Aesthetic mastectomy (going flat)- is that a thing on the NHS?

Hi Ruva. Sorry to hear you are heading for a mastectomy. 

I have decided to not have a reconstruction. They wouldn't be able to do it for a couple of years because of radiotherapy etc so I would have had to have waited anyway. I also didn't want another period of recovery after another operation.

My mastectomy has not left me with any excess skin or fat. It is very neat. The scar has healed well and nearly 11 months later is disappearing. My surgeon was an oncoplastic surgeon. This basically means that they have an interest in reconstruction. That may explain the very neat appearance of my chest. I am really pleased with it.

I wear a prosthesis which doesn't bother me. I quite like the comforting feeling of the weight but I know some people don't like it. I did go flat during the radiotherapy for comfort which was fine. I don't think people really noticed.

 It is not silly to worry about aesthetics. I am sure your surgeon and breast nurse will talk through all the options. They may depend on what treatment you need after your surgery 

That’s really helpful, thank you.

Hello Ruva,  I really can’t give you any personal advice about flat closure but when it is done well like an aesthetic one there should be no excess skin or dog ears.  There is another option here is US and it is called Goldilocks mastectomy.  Works on women who have larger breasts.  You can see on YouTube.  You can see aesthetic flat closure on YouTube too and it is good to have a visual.  Take care and hope all goes well 

Barbara

HI,

It's not sully to think about these things at all. The impending change to our appearance is a lot to deal with especially as it's not a decision we've chosen to make.

I was also in the position where the MRI showed a larger resection was needed and therefore had a mastectomy and nodal dissection today. Reconstruction was not done as I have a risk of clotting and risk of bleeding, so I am going flat on the left. I've seen some real life scars and was impressed that they were so neat once healed.

There are times Google is not our friend.

Best wishes for your journey.

Hi.  I had a mastectomy and expressed to the surgeon that I would not be wanting reconstruction in the future and she has done the neatest smoothest job you could imagine.  I think sometimes people have skins sparing mastectomies if they plan on future reconstructions and maybe that can make for a messy end result?.  I like you saw pictures online and was expecting my scar to look awful but it is so so neat not even the tiniest bit of bumps and even the line itself is very fine. So it's not necessarily like what you see online  x