Mastectomy procedure explained!

[00:00:00]This would be the nipple. We lift the breast What is a mastectomy? Will there be a hole in my chest? Will my flesh be visible? How will I look after a mastectomy? Now, these are some of the most common questions that my patients and their relatives ask me when I tell them that they require a mastectomy. So, let me show you what actually happens.

[00:00:15]So, imagine this is the breast. This would be [music] the skin of the breast and this would be the nipple. Edible part of the orange would be the breast tissue. So, what we do is we first take an elliptical incision around the breast in such a way that it includes the tumor as well as the nipple and areola. So, the tumor [music] is somewhere within the breast which this incision has included and this is the nipple and the surrounding areola. So, now that we made the incision, we deepen it and raise the upper skin flap and raise the lower skin flap as well. [music] So, once the flaps are raised and the breast is removed from the below muscles, these are the chest wall muscles, we lift the breast off the musculature and if this is the chest wall, these are the skin flaps and then the skin flaps are [music] closed to leave behind a flat scar. And this is what the chest looks like after surgery.

[00:01:04]So, we usually [music] place a drain within to remove the collected fluid and most wounds heal within 2 weeks.

[00:01:10]Patients start walking and using the restroom within a few hours after [music] surgery and usually go home relatively pain free after 24 to 48 hours. A mastectomy can sound very frightening but understanding what actually happens can make the whole experience less overwhelming.