Has anyone had a masectomy because of dense breasts?

It was one of the factors that influenced me, along with very strong family history....The whole picture needs to be considered, but the faith one has in imaging is a big component of "comfort level"..., IMO

please listen to Beesie.  A mast is not something to be taken lightly (I don't think you are...it's just huge).  It's a big surgery and you are stuck with that decision forever.  I was in very good shape before my mast and I still don't have full strength or ROM in my arms.  I find that very frustrating.  I also do not want to be with my husband without my shirt on....ever.  I am that self-conscious.  They are numb, forever.  If you need one, you need one but if I could have kept them ....in a minute.  I had really no complications from surgery and in my clothes I look totally 'normal' but it's just not the same.

GEP: Sorry for your bumpy ride.  Seems there is rarely a clear path...I wish our disease wasn't so fuzzy...and certainly wish the MRIs weren't so fuzzy either.  I too was dense, active cells, etc. 

I just had a bilateral althugh my non-involved breast "looked" fine.  DCIS grade 2.  It was extensive in my left although nothing only a tiny area showed up in MRI.  I wanted to keep my right side but my doctor explained that my tiny dense self was completely unscreenable.  And, I was so small that they don't make implants small enough to match (could have looked into other tissue options). Turned out the left was filled to the brim but nothing on the right.  Since I had close margins of only 1mm (left breast was almost "all" dcis) at both chest wall and skin, seems they want me to do radiation and tamoxifin anyway. 

My point being, that unfortunately neither are good option.  I maybe (secretly) wished I had kept the right (especially after it turned out clear) but you just never know.  It seems to me that to have a conservative (body-conserving) approach to is a good one.  Now that you have new information, you can make a new decision.  Certainly not fun to have to continually re-decide everything though.  And not fun to do surgery every year. Good luck to you!  I do believe strongly that the decision we make is the right decision! 

Yes, I have opted to have a mastectomy because of dense breasts.   Mammo never found my tumor and by then it had invaded some lymph nodes and was nearly 2 cms (this was a digital diagnositic mammo, not a screening mammo).   I had a lumpectomy and since have had other needle biopsies and now have scar tissue on top of everything else.   I fear it will come back and never be "found" until it is too late.  

Your decision, but I think you should.   Dense breasts are not only harder to monitor but actually puts as at higher risk of getting cancer or a reccurence.

Hi, another country heard from.

I don't miss my breast.  I am 3 years out, and I am not my boobs....they are not "me"...they have changed up and down in size with losing and gaining weight and when they do, I do not agonize over losing a cup size or two....they fed my child, they did their job, my husband loves them, as he loves me; unconditionally.  In fact, we love the new girl we adopted .  No, she doesn't have much feeling, but hey, not her fault!  And she is still missing the nip, but will get one in the end to match her sister.

I am very matter of fact over this, I know.   I have the exact same scenario as you.  Not only do I now not match at all (b-C, and DD) which causes uncomfortable bra scenarios, tho I look fine in clothes, I am continually worried, as I had had the "best case" scenario 7 years ago....DCIS, no nodes, radiation, lumpectomy.  6 years of digital mammos completely missed the other cancer.  They noted that I also have extremely dense breasts, a risk riser for getting bc again, as is having had it already.

Now, I wish to god I had had done both at the same time!!!

I will add this tho; if, you are a lady who feels connected to her breast, or they are an important part of sexual sensation for you, you may wish to think about what Beesie has said.  For me, they are not, never were, so I can afford to think practically on this one. 

Yes, every now and then, I wish I had not had to do this, but I had cancer.  And after the second go round, with chemo, and since I could not get rads, having done it twice, I want to get off the continual worrying, monitoring, MRI ing, etc.  It has taken too much of our lives from us already.  I want to have my life back.  I know they don't look the same; that's a given.  Thank god they won't have cancer either (or there in only a 1% chance compared to a 30-40% chance now).

