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All women diagnosed with breast cancer should be given the option to consult with a plastic
surgeon prior to their mastectomy. This is important because a plastic surgeon can lay
out all your options so that you can make the choice to have reconstructive surgery
at the time of your mastectomy or delay it until after you've completed your cancer treatment.
The best way to make a choice you feel comfortable with is to know your options. Read about the
different procedures and consult with plastic surgeons and other members of your breast
cancer treatment team.
As a plastic surgeon, but also as someone who is a breast cancer survivor, I felt it
was important to me to have a plastic surgeon as part of my team. Not everybody wants to
have breast conserving therapy. They might choose to have a mastectomy and that was actually
my choice. I always knew that if I was ever diagnosed, my choice was going to be to have
a mastectomy. If you don't know what your options are in terms of reconstruction you
might not be able to make that decision. Because I knew the options I had available to me,
that was an easy decision for me to make. It would also be an easy decision to make
for breast conserving therapy, if they knew what all their options were.