Breast reconstruction decisions are about more than clinical information. Your individual body, life, habits, emotional wellbeing, and more can and should play a vital role in what you and your surgical team choose to do. Some patients develop chronic pain in the chest, breast, and/or underarm areas after mastectomy. A significant percentage (over a third) of women who undergo mastectomy will go on to develop Post-Mastectomy Pain Syndrome (PMPS), a chronic pain in the breast, chest, and/or underarm areas that can persist for years after mastectomy. This segment delves into the clinical features of this condition, along with what can be done to relieve pain in these patients.
Your Voice, Your Choice is a video series created with support from the Plastic Surgery Foundation’s Breast Reconstruction Awareness Grant that aims to offer a window into the breast reconstruction decision-making process via firsthand accounts from patients and physician retrospectives that dig into the minutiae of each type of procedure.