Breast cancer is a disease affecting millions of women across the globe. Many of those women diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer choose to have a mastectomy, the surgical removal of all or part of the breast.My mother is a breast cancer survivor, and because of her aggressive breast cancer and her family history of breast cancer she decided to have a double mastectomy.
The process of my mom’s breast reconstruction surgery began immediately after her double mastectomy. The surgeons removed both of her breasts, then inserted expander implants under the remaining skin. These implants had a small amount of saline in them and have ports that allow doctors to gradually fill up the implants over time to the desired size.
The expanders slowly stretch the skin as it heals from the surgery to make room for the implant she had put in later. The expander implants come in a variety of shapes and sizes to accommodate to the woman’s body type. My mom went in multiple times to get hers filled to the size she wanted. She says now that she liked the way her breasts looked with the expander implants in and she wishes that they could have been left in.
Once the expander implants have done their job, they are removed and permanent implants are put into place. My mom chose to have saline implants because she heard horror stories of women who had silicone implants leak and poison the body. Before she even had cancer, my mom had a breast augmentation and learned about the costs and benefits of both saline and silicone. This helped her with her decision on her current implant.
Today’s options for reconstruction help make reconstructed breasts look close to normal. Breasts can be reconstructed using either saline or silicone gel implants, with tissue from your own back, belly or butt, and can be reconstructed to have a smooth surface and even nipples. Nipples are created through tattooing or from your own transplanted tissue, or a combination of both.
After healing from those surgeries, my mom decided to have skin taken from her upper inner thigh to create nipples. Once the nipples were created, they were tattooed to give the look of an actual areola.
My maternal grandmother also had breast cancer and had one of her breasts removed. Her doctor gave her the option to have reconstructive surgery after healing from her mastectomy. She decided to go through with it and have the procedure done immediately rather than waiting.
After the surgery she knew there was something wrong, and she says that her doctor told her that her skin wasn’t healing because of the implant. She decided to have the implant removed. She says now that she regrets not listening to her doctor originally because now she deals with a prosthetic breast. She wears the prosthesis in her bra to make her feel more confident and balance out her chest.
For more information about breast reconstruction, check out www.breastreconstruction.org. The site breaks down the process of breast reconstruction surgery in a way that’s easy to understand.
Image courtesy of mentorcorp.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment