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Oncoplastic Breast Cancer Surgery
Breast cancer treatment often includes surgery that can change the appearance of your breasts. At Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, breast surgeons with additional training in oncoplastics work to reduce changes to your breasts’ appearance.
What is oncoplastic breast cancer surgery?
Oncoplastic surgery is specialized care from cancer surgeons and plastic surgeons with training in techniques that improve cosmetic outcomes after mastectomy. We deliver cancer treatment and restore natural-looking breasts in one procedure. This approach is gentler on your body than having separate breast reconstruction surgery.
Why choose us for oncoplastic breast cancer surgery?
- Expertise: You receive care from a breast cancer surgeon who completed fellowship training. For complex cases, a plastic surgeon delivers some of your treatment. This advanced level of training leads to precise care tailored to your needs.
- Personalized care: We anticipate, with a high degree of precision, how cancer surgery may affect your breast. Knowing this early on makes it easier to discuss care options as we plan your treatment.
- Advanced treatments: For complex cases, our oncoplastic experts work with plastic surgeons. You may need advanced care if surgery removes large sections of tissue. Find out more about breast reconstruction surgery.
- Coordination: Surgery is one of the many treatments you may need. We work with other breast cancer experts, including medical oncologists and radiation oncologists, to deliver comprehensive care. Read more about our breast cancer program.
What you need to know about oncoplastic breast cancer surgery
- This type of surgery may be right for you if you need a lumpectomy (partial mastectomy). A lumpectomy removes a portion of breast tissue. Surgeons use lumpectomy for cancers affecting a limited area.
- If you have small breasts or have undergone more than one lumpectomy, you might not be eligible for oncoplastic breast surgery. If so, we discuss other options, which may include breast reconstruction.
Oncoplastic breast cancer surgery options
There are many oncoplastic techniques. We discuss the one that’s right for you and what to expect. Your care may include:
- Breast lift or reduction: We change the size and positioning of one or both breasts so they look similar.
- Incision planning: Surgeons give careful consideration to incision placement for a less visible scar. Incisions may be under your breast or along the curve of the areola (darkened, center area of the breast).
- Nipple relocation: We reposition the nipple in the center of the breast and as a mirror image of the other one.
- Tissue rearrangement (local advancement flap): We reposition breast tissue to fill in gaps left after cancer surgery