Restoring Nature's Beauty

Everybody is beautifully and wonderfully made. Unfortunately, sometimes disease or injuries mar that beauty. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, a month where ladies are reminded to do regular breast examinations.

But what happens when there is cancer, and the breast needs to be removed? Breast Cancer is the commonest cancer amongst women in Singapore. Because of improved and more widespread screening like annual mammograms and ultrasound surveillance, breast cancer is increasingly being picked up in younger women.

The mainstay of the treatment of breast cancer is breast removal surgery, or mastectomy, in conjunction with adjuvant therapy, either chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

When faced with the prospect of needing a mastectomy, do not despair, because that beauty need not be gone forever...it can be restored and reconstructed. Preferably with your own body tissue.

Breast removal and reconstruction techniques have so evolved that now, the end result is really very close to the original. Several refinements in surgical techniques have contributed to the restoration of nature's beauty, performed within a reasonable space of operation time of 4 to 6 hours.

Skin-Sparing Mastectomy - means that the Breast Resection Surgeon removes as little skin and nipple as is possible, and the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon is able to utilise the remaining breast skin pocket to help shape the new breast.

Simultaneous and Immediate Breast Reconstruction - means the breast reconstruction is performed at the same operation as the mastectomy. Simultaneous when the donor tissue is performed at the same time as the removal surgery, thus saving almost 2 hours of operation time.

Shortening the operative time translates into reduction in facility costs, reduction in exposure to general anaesthesia time with resultant quickened recovery time.

No doubt Breast Reconstruction means additional surgery, but that additional surgery is worth the discomfort and cost in the long-run.