Surgery to the other breast

Often the difference between the remaining breast and the reconstructed breast is small and not noticeable when wearing a bra. But if the difference in breast size is more obvious, you may decide to have the remaining breast made smaller or larger by surgery to match the reconstructed breast and improve balance and posture.

Learn more about:

• Bilateral mastectomy
• Therapeutic mammaplasty

Bilateral mastectomy

You may be advised or choose to have a bilateral mastectomy – also called a double mastectomy. This means both breasts are removed at the same time.

You may have a bilateral mastectomy for several reasons:

• the type of breast cancer you have
• your risks and/or anxiety about developing another breast cancer
• family history or a gene fault that increases your breast cancer risk
• the amount of surgery required to achieve a symmetrical result with the breast reconstruction
• choosing an abdominal flap reconstruction – because surgery on the abdomen can only be done once, the flap procedure can’t be repeated at a later date if cancer develops in the other breast.

You can consider reconstructing both breasts or going flat. Discuss your options with your doctor and get a second opinion if you wish.

Therapeutic mammaplasty

This procedure combines surgery to treat breast cancer (breast-conserving surgery or wide local excision) with surgery to reduce the size of the breast (breast reduction).

It is often used as an alternative to mastectomy in suitable cases. Sometimes a breast reduction is done on the other breast at the same time, or at a later date.

For more on this, see our general section on Surgery.

→ READ MORE: What to expect after breast surgery