involves to a point.
There is no doubt that breast cancer treatments already do a number on a woman’s life. Most breast cancer patients experience a foggy memory and difficulty concentrating, and they never regain that sometimes either. They also suffer a hit because chemo, one of the most common treatments used for breast cancer in it’s more advanced stages, can cause the face to age because it takes estrogen levels down which makes the skin drier. They also suffer through varying degrees of pain depending on how advanced their cancer has become.Â
Not to mention the feeling that a part of them has been lost, for those women who have undergone more than a simple lumpectomy and have chosen either single or double mastectomies. Having reconstructive surgery constitutes more trauma, and therefore some women want to forego it, which is a scenario I can easily understand as I’m sure anyone could.Â
