Prosthesis: An Appropriate Solution to a Mastectomy?

In Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals, she describes her personal experiences as a woman diagnosed and living with breast cancer. She underwent a right-side mastectomy, an experience that contributed majorly, along with the cancer diagnosis and treatments, toward distressing her life. Following her mastectomy procedure, a female representative from the American Cancer Society’s Reach for Recovery Program came to visit Lorde, bringing with her a puff of lambswool for Lorde to place in her shirt where her right breast formerly was, in an attempt to give off the appearance that she never had a mastectomy. Reflecting on this interaction, Lorde was appalled by the American Cancer Society’s approach to helping women who recently lost a breast to cancer.

As Lorde makes clear in her journals, the immediate reaction of the Reach for Recovery program representatives to promote prosthesis causes breast cancer to appear to be a cosmetic problem with an easy solution by way of prosthesis. This method of attempting to help women cope with the loss of a breast further amplifies the stigmatization that women are completely focused on their appearance. The idea of prosthesis seems great; it seems like a way in which women who underwent a mastectomy could go back to normalcy, to their lives before cancer raged in. However, this is not really the case. Lorde points out that she is not the same as she was before, and no amount of lambswool or other form of prosthesis could allow her to return to the way she was before.

With societal pressures and media pervading our lives, it is extremely difficult not to succumb to the standards women are expected to follow to look “attractive,” or even “beautiful.” Because of this, finding information on women who have undergone mastectomies and decided not to have reconstructive surgery or use prosthesis afterward is not an easy feat. Information provided by BreastCancer.org, available at http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction/no-reconstruction?utm_medium=OBWidget&utm_source=OB, tells women what to expect when choosing to “go flat.” The connotations that the website provides on choosing to accept the way women’s bodies exist after a mastectomy are enough on their own to prevent women from choosing to accept their changed appearance. The Breast Care Site, available at http://www.thebreastcaresite.com/post-surgery-options/, claims that use of prosthesis rather than breast reconstructive surgery is the most freeing breast-less option, not caring to mention the option of using neither prosthesis or reconstruction. Having to undergo an invasive surgery that alters one’s physical appearance is a distressing experience that many women suffering from breast cancer must face, sacrificing one or both of their breasts in order to save their lives. In a society where women are supposed to look a certain way to be accepted, it seems natural that women recovering from a mastectomy would desire to appear “normal” again, having two breasts like she should. However, breast cancer is not a cosmetic problem. It is a medical problem that will not simply go away with reconstructive surgery. Prosthesis may be a way to hide a woman’s mastectomy from the public eye, but it will not change the way the breast cancer victim feels inside, through both the physical and emotional pain.

Recounting the experience from entering her doctor’s office for a post-surgery appointment without a prosthetic in her shirt, Lorde describes a disturbing conversation with a nurse who saw prosthesis as a crucial step in recovery from a mastectomy. She said that wearing a prosthetic would make Lorde feel so much better, and that she strongly encourages patients to wear prosthesis when coming into the office so the morale of the office is not negatively affected. In all honesty, is expected that media influences and other members of society will push for women to look a certain way to be deemed acceptable or attractive. The medical community, on the other hand, is a completely unacceptable group from which judgment on appearance comes. Medical professionals, especially those working in oncology, must realize that there is a deeper importance to recovering from breast cancer than superficial, cosmetic appearance.

Breast cancer, whether it involves a mastectomy or not, is a highly emotional experience, as any other type of cancer would be. Breast cancer diagnosis means staring a potential death sentence in the face and finding the strength to fight it. It is a serious medical condition that affects the victim both physically and emotionally, and neither of those aspects may be ignored. Viewing prosthesis as a way of healing a woman after a mastectomy is degrading, dehumanizing, and demoralizing. Having the courage to fight cancer shows that women are much more than their appearance, if evidence is needed to satisfy those who don’t realize it already. It is important that women realize prosthesis and breast reconstruction are not their only options post-mastectomy. They need to be welcomed into the community as breast cancer survivors, strong-willed women who deserve to be looked up to, not looked down upon for having undergone a mastectomy.

References:

David J Photography. "The SCAR Project: Breast Cancer is Not a Pink Ribbon." The SCAR 
     Project. 2011. Web. 02 May 2016.
"Going Flat: Choosing No Reconstruction." BreastCancer.Org. 08 Oct. 2015. Web. 02 May
     2016.
Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1997. Print.
"Post-Surgery Options." The Breast Care Site. 2013. Web. 02 May 2016.