Nipple Reconstruction Options
Dr. D makes a guest appearance on the blog YourCareEveryWhere.com to talk about your options when it comes to breast cancer and mastectomies.
If you lose a nipple after breast cancer surgery, a plastic surgeon can reconstruct a nipple. You have alternatives to reconstruction, too.
When a breast cancer patient undergoes a mastectomy, it’s possible their nipple may be preserved. But it depends on how far the nipple and areola (the ring of pigmented skin around a nipple) are from the margins of the cancer tumor and surrounding tissue. However, nipple-sparing mastectomy is only an option for women with very small, early-stage cancer near the outer part of the breast, according to the America Cancer Society. So mastectomy surgery results in most breast cancer patients losing their nipples.
