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Results
By Mayo Clinic staffKeep your expectations realistic when anticipating the outcome of your surgery. Breast reconstruction surgery offers many benefits, but it won't make you look or feel exactly like you did before your mastectomy.
What breast reconstruction can do:
- Give you a breast contour
- Provide improved symmetry to your breasts so that they look similar under clothing or a bathing suit
- Help you avoid the need for an external prosthesis
What breast reconstruction may do:
- Improve your self-esteem and body image
- Partially erase the physical reminders of your disease
- Require additional surgery to correct reconstructive problems
What breast reconstruction won't do:
- Make you look exactly the same as before
- Give your reconstructed breast the same sensations as your normal breast
References
- Breast reconstruction after mastectomy. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/002992-pdf.pdf. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Surgery choices for women with early-stage breast cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/SurgeryChoicesESBCPDF. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Breast reconstruction. American Society of Plastic Surgeons. http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Patients_and_Consumers/Procedures/Reconstructive_Procedures/Breast_Reconstruction.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Hu E, et al. Breast reconstruction. Surgical Clinics of North America. 2007;87:453.
- Reavey P, et al. Update on breast reconstruction in breast cancer. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2008;20:61.
- Wilhelmi BJ, et al. Breast reconstruction. In: Townsend CM, et al. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/207919050-3/0/1565/0.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Wilkins EG, et al. Breast reconstruction in women with breast cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Atisha D, et al. Prospective analysis of long-term psychosocial outcomes in breast reconstruction. Annals of Surgery. 2008;247:1019.
- Walsh MF (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 22, 2010.
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