Mutilation
More than 40% of women who chose to remain ‘flat’, so to speak, after a mastectomy are dissatisfied with the aesthetic result of the operation. This does not mean that they regret their choice, but that they are dissatisfied with the work of the oncological surgeon. Some even feel mutilated by their doctor. Where their chest used to be, they see retracted scars that make their entire chest appear hollow, they see bumps, dents, excess ‘patches of skin’ and asymmetrical scars. “It’s a battlefield, I just don’t look at it.” It is difficult to imagine that flat women experience this this way, chairman Bert van Drunen of the Dutch Association for Plastic Surgery, he tells Pointer. “’Flat’ is by definition mutilated. It’s just accepting whether or not you have breast(s). But what the result is, that is predictable and then you have to accept that it has become that way. There are many women who are at peace with that.”
Pointer, Van Drunen speaks about the wish of patients without reconstruction to be operated on by a plastic surgeon, just like with breast reconstruction. The expectation is that it will pay more attention to aesthetics. The study shows that little attention is paid to this in the oncological surgeon’s office. A conversation in which breast cancer patients could exchange ideas with their doctor did not actually exist or had to be ‘claimed’. More than 85% of women who chose ‘flat’ had no say in the placement or shape of the scar. While there are indeed different options.
2023-11-18 06:00:32
#Breast #cancer #patients #reconstruction #feel #heard #doctors #woman #breasts
