October is Breast Cancer awareness month, female plastic surgeon’s unique perspective
Any woman who’s had a baby understands that there is no way to describe the experience to a man. Words cannot do it justice. This is why many of us prefer to go to a female gynecologist/obstetrician. This intimate process is often easier with a doctor of the same sex who can empathize.
This same level of comfort and confidence carries over when it comes to breast cancer. For many of us, it is hard to imagine that a male doctor can grasp the trauma of breast cancer; they can`t understand what it means, both emotionally and physically, for a woman to be faced with having all or part of a breast removed.
Christine Petti, MD, understands the physical and emotional trauma associated with breast cancer and has given thousands of women a chance to feel feminine once again.
With October designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Dr. Petti, a board-certified reconstructive plastic surgeon with 25 years of experience, shared some insight into the process of rebuilding a breast.
According to the American Cancer Society, statistics show that breast cancer will strike approximately 200,000 women this year and claim the lives of 40,000. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, accounting for nearly one of every three cancers diagnosed in American women.
Several of these women must have mastectomies to save
their lives. While some feel strong, others feel they are left with a scar as a constant reminder of what once made them feel like a woman.
“A woman who has undergone a mastectomy has had an amputation – she has been not only stripped of a body part, but most importantly, she has been stripped of the very anatomy that identifies her personally and to those around her, as a woman,” says Dr.Petti.
“This has devastating consequences on the body and the mind. She has to stuff her bra each time she dresses to look ‘normal’ and ‘feminine.’ She is lopsided, having one of two ‘twin’ body parts that are supposed to match. She is empty on one side and full on the other. She has a flat chest and a large scar to remind her every moment of her day, that she is less than ‘whole’ and ‘half’ a woman. The psychological consequences can be overwhelming – affecting her body image, confidence, and may interfere with her intimate social relationships and behavior. I have known many women over my own career, who have lost their husbands and/or significant others after a diagnosis and battle with breast cancer and mastectomy,” says Dr. Petti.
Working in breast reconstructive surgery and with cancer survivors has many challenges. According to Dr. Petti, “It is these very real health issues that woman who have had a mastectomy face, that inspired me to become a plastic surgeon many years ago when I worked on a special surgical rotation with an oncological surgeon who did many mastectomies, but was working on surgical techniques at that time in the 1980’s for means of ‘breast conservation/preservation.’
“I also wanted to be a reconstruction breast surgeon, so that I could ensure that any woman who chose to have a mastectomy would also have the option of ‘waking up with a breast’ rather than an empty and painful hole in their chest. I wanted to be on the restoration side of breast cancer surgery, rather than the amputation side,” she says.
