Pink October: Actions help women undergoing mastectomy

October began and with it an important warning to women: you need to be alert and prevent breast cancer. The month is internationally known as October Rose, where a series of awareness-raising actions are promoted to reinforce the importance of women keeping routine exams up to date to ensure self-care and protection.

According to the National Cancer Institute (Inca), breast cancer is the most common type of disease among women. Last year, 59, 700 new cases of the disease were detected in Brazil. Although cases discovered early in the disease have many chances of recovery, many women facing breast cancer have to undergo the mastectomy procedure.

What is?

Mastectomy is the surgery for breast removal, which may be one of the necessary steps for treatment. Nowadays, the procedure is much less invasive than when it was created (in 1894) and there are several types, according to the patient's need and medical evaluation.

"The indication of each type of surgery depends on some factors, such as type and location of the disease, in addition to the patient's desire, surgeon's ability and the possibility of associating breast reconstruction techniques, " explains Flavia Abranches Corsetti Purcino, Mastologist and Medical Center Gynecologist Consult Here.

Woman's Welfare

The process of undergoing a mastectomy can be very complex and intense for a woman. In order to preserve female self-esteem and quality of life, some aesthetic procedures help the patient in this process.

Breast reconstruction, for example, is a surgical procedure that allows you to correct a sequel to a breast cancer surgery. According to Consult Here's plastic surgeon, Matthias Wolfgang Mathony Weinstock, reconstruction can be performed in conjunction with or after the mastectomy surgical procedure. "The indication of one or the other will depend on the type of surgery performed by mastology, need for adjuvant therapies, tumor type and patient characteristics, " he explains.

Tattoo

An alternative that has appeared to help women recover from mastectomy is the use of tattoo to redesign the breast areola. The technique used is the same as the common tattoo, but each case is evaluated particularly. “The result is very natural and must be done in stages to reach the ideal color and size, ” says tattoo artist Akemi Higashi.

To ensure that the procedure is done correctly, the presence of a tattoo artist and a plastic surgeon is always required. There is even a 3D technique that ensures a shading that matches the texture of the skin. "The result is very rewarding and greatly improves the self-esteem of the patient, " says the tattoo artist.