What is a prophylactic mastectomy?
A prophylactic mastectomy (also called a preventive mastectomy) reduces a womans chances of developing breast cancer by surgically removing her breasts even before cancer is discovered. Women sometimes choose this for the following reasons: she has had a cancer in one breast and she wants to minimize the chance of getting a cancer in the opposite breast, she has a genetic mutation, she has a strong family history of breast cancer, or she has premalignant disease and wants to reduce her chances of breast cancer. If a preventive mastectomy is done it is best to do a total mastectomy (remove breast and nipple) and not a subcutaneous mastectomy (preserve the nipples) since the nipple ducts are also prone to developing breast cancer. Also, if a woman desires breast reconstruction, the process can began at same time as the preventive surgery.
