Simran Malhotra, MD, a palliative care physician, received a nipple-sparing preventative bilateral mastectomy with aesthetic flat closure (no reconstruction) in September of this year, as well as a total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Her mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor, and Dr. Malhotra found out she was positive for the BRCA1 genetic mutation at age 26.
Dr. Malhotra said that she felt like her breasts served their purpose — she was able to breast-feed her two children before going through with surgery — and she knew that they would not feel or look the same with reconstruction. "My breasts do not define my femininity," she said, further adding that she was OK with not getting any nerve preservation or grafting done. "Because this was a preventative surgery, I had a lot of time before surgery to grieve the loss of these special parts of my body," she said of her breasts.
In terms of numbness, it affects where Dr. Malhotra's breasts used to be, her nipples, and the incisions on the sides of her chest. "The strip of skin over my sternum and between my breasts still has full skin sensation," she noted, and the numbness itself does not interfere with daily tasks.
