I believe that one reason why women still fear breast cancer so much is because they are still carrying in their minds an old image of a woman who'd had one of the old "Halstead" radical mastectomies.
The Halstead was indeed radical: It removed the breast as well as the chest muscles, skin, and all the lymph nodes under the arm, and then it required skin grafting to close the chest wound. This was incredibly debilitating surgery and the aftermath was horrific to see too. No matter women are still haunted by its memory.
Well, ladies, those days are gone, thank heavens. Today, women needing (or in some cases desiring) to do mastectomy for treatment of their breast cancer look very different.
These days, skin-sparing mastectomy is done. In this operation, the breast surgeon makes the incision around the edge of the areola and removes the nipple and areola. Then, going in through that small, round opening, the surgeon finishes up his portion of the job by hollowing out the breast.
As the breast surgeon steps away from the OR table, a plastic surgeon steps up and rebuilds the patient's breast before she leaves the operating room. This reconstruction is done with an implant, or fatty tissue (called a flap) from other parts of her body. This tissue can come from her tummy (resulting in a full tummy tuck!), or her buttocks fat, or, in some cases, even her thighs. Her nipple and areola are rebuilt, too, but that's another procedure that's done a few months later.
When all this surgical work is done well, and by a skilled team, you'd have to inspect the naked breast very closely to be able to tell that surgery has even been done. Incredible.
And there's more: In some instances, we are even able to save the nipple and areola now! Here, the surgeon cuts around the nipple and areola as before, but he or she lifts them up, hollows out the breast, and — once the breast has been refilled with something healthy — then reattaches the nipple and areola. Again, incredible!
So, do spread the word and help me banish the old images of mastectomy surgery some women are still carrying around. We have come a long way, baby!
