The Symmetrical Mastectomy and Flat Friends Weekend

Boost at the Flat Friends Weekend!

 

Hello lovely people!

 

This weekend, Boost founder Sam Jackman went up to the Flat Friends Weekend in Leamington Spa to meet hundreds of people there to chat about being flat! It was such a fantastic meet up and really showed the great community spirit Flat Friends has fostered. This is the second time that Boost has been to this meet up and Sam can’t wait to return next year to talk all things Breast Form.

 

And now for some exciting news in the world of R&D:

 

There’s been a fascinating new study published about the Contralateral Symmetrising Mastectomy as we move towards national guidelines for the procedure! The Symmetrising Mastectomy is an alternative for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to undergo reconstruction following a mastectomy, as in some cases removing both Breasts is the safest or most comfortable form of treatment. However, it has long been stigmatized, due to silly notions about what bodies “should” look like, and subsequently has been under-researched. 

 

This new study from Bristol Medical School, Bristol Breast Care Centre, King’s College Hospital, and Flat Friends UK evaluates the recovery of 1954 women, making it one of the largest analysis papers on this topic to date. The study finds that on the whole, satisfaction rates for the 

Symmetrical Mastectomy was very high and complication rates were significantly lower than that for reconstruction. This paper is a welcome step towards wider standardization and greater understanding of the Symmetrical Mastectomy.

 

Many Flat Friends Sam spoke to said that they had often been made to feel like reconstruction was their only choice and echoed the findings in the paper, by saying that in their experience, a Symmetrical Mastectomy allowed them peace of mind. There’s no one-size-fits-all option when it comes to care, but more options being made more widely known allows for more women to make informed choices that best reflect what makes them most comfortable. 

 

If you want to read the whole paper, you can find it here.

 

Flat Friends is an utterly fantastic organization that provides so much community and kinship to anyone seeking help with breast surgery or just finding people with a similar experience. We always love to meet people through Flat Friends and chat about how we can make life after a mastectomy just that much easier. If you are a Boost customer who hasn’t looked into Flat Friends, we highly recommend checking out the website or Facebook group. However, if you already are a Flat Friends member and showed up at the meet up, we’d like to thank you for making the day so special!