I am curious. My cancerous area is 27mm, the surgeon will be clearing the margins. How much should I anticipate him removing? What are other people’s experiences? I have large breasts (okay, very large) He keeps saying I won’t even notice a difference in my breasts, but it seems to me a cubic inch is fairly substantial, not to mention the extras.
Cathy
Hi Pecan
my lump was 1.4 cm with margins of a few mm all round i think. I’m on the small side (A cup) and expected a dent, but there isn’t one. Only difference is that the boob on the operation side is slightly more “pert” than the other one (If I may say that about a 65 year old boob) and i joked with the surgeon as to whether he could take a little tuck in the good side so I’d have a Boob job…:smileyhappy:
Needless to say the difference is minimal and I’m really pleased with how it turned out aesthetically - I expected a far more dodgy outcome. If you are larger breasted I think you can beleive the medics that you won’t notice any difference, as you can obviously afford to lose a wee bit of tissue! xxxxx
The " dent" seems to even out over time but yes it does vary depending on how big a lump is removed and how big your boobs are .if it really bothers you they will look at evening things up and you can get partial prothsesis also .
Hi Pecan, I was told by my surgeon that she would be looking at 5mm clearance on my 23mm tumour. I had clear margins, so I’m very pleased. She took the nipple off,removed the tumour plus margins, moved some flesh over to fill in the dent, then popped the nipple back on. As the breast was slightly larger they are now equal- for the very first time! Initially with the stitches it looked a bit gruesome, but several months on its hardly noticeable. I was offered a breast reduction on the good side but, as I am 70 , after I stopped laughing, I refused very firmly! I’m just lucky my poorly boob had enough to ‘work with’ as my plastic surgeon said, otherwise it would have been a box of tissues padding it out!!! Good luck with your op. ? X
Glad I found this thread as I was wondering my invader was 37mm and I am a d cup 2nd day post surgery so can’t see under dressing but my boob doesn’t look any different at the moment I guess time will tell as I heal x
Thanks for asking this question and all the replies. I have reasonable size breasts but nothing huge and my surgeon qualified his comment about the lumpectomy and margins with “your size breasts”. For some reason though, after years of trying, I am losing some weight - nothing dramatic, but my breast are definitely getting a little smaller. I was wondering how small they could get before the op without it mattering and as my lump is 15mm I guess that means I can quit worrying about that at least!!!
Omg I didn’t realise you need stable weight for radiotherapy I go slimming world and lost 3 stone so far (over 12 months so not drastic loss) I will continue going until I start rads then will have to go to maintain programme … I believe rads will be about 6 to 8 weeks away x
Thank you ruby it is as if every day I learn something new via the site x
Thank you Helena xx
I am thank you for asking x feel much better x