Breast cancer is a common cancer among women, and a leading cause of cancer-related death. Women with an extremely high risk of breast cancer may opt to have surgery to remove both breasts (bilateral prophylactic mastectomy) to help reduce the chance of cancer development. Women who have had cancer in one breast may choose to have the other breast surgically removed (unilateral prophylactic mastectomy) as a preventive measure. Following surgery, women may or may not choose to have surgical reconstruction to create the appearance of a natural breast. Researchers recently found that women who chose to have the reconstructive surgery were extremely satisfied with the results, and experienced low complication rates. Ninety-eight percent of the women stated that they would do it again.
The researchers found that 100% of the women that had preventive surgery to remove both breasts and reconstructive surgery were extremely satisfied with their results. For women that had one breast removed as a preventive measure and reconstructive surgery, 94% were extremely satisfied and 96% would do it again. The researchers in the study (published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®) state that reconstructive breast surgery following preventative bilateral or unilateral mastectomy appears to have a low surgical risk and that women are very happy with their outcomes.