Emotional Outcome After Breast Surgery Is Highly Individual

Extract

The final straw for Addie Gilbert, 51, came when she tried on her favorite red dress, one with stylish criss-cross straps in the front, and realized she could probably never wear it again. The heavy prosthesis she used after her mastectomy was clearly apparent underneath. “I was so depressed that I sat on the floor of my bedroom and cut the dress up into little pieces with scissors,” she said. As well as not being able to wear the clothes she loved after her mastectomy, Gilbert was constantly reminded of the trauma of her breast cancer diagnosis every time she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the scar on her chest, she said.

That’s when Gilbert decided to have a breast reconstruction, in which skin and tissue was taken from her abdomen to mold a new breast. Three months later, Carolyn Kerrigan, M.D., added an areola and nipple in an office procedure, then held up a mirror for Gilbert to observe the results. “All I could say was ‘Oh my God.’ Suddenly, I felt whole again,” Gilbert said.