Optimizing aesthetic outcomes from cancer surgery

When the only option to beat breast cancer is a mastectomy, Sunny Mitchell might be a doctor you want to have in your corner, especially if psychological well-being is as important as physical.

As any surgeon, her No. 1 priority is to remove the cancer. But her second and equally important priority ”“ which she is striving to have other surgeons embrace ”“ is to heal a woman”™s psyche as well. And that she attempts to accomplish through oncoplastic surgery, which could include a nipple-sparing mastectomy.

Mitchell, who recently joined White Plains Hospital Physician Associates ”“ a new division of the hospital that aligns doctors with hospital services ”“ is on a mission to get other doctors to change their thinking that removing the cancer is the only option.

“If a woman had breast cancer, historically it was limited to a mastectomy,” said Mitchell, who was an attending breast surgeon at Stamford Hospital and is now director of breast surgery at White Plains Hospital. Now, working in tandem with a plastic surgeon, once the diseased tissue is removed from under the skin, the other doctor can put an implant in place or utilize another procedure to restore the natural look of the breast.

“It”™s important to optimize the aesthetic outcome,” she said. “It”™s empowering to offer women options. Women deserve that.”

With body image an irrefutable part of humans, easing the psychological damage from a mastectomy is a motivating factor for Mitchell to write and speak on oncoplastic surgery.

In past research, Mitchell said, doctors have noted that women who had mastectomies referred to themselves as being deformed or mutilated. Other research has also shown that mastectomies have led to negative feelings and depression and even suicidal thoughts. For some women, concern about being disfigured can “play a role in the initial decision making process about cancer treatment,” according to one study.

Through her work Mitchell is attempting to “never have those scenarios again.”

Earlier this year at a national meeting of breast surgeons in Phoenix, Mitchell spoke at a sold-out seminar on nipple-sparing mastectomy and the American Society of Breast Surgeons Nipple Sparing Mastectomy Registry, of which she is the director. The research so far gathered in the registry has resulted in a paper that Mitchell will present later this year at a conference in San Antonio.

With about one in eight women in the U.S. expected to develop breast cancer during their life, according to the National Cancer Institute, Mitchell said prevention and early detection remains key and that includes a healthy diet and mammograms.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, White Plains Hospital will be presenting a number of “The Power of Pink” events during October, of which some of the proceeds will benefit The Dickstein Cancer Treatment Center and breast cancer education programs.

For more information on The Power of Pink events, go to wphospital.org. To reach Dr. Sunny Mitchell, call 681-2756.