Life without breasts due to cancer: “This is my new identity, I love my body more”

Maria Estevez was 33 years old when she had a mastectomy in 2023. (breast removal) for breast cancer. She refused breast reconstruction with a prosthesis and decided to live with her scar: “This is my new identity, I love my body so much more now,” she says.

On occasion World Breast Cancer DayOn October 19, this patient spoke to EFE about how difficult it is to decide whether to have breast reconstruction or not, and wants her experience to ensure that women who have had a mastectomy don’t feel pressured and can freely evaluate their options.

Ministry of Health data provided to EFE shows that in 2022 breast reconstruction procedures a total of 9,568 patients, both in public health care (8,103) and private health care (1,504). Those who chose to have their breasts reconstructed accounted for 27.5% of the 34,750 breast cancer diagnoses assessed that year.

Advances that allow the prosthesis to be implanted during the same procedure during which it is removed make this process easier.although the number of patients in 2022 is slightly lower than in 2018 (9958) and higher than in 2020 (7547), the year of the pandemic.

Say no to breast reconstruction

“It was very clear to me that I was not going to rebuild myself.”says Maria Estevez. Since her diagnosis, she knew she would lose her breasts to cancer and was able to regain her mental health, but she also read feminist authors who helped her accept her new physiognomy: “Feminism has done a lot for body identity.”

He admits that he is also concerned about returning to the operating room for surgery, which, among other things, requires skin grafting from other parts of the body and requires delicate restoration..

Maria Estevez, 34 years old, She speaks from personal experience and respects and supports women who choose to undergo breast revision surgery..

“We women see the idea of ​​reconstruction as candy for a child, and sometimes women see that reconstruction is normal. What I see wrong is that they make a decision without thinking. Let the woman be the one who has the power to decide in her own hands.“, he believes.

This digital product designer comments that Some people around him did not fully understand why the reconstruction was not carried out.. His partner, on the other hand, offered him fundamental support.

“I received disgruntled comments from some members of the medical team about how good the reconstruction would be, but I never succumbed to that pressure,” he says.

And she emphatically states: “I don’t become less of a woman because I don’t have breasts. Femininity is inside each of us“.

Before cancer, she felt a certain insecurity about her image and preferred not to appear topless on the beach: “After the mastectomy, my self-esteem improved.I love my body more, I accept myself more than before. This scar is a memory of my experience.”

For Maria Estevez, the mastectomy hasn’t had the biggest emotional impact on her throughout the cancer process, but she recognizes that every woman is different.

Psycho-oncology support

Also, psycho-oncologist at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra Cancer Center Maria Di Trill explains that Whether or not to undergo breast reconstruction “depends largely on how much value each woman places on having breasts or having scars.”.

The expert notes that there are enough reasons not to restorefrom fear of additional surgery, from reluctance to implant a foreign body, to skin grafting…

“But also that they don’t need to have intact breasts to feel better mentally and emotionally, like more women,” she claims in statements to EFE.

He says that he attended a consultation with a patient whose physique was important to her profession: “But it was never reconstructed, she said that her scar was the scar of life because it was a memory of her being alive.”

But for other women it may be the other way around.the scar left after breast removal may be associated with a medical condition.

Keep in mind that most women “know what they want”, but These are decisions that are not easy to make because there are environmental pressures. family, couple and society, in which aesthetics and the pursuit of perfection prevail.

Young women and those who do not have a stable partner and They are afraid of possible rejection They may have more doubts when making this decision.

“In general,” he adds, “those who choose not to reinvent themselves are women who are completely happy and satisfied.”

“More often Women are sent to us for consultation who do not want to restore themselves.as if it seemed like an anomaly, something rare, and she needed to check if she was confident in her decision,” says the psycho-oncologist.

Theta&Theta: breast cancer is not pink, but brown

The Teta&Teta Women’s Association supports patients like Maria Estevez who are participating in the campaign. “Brown October 19” vs. “Pink Ribbon”breast cancer symbol and that have taken over brandsresponsible for “constructing a sugarcoated and romanticized narrative about the disease, hiding its severity, suffering and death,” president and founder Maria Rufilanchas told EFE.

Victims demand less marketing and more cancer research. and supporting their daily reality with the disease, as well as practical and creative actions such as the design of the “uniteta” bra, similar to the one launched by this association for those who do not want to wear prosthetics under clothing.