The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is stepping up its breast reconstruction awareness campaign after a new survey revealed that 89 percent of women want to see what breast reconstruction surgery results look like. The ASPS has organized a show-and-tell event that will allow prospective breast reconstruction patients to meet with women who went through the surgery.
Besides showing that the vast majority of women want to preview breast reconstruction, the survey also revealed a general lack of awareness about breast reconstruction.
- 23 percent of women know about the wide range of breast reconstruction options available.
- 22 percent are familiar with the quality of outcomes that can be expected.
- 19 percent understand the importance of timing their treatments and reconstruction procedure.
Previous studies found that 7 out of 10 women diagnosed with breast cancer are never told about their reconstruction options. This startling fact was what triggered the ASPS awareness campaign in the first place. Now the ASPS is taking it to the next level by linking prospective and recovered patients.
“We are going to provide information in a way that’s never been done before on this level,” says ASPS President Malcolm Z. Roth. “A group of breast reconstruction patients will show a group of breast cancer patients what their reconstruction choices look like. This is something that until now has been a taboo topic, and we want to give these women a forum to get the information they need.”
Breast cancer survivor Kim Sport will be one of the recovered patients appearing at the show-and-tell event. She had a mastectomy and breast reconstruction at the same time and is very passionate about educating other women who are fighting breast cancer. “I feel that it is very important to share my experience with other women because I don’t want them to just have to look at a photo. I want to show them what reconstruction really looks like.”
