Nipple sparing mastectomy

Bigdogzmama

I have many questions about nipple sparing mastectomy. Those of you who have had it, I am concerned abt reoccurence. What did your BS or PS say abt it??? Is it worth it? Do you ever get any feeling back to the nipple. I had a TRAM flap first surgery and now need a 2nd mastectomy. I will have an implant but not sure if saving my nipple is worth it. I do not have a nipple on the TRAM boob. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

SanFranKitty

I had one. My cancer was nowhere near the nipple and my surgeon got all my breast tissue out. I wound up losing half of one of my nipples due to necrosis but otherwise everything went fine. I am kind of shocked at how real my foobs look.

muska

I had bilateral nipple sparing three years ago. My cancer was far from the nipple and they tested the tissue close to the nipple. I have no feeling in the nipples but it looks very good even after rads.

ravzari

I had mine free grafted back on, which is a little different as the nipple is removed entirely (and removed from the pedicle), then put back on where one would expect to find a nipple on a flat chest.

I'm a little over 2 months out from my surgery, and I do have some feeling back; they can feel hot/cold and do react to cold (they get a little 'pokey'), and I can feel when there is pressure on them or something is rubbing on them, but they don't yet feel pain and they likely won't ever get any 'erotic'--for lack of a better word--sensation back since a lot of that depends on the pedicle.

It can, however, vary from person to person, depending on how their body heals; I wanted to increase the chances that I'd get as much feeling back to my chest area in general so, after surgery, I started taking a B-complex vitamin, EFAs, calcium/magnesium supplements, and lecithin supplements to hopefully assist with that.

However, as I mentioned before, everybody's body heals differently and, especially if you had to go through rads or chemo (which I didn't, my bmx was preventative), it can still be possible to not regain feeling in the nipple.

Bigdogzmama

Did you do it to look natural? When I had my TRAM flap, this was not an option. I guess I am wondering, why bother if there is no feeling? Do your DH still find it erotic? My ex-husband NEVER touched me, as why he is an ex.... I am terrified of never having that erotic feeling again! I know being cancer free is much more important, but it still bothers me...

EstelaLorca

Hi bigdogsmama,

I had a nipple sparing mastectomy - straight to implant. (DIEP on the other breast). I had it done a couple of years after diagnosis.

From what I understood, keeping the nipple is for esthetics. And the percent for recurrence was like 1 or even lower. But I would confirm that info with your bs.

Personally, I like how it looks. I was scared too in the beginning about losing feeling in the area, especially erotically. It's the reason why I kept the healthy breast and just had a unilateral mastectomy. But I couldn't deal with the stress of keeping it. There was still a sense of loss, and grief but when I would looked down at my new breast, well having the nipple there kind of tricks my brain. Does that make sense?

My husband, he's always touching me. I'm very lucky lol. And the way I see it, your brain is the biggest errogenous zone.

Good luck with your decision.

Bigdogzmama

That makes sense to me. I was the same for keeping one healthy breast, but then it came back

Now I know what to expect and your comment abt tricking the brain was very helpful!

EstelaLorca

I'm so sorry to hear that it came back. Are you getting the procedure done soon? I'm dealing with a recurrence myself at the moment, finished treatment in April and I'm finally starting to feel like I've turned a corner.

On a side note, I wanted to add that I got a nipple tattoo on my DIEP side. I was pleasantly surprised at how much it improved the way I felt about that side. I did it because it was offered to me, and thought, why not? I've been also playing with the idea of getting tattoos to cover my scars.

Soldiering on, xo

Blueorange

I had a nipple sparing BMX, but am only 3 weeks post op. I did it for esthetics. I was told there was no cancer near my nipples. It's too soon for me to know what it will be like, I still have tissue expanders.

JessieJake

I had my nipple sparing BMX 6 months ago. My right one was treated with nitro-bid paste for 10 days after surgery due to blood flow concerns during surgery. It was blackish for a while but that was the outer layer that died and eventually flaked off. In the end both survived. Now my left side gets more erect than the right. However, I just did a "poking" test. I can feel the pokes on the skin ofboth breasts, but nothing on my left nipple. Interestingly my right nipple was painful to poke. I think it's from the edge of the port on the TE which is very close to the nipple.

I have my exchange on Wednesdsy. I'm hopeful that pain sensation will go with the TEs.

So overall my sensations in my breasts have been increasing but the fact that my left nipple still has none makes me think that spot may not improve. I'm not quite sure what to think about the pain in the right except I hope it goes away.