As we commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, an often-overlooked topic important to women that we think is important to discuss is sensation after breast reconstruction.
After undergoing a mastectomy, breast reconstruction can help women look more like they did before they had their breasts removed. But reconstruction doesn’t bring back sensation. That’s because during a mastectomy, the breast tissue is removed, severing the nerves that supply feeling to the breast and nipple. This can leave the breasts with a total or near total loss of sensation. In fact, nearly 80 percent of women experience pain, numbness, or both after breast cancer surgery.
Women may be surprised about the lack of sensation after reconstructive surgery. At a time in which women are faced with decisions that affect their lives, they may feel their medical team didn’t do enough to make them aware that they would have little to no feeling in their breasts after reconstruction. This can lead to resentment, grief, a reminder of the trauma, and a barrier to recovering – both physically, psychologically, and emotionally.
Our physician teams at Tennessee Oncology have helped many of our patients navigate this challenge. But until recently, while we could talk to and counsel our patients, we couldn’t give them what they wanted: the return of feeling in their new breasts.
Now we have a new opportunity to do so.
Our oncologists, breast surgeons, and plastic surgeons have completed a certification for breast sensation from Resensation, which is a new technique of breast nerve repair that can potentially restore feeling as part of breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy. Reconstruction with Resensation can be done at the same time as the mastectomy or later, even months or years after a mastectomy, or radiation or chemotherapy.
Our physician team is the only practice in Tennessee with all key physicians in the breast cancer surgery journey who are certified in this process.
We hope this technique helps more women through the physician and emotional toll of a mastectomy.
