Myth: In terms of survival mastectomy is better than cutting out the cancer and having radiation.

Very untrue. And, recently, I’ve been very disturbed to hear of several woman who opted to have healthy breasts removed without sufficient evidence that the cancer was either present in the other breast or could in the future show up in the healthy breast. It’s wrong that so many surgeons allow themselves to be pushed by frightened women into consenting to such an ill considered and radical course of action.

FALSE. Completely removing the breast - known as mastectomy - is usually not more effective than just cutting out the cancer - known as lumpectomy. There are issues with both treatments and patients need to be informed in order to make the right decision for them.

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