Think Pinker

In a perfect world we would no longer have to worry about breast cancer for it would be extinct. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and each day women are having lumpectomies to remove cancerous tumors from the breast.

Oncologist’s and cancer surgeons are recognizing that in their quest to eradicate the cancer they haven’t always done a marvelous job of dealing with the aesthetics of the breast. Not surprising since their focus has been on the cancer itself.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a small number of cancer surgeons are learning how to remove the tumor and cosmetically repair the breast during one surgery. Doing both of these procedures at once is beneficial to both physical healing and psychological healing.

There is a significant reduction in complications that can occur as a result of too many consecutive surgeries. And there is a reduction in stress and depression that are often associated with breast cancer survivors.

Although a quick weekend course won’t likely give the surgeons all the necessary skills to improve the way breast cancer tumor removal is handled, most would agree it’s an excellent starting point to create more awareness and over time improve skills.

According to the American Cancer Society 178,480 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, and any improvement in the way in which surgery is handled is welcomed.

One day breast cancer may be completely eliminated, something we read about in historical medical texts but right now it is still a very real disease and surgeons, researchers, and scientists are all working towards its elimination