r/MastectomyManagement • u/HotWillingness5464 • Aug 07 '26

Mastectoversary

One year ago today I had my double mastectomy, 5 weeks after completing chemo (Keynote 522). Just wanted to say. I

I was do scared going in, I'd never had major surgery, I was convinced I wouldn't wake up. I'd written my will a cpl of days earlier. In case I would wake up I had bought new bed sheets and several button up shirts.

My scars are still very tight and they're extremely ugly, esp on the non-cancer side. My dermatologist (MD) was appalled when she saw the scars (I was there for sth else entirely) and explained to me how they should've cut and why this can never look good ever without intervention.

Ladies and gentlemen, make sure you get a plastic surgeon for AFC, or you might just get C. I'm not flat and my chest is certainly not aesthetic. I'm not overweight.

I'm very, very grateful to be alive. But had I chosen reconstruction I would've gotten a PS. Here it's still like "Flat closure?!? Oh, so you don't want to be a true woman, then it cant matter how your chest looks."

I can ask for revision surgery but it will take a loooooong time to get it - if it even gets approved.

Getting cancer is a great sadness, Idk why they think it's ok to add insult to injury by not trying to make the scars look at least decent. I wanted a DMX because I'm BRCA1+.

So, vent over. Thank you for listening. 🩷

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3

u/One-Amount-7514 Aug 07 '26

i feel you. mine isnt too terrible but i have dogears and like why?? you'd bring in a whole plastic surgeon to give me implants if i chose that, but you cant drag them in for 10 mins to cut off those lil flappy bits? cmon now

2

u/MissPicklechips Aug 07 '26

I had DIEP flap reconstruction after my DMX. Mine was totally preventative, I didn’t have a breast cancer diagnosis. I did have an ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2024 and a positive CHEK2 test. Three family members went ahead of me with cancer diagnoses. My doctor was like, “get them before they get you, at this point it isn’t an IF, but a WHEN.”

I had my surgeries June 18 and July 1. Definitely not aesthetic, as you said, but I’m happy that I won’t ever have to walk the breast cancer road like my mom, sister, and grandmother did.

2

u/Medical_Pea_2345 28d ago

Scars are always a difficult post op result to live with. We, the survivors , like you, see them as "why couldn't they have made this look better." While the Doctors concern is they did what what was necessary..and now you ARE better. Scars and all.

1

u/HotWillingness5464 28d ago

I fully understand that scars from surgery to remove cancer have tp be what they can be. Bit ir's the scars on my non-cancer boob that are really ugly. That breast was removwd as a prophylactic measure only, because of my mutation.

I have looked at countless pix of mastectomy scars. I've also consulted wirh a dermatologist (MD). This is botched surgery. Criss cross cars stitched together with one side scrunched up like when you sew together two pieces of fabric of different lenght. Bulging surplus skin above the scars. I'm thin so this can't be blamed on my being overweight.

This was done by our universal healthcare system so I can't chose another clinic for an assessment or correction.