The Reconstruction Era – Part 8

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

“It appears that the next event is breast reconstruction!”

It’s strange because there’s not much to add here...

After the last surgery, life has been calm: we’re managing lymphedema (my wife does the sleeve, wrapping, and watching carefully in order to NOT injure the arm or hand – I do nightly massage to move fluid away from the arm and back and push it into the groin-area lymph nodes to be recirculated); she is taking care of the skin over the new implants; she is contemplating the final stages of reconstruction which are cosmetic – adding a “nipple” to each boob and getting an aureole tattooed on each.

As to that tattooing – the initial mention of it set me off into a spate of giggles. Not intentionally, mind you, but as my daughter has a tattoo on her arm and when she was younger, she asked if I’d accompany her to a certified tattoo parlor in an upscale neighborhood of the city we live in (where I felt like a forklift driver in a Williams-Sonoma Store) – I naturally thought of her and my daughter going into this establishment and inquiring after an aureole tattoo...

So, I’d best check the REALITY of this out. Here. Where I can apologize in public for my ridiculous vision.

Once the surgery to place the implants heals, there are two possible final steps. The site below has this to say, “Chances are, you have probably spent the last few months getting used to nipple-less or ‘Barbie’ breasts.” (Note: I was glad to see that I’m not the only one approaching this with a teeny bit of humor…)

The first choice here is of course, even whether to have the reconstruction of the nipple done at all. There’s no NEED to do it, but “For many women, this is the final step after a long journey.”

The second choice involves no surgery at all, but simply tattooing a realistic APPEARING nipple in place of a skin “tuck”. Tattoo artists are very proud of their work and finding an artist typically begins with your hospital. However, there are individuals who work out of their normal tattoo studios (http://vinniemyers.com/section/105672_Nipple_Areola_Tattooing.html) as well as working through hospitals and clinics.

The third choice is to have a surgeon make a pair of cuts into the skin surrounding the central spot then stitch them together. Once the cuts heal, the end result is a mound of living tissue, what is referred to as a “nipple mound”. Other methods are discussed below including skin grafts and a fat (or dermis) transplant or using the same substance used to create the implant supports to create a natural-looking nipple.

If the second or third choice is taken, an aureole can be created either from other skin grafts or using a tattoo artist to create the effect of the darker skin around the nipple.

This is the next step in the process and I’ll let you know the effects of the final decision!

Resource: http://www.breastreconstruction.org/SecondaryProcedures/NippleAreolaTattoo.html

Image: http://www.breastreconstructionprocess.com/myImages/nippleAreola.jpg