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…That
was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across
my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry first appeared in
November of 2013.
“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!
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