Tbreast mood and aesthetic medicine. A combination that unfortunately still tends to underestimatein some cases becoming a real one taboo. Although breast cancer is now increasingly curable, with a 5-year survival rate of 87%, it cannot be forgotten that it remains the most common tumor in the female populationwith a impact on quality of life of an extremely debilitating woman.
Facing it means coming to terms with many difficulties even with those tied to the aesthetic factor which risks having serious repercussions on self-perception even after recovery.
Hair and eyebrow loss, swelling, scars, discolouration, are just some of the effects that surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can have on a woman’s body. Effects that it is not right to ignore or relegate it to the sphere of the ephemeralbecause they are not ephemeral.
The importance of feeling beautiful again
«Talking about aesthetic medicine to women who have faced or are facing breast cancer means give them the chance to feel good again, feeling attractive again. It means giving them hope again, in a phase of life that is inevitably marked by fear and a lack of perspective.”
This is underlined by Dr. Cristina Sartorio, aesthetic doctor committed for several years to helping women who have had to deal with breast cancer. A precious testimony of her, because in addition to being that of a specialist it is also the testimony of a woman who faced her own skin the consequences of breast cancer.
«Support, including aesthetic ones, is essential to help women too with a view to reintegration into society – underlines Dr. Sartorio. – There are patients who no longer go to work. Who abandon their sporting activities. Not to mention the sexual sphere which many give up because they are terrified of the idea of being seen. Taking care of your image means making peace with yourself, get back to feeling good in your own skin, with positive effects on the entire ecosystem of life.”
Breast cancer and aesthetic medicine: still a taboo
However, talking about aesthetic medicine at the service of women with breast cancer still seems taboo.
«In some ways, taking a step back, It is still taboo to talk about breast cancer – specifies Dr. Sartorio. – Many women still face this path alone. I know medical colleagues who have had this type of experience and who have never talked about it. Instead today that we have therapeutic, medical-aesthetic and psychological support possibilities for patients, not talking about it is a mistake since these possibilities must be made available to those who have fewer tools.”
The witness
In fact, it was this that pushed Dr. Sartorio, who underwent a mastectomy in June 2021 at the Breast Unit of the Sant’Anna Hospital in Turin, to share his personal story also on social media. «I was in a lot of pain after the mastectomy – she says – The process of processing the imperfection caused to my body was long. I had always had beautiful breasts and to see them flattened and with disfiguring scars it involved an important work of self-acceptance. However, I have never had negative, bad thoughts: I have never asked myself “why me?”. Because I know the breast cancer incidence statistics…”
Make peace with yourself
Two years after the mastectomy, in June 2023, Cristina Sartorio underwent it to breast reconstruction surgery, this time at the San Lazzaro Hospital in Turin.
«Throughout all phases, I was fortunate to have colleagues around me who I knew and trusted. I handled the trauma in a more gentle way because I felt like I was in a sort of cuddle zone – he continues. – Now the breast is reconstructed and I will continue hormone therapy for another 8 years. We must not get angry with life because this would not lead to either physical or mental healing. Instead, it is essential to address the different stages of healing: first the physical one and then, little by little, as time passes, the psychological one, making peace with yourself and your body. And it is possible to do this even by accepting imperfections, the difference compared to what was the starting point before the illness.”
Breast cancer and aesthetic medicine: information is often lacking
Talking about it is also important because patients often do not receive adequate information about the possibilities offered them from aesthetic medicine.
«In most cases there is still a lot of mistrust and also little knowledge of what the aesthetic doctor can do for patients, offering very valuable support, both after the illness and during treatment – explains Dr. Sartorio. – During chemo, for example, the face becomes damaged and can undergo significant aging at the skin level: in these cases you can intervene with one biorestructuring or biorevitalization, to restore luminosity and elasticity to the skin. Why should a woman see herself consumed by a disabling therapy like chemo and not think she can feel good even in that phase of life?».
The role of the Breast Units
«Oncologists often do not know which aesthetic treatments can be made available to patients – continues the specialist – too treatments such as those used, simply, to intervene on the scar. The risk is that a woman thinks she has to remain marked like this for her whole life when in fact the possibilities are there but unknown. It is essential that there is one very close collaboration between all specialists who work in the Breast Units and that there is a concrete comparison with respect to what the patient’s picture of reacquisition of themselves can be, post-surgery”.
The commitment of the Libellule Insieme Foundation
In this sense, realities such as Dragonfly Together Foundation, created in 2015 by Dr. Paola Martinonibreast surgeon and oncologist, to support women who have experienced breast cancer, accompanying them in difficult path of rebirth. Path in which the aesthetic factor is also given due importance.
«When in 2015 I confronted the Professor Veronesi about the possibility of creating an association that could take women with breast cancer by the hand during the illness and in the aftermath, he he gave me a phrase which is our mission todaysaying “I have fought all my life to defeat breast cancer in women, now I leave it to you, brave Dragonflies, the fundamental task of erasing the memory of it from their minds” – says Paola Martinoni. – It was Veronesi himself who explained it to me how important it was to help women so that they could divert attention from their breasts, returning to focus on the beauty of their face, gaze and smile. To erase the memory of the illness, this is also needed and in this sense aesthetic medicine can only help. In fact, getting back to feeling good also means being able to look at yourself in the mirror again.”
FOR INFO and appointments at the Libellule Insieme Foundation: https://www.fondazionelibelluleinsieme.it/
Libellule Insieme initiatives
Among the many initiatives promoted by the Libellule Insieme Foundation, in fact, also free meetings dedicated precisely to the topic of beauty like those in collaboration with the French cosmetics house Maria Galland Paris.
During dating women have the possibility of free use of facial treatments but also of receive valuable advice on what your skincare routine can be more suitable after chemo or radiotherapy, thus finding answers to many often unheard doubts. «It may seem futile combine aesthetic medicine and oncology, however it is not at all – concludes Paola Martinoni. – Must not never underestimate the importance it can have for a woman go back to treating yourself to a beauty treat and go back to loving each other like this».
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