My breast redo looks so amazingly real, if you did not see the line on my back, and the lack of nipple, it'd be hard to tell.  For me, it's a real no brainer, tho I am sure I willl cry the night before. 

We do age; our breasts do sag, things do not continue to look great as time goes on.  This is life, and I have chosen to fight like a beast to keep in the game.

My husband and I use an awful lot of humor to cope; we do say that all we did was "change the stuffing"" ala an old couch cushion.  We say that the outside is still all me.  Just the inside got changed

Good luck.  Whatever YOUR decision is will be the right one for you!

I understand this dicussion and it's controversies.  I have not been diagnosed with DCIS but have been DX with ALH and very dense breasts.  I am currently awaiting an excisional on the 30th.  I have a lump on my left breast that neither the mammo or the u/s showed.  My breast tissue looks completely white.  It did show a cluster of calcifications though.  Why it can show that and not a lump is beyond me.  I realize that the wait and watch with dense breast tissue is tricky and more likely to require biopsies and u/s's.  That frightens me because so far this process has been emotionally and psychologically traumatic.  I wonder if I have the "stuff" it takes to repeat all this every couple of years.  I am however very attached to my breasts.  My breasts are what u might call star players in my sex life and I don't want to lose that.  I am afraid of never feeling my husband's touch again.  I also do not want them cut into and poked at so much that they don't resemble "themselves" at all.  I just hope that the results of my biopsy do not require that I make this decision right now because I know I'm not ready.

This might be a good time to remind people of Rianne's post from a few days ago.  She had surgery and had DCIS in the margins and it did not become invasive cancer over 17 years. 

I worry when I see so much over-reaction to DCIS, or even just ADH/ALH.  Invasive cancer does not travel from one breast to the other; DCIS and lesser conditions like ADH not only can't move from one breast to the other but they are not life threatening in any way.  Even invasive breast cancer in the breast is not life threatening - invasive cancer is a concern only in that it has the ability to move outside of the breast.  DCIS cannot do this.  

Yes, dense breasts can be a challenge but in the majority of cases, mammos do see calcs, even in dense breasts. Mammos are good at seeing calcs.  There are other things that they are not as good at seeing so it's very possible that a mammo might miss a lump but still see a calc, even in very dense breast tissue.  For those who are high risk and who have dense breasts, MRIs are a good option.   If someone is hugely fearful and simply can't live in peace, then perhaps a bilateral mastectomy is a good idea, even for just DCIS or possibly even for ADH/ALH (although I'm not convinced about that). However what we have in this thread is a lot of "piling on" - a number of women with the same fears posting and reinforcing each other's fears.  But what if your fears are, for the most part, an over-reaction?  I'm not saying that they are, but each of you need to talk to your oncologists to understand what your real risks are.  I am high risk to get BC again in my remaining breast but I was shocked when my oncologist told me my risk level  - it's about 1/2 what I thought it would be. So I kept my breast and I get annual mammos and annual MRIs, alternating every 6 months.  I have not had a false positive in 5 years since my diagnosis and I feel very comfortable knowing that I'm being screened every 6 months.  

I understand the uncertainty that you are all facing, and the questions that you have, but for goodness sake don't allow yourself to be moved down a particular path based on what someone else says.  The questions that are being posed are good ones; I'd suggest that you get the opinions of your doctors (and 2nd and 3rd opinions from other doctors, if necessary) and not be swayed by someone else's fears, simply because they reinforce your own.

No, calcs usually don't preceed a tumor (a solid mass).  I think most of us with DCIS know that, since DCIS only presents in the form of a tumor about 10% of the time.  Calcs - in a particular size and formation - in and of themselves are a possible sign of the presence of breast cancer.  But most calcs - well over 90% - are benign and harmless. 

MRIs are considered to be very reliable for dense breasts.  I have extremely dense breast tissue.  My mammos did show my calcs (both benign ones in my left breast and cancerous ones in my right breast) and my MRIs have been very effective.