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Mastectomies
August 14, 2009 |
“The rate of mastectomy and the rate of bi-lateral mastectomy is actually doubled
in the past 10-12 years,” says Dr. Eric Goldsmith, an oncology surgeon with Lee Memorial Health System.
Why? Two reasons.
The first: confidence. “Psychologically, women are more comfortable with, ‘this
is who I am’ and cosmetically, there’s a lot of reconstructive procedures and that
sort of thing so at least this way, ‘I feel that I’ve done the most I can do and
to try and prevent the occurrence of my breast cancer,” explains Dr. Goldsmith.
The second reason: fear of the unknown. “Women are saying, ‘I am going to take off
a breast, it reduces it more and you know what, I am going to take off the other
breast on the other side, this way, my overall chance is very slim,” adds Dr. Goldsmith.
Often times, women who undergo preventative mastectomies have had a previous bout
with breast cancer, have a family history of breast cancer, or have a breast cancer
gene alteration.
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