Breast Cancer in women
Choosing not to have breast reconstruction
Some women who’d had a mastectomy chose not to have breast reconstruction. Some said they preferred not to have another operation. Others were comfortable and pleased with their prostheses. Yet other women were reluctant to use areas of the body that were otherwise unaffected for the purposes of reconstruction. Often women who declined reconstructive surgery mentioned all of these reasons.
Comments on why she opted not to have breast reconstruction.
Comments on why she opted not to have breast reconstruction.
It's not the same thing, you know, as your own breast.
And the doctor asked me if I can have you know, new breast.
I said no, I refused because that operation is the worst.
So that was very difficult, so I refused.
Explains that she is happy with a prosthesis and does not want a reconstruction.
Explains that she is happy with a prosthesis and does not want a reconstruction.
No and I don't want it.
They gave me silicone, silicone to wear in my bra, the hospital.
They call me down the hospital to re-fit my bras, to see what bra would fit the silicone.
So it's quite comfortable.
Sometimes I don't even remember I've got it on!
Explains that she did not want breast reconstruction because it involves using other areas of the...
Explains that she did not want breast reconstruction because it involves using other areas of the...
Oh one thing about mastectomies is that it's, as with everything else, some people are more skilled than others. And I did actually have a very good mastectomy if you can call a mastectomy good. I had a good result, one that's worked very well with prostheses.
So when I was offered the reconstruction with the second one I didn't really feel much point unless I'd had the first one reconstructed.
So I asked him to do the mastectomy really flat - the same as the first one - not to try and retain any skin and tissue for a reconstruction.
And the first one, because of the radiotherapy, if I was to have had a reconstruction I would've had to have one using tissue from behind the shoulder, called the latissimus dorsi, I'd have to have that one, plus a small implant.
That's one of the reasons I didn't have that operation - because it involved areas of my body that hadn't been operated on. And like I said, I swim, I cycle, I'm very active. And I didn't want to involve an area - I mean that's my personal decision - I didn't want to involve an area of my body that's not already involved.
One woman wondered how a reconstructed breast would compare with the original breast. Another chose not to have breast reconstruction because she was wary of having further problems. Some women mentioned that, had they been younger, they might have considered reconstructive surgery. For many women, decisions about breast reconstruction were bound up with their feelings about their body image and their personal relationships (see 'Body image').
Explains why she chose not to have a reconstruction.
Explains why she chose not to have a reconstruction.
And I'd never feel it was me really, so that I'm quite happy just having the prosthesis.
And I don't particularly want, you know if they took some of these flaps from one place to another, I wouldn't really want the scaring that that causes.
So I'm quite happy with just a prosthesis.
More experiences of choosing not to have a breast reconstruction can be found on our DCIS site.
Last reviewed August 2018.
Last updated June 2010.
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