For many women, a skin sparing mastectomy can be one of the best long-term options.
This procedure is often necessary when cancer requires the removal of the breast tissue.
If your doctor has recommended this procedure in the hopes of removing the cancerous tissue from your body and preventing it from spreading, do not put it off.
However, you should talk to your doctor about your options for procedures like this one, which can help you to have very natural looking breasts even after removal.
What to Expect For many individuals, the diagnosis of cancer is desperate even when there are treatment options that can work.
Often times, to remove the cancerous tissue, surgeons will need to remove the entire breast.
However, this type of procedure can be limiting.
If fighting the disease requires this type of removal, some doctors may recommend a procedure called skin sparing mastectomy.
With it, the patient's recovery can have more of a cosmetically appealing result.
The following is a breakdown of what normally occurs.
- Doctors remove the nipple and the surrounding areola.
- All of the cancerous breast tissue then comes out through the opening.
- The skin covering the breast remains intact.
This creates more of an opening that looks like an envelope.
- Surgeons can then remove tissue from another portion of the body and transfer it into this skin opening.
- Doctors reshape the tissue to create a normal looking breast out of the tissue.
After the procedure and significant healing time, the breast looks much like it used to, though there may be size and shape differences.
In most cases, it will look and feel like normal tissue.
Because of this, women will be able to wear the same bras and clothing.
Why It Matters Many times, once a woman has overcome cancer, she is left with scars and missing breasts as a result.
That can be very scarring emotionally since many women identify this with the battle of facing cancer.
By using this procedure, doctors are able to keep most of the tissue looking normal.
While there will be scars, the overall shape remains the same.
That means that from the outside, no one needs to know what battles you have been through.
Skin sparing mastectomy is a safe procedure.
It offers numerous advantages to the patient.
Surgeons can perform the reconstruction at the same time as removing the cancerous tissue.
That means women need just one surgical procedure.
There is no increased risk of developing cancer, either.
Rather, the patient is able to have the same risk level of developing cancer as she would if she would have had a full mastectomy without any reconstruction.
Many women who struggle to regain a sense of control over cancer get a significant benefit because of this.