American Society of Plastic Surgeons statement

I have been asked by a few people the reason why women are not involved in the discussion of breast reconstruction as discussed on the previous post. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has issued a statement recently...

"Women need to understand all of their options to make an informed decision," said ASPS President John Canady, MD. "Those who are diagnosed should be immediately referred to a full team of physicians that can provide breast care, and plastic surgeons need to be included as part of that treatment team."

"We know that there are many issues surrounding breast reconstruction and that addressing them all will take time, but this is a very important first step," said Dr. Canady. "Our goal is to make sure that those women who are not getting breast reconstruction are doing so of their own accord and not because they are uneducated or uninformed about their options."

I discussed earlier how every woman should be involved in the discussion of breast reconstruction at the initial diagnosis and should be given all of the options. The ASPS recommends that "primary care, general surgery, radiology, pathology, oncology, gynecology, and plastic surgery be available from the onset of treatment to ensure the greatest possible outcome for the patient." It would be all of our hopes that women are educated in this fact and soon, the ASPS will seek to inform the public of this through a variety of materials - information cards and online videos, ad campaigns featured online and in the waiting-room publication produced by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.