What is Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy?
Breast Cancer
What is Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy?
If you’re faced with the choice of whether to reconstruct your breast after cancer, figuring out how to preserve your natural appearance is a huge issue.
In a procedure called “nipple-sparing mastectomy,” doctors use special techniques to shell out a woman’s breast, leaving the skin, and the nipple intact. The idea is to maintain, as close as possible anyway, the natural look of the breast. After mastectomy, a plastic surgeon will use either an implant or the woman’s own tissue to recreate the breast. When a woman’s own tissue is used, doctors typically take it from fat in the patient’s lower abdomen.
“It is certainly the ideal procedure for those woman who chose to have prophylactic mastectomy who don’t yet have breast cancer,” says Dr. Irene Wapnir, a breast surgeon at Stanford Medicine. The downside to this type of procedure, says Dr. Wapnir, is a loss of sensation in the nipple area.
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If you’re faced with the choice of whether to reconstruct your breast after cancer, figuring out how to preserve your natural appearance is a huge issue.
In a procedure called “nipple-sparing mastectomy,” doctors use special techniques to shell out a woman’s breast, leaving the skin, and the nipple intact. The idea is to maintain, as close as possible anyway, the natural look of the breast. After mastectomy, a plastic surgeon will use either an implant or the woman’s own tissue to recreate the breast. When a woman’s own tissue is used, doctors typically take it from fat in the patient’s lower abdomen.
“It is certainly the ideal procedure for those woman who chose to have prophylactic mastectomy who don’t yet have breast cancer,” says Dr. Irene Wapnir, a breast surgeon at Stanford Medicine. The downside to this type of procedure, says Dr. Wapnir, is a loss of sensation in the nipple area.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Treatment: Choosing Your Treatment
Treatment: Early Stages
Treatment: Hormone Treatments
A mastectomy involves removing the breast – a treatment route many patients with breast cancer feel they will have no choice but to undergo. But it’s not the only surgical option.
Treatment: Surgery
A mastectomy involves removing the breast – a treatment route many patients with breast cancer feel they will have no choice but to undergo. But it’s not the only surgical option.
Treatment: Explaining the Options
For patients who do have to have their breasts or a piece of their breasts removed, there are a number of surgical reconstruction options available.
Treatment: Reconstruction
For patients who do have to have their breasts or a piece of their breasts removed, there are a number of surgical reconstruction options available.
Lymphedema is a chronic swelling that can occur after breast cancer surgery and radiation.
Treatment: Lymphedema
Lymphedema is a chronic swelling that can occur after breast cancer surgery and radiation.