Women battling breast cancer can turn to NYU Winthrop
Hospital offers breakthrough surgery that removes cancer and avoids disfi guring scarring
Doctors Shubhada Dhage (l.) and Virginia Maurer.
NYU Winthrop Hospital
is the first-ever
Hidden Scar® Center
of Excellence on
Long Island, offering an advanced
approach to breast
cancer surgery that removes
cancerous tissue but hides
visible scarring. More than
65 percent of women who’ve
undergone breast cancer
surgery are said to be left
feeling self-conscious and
unhappy with the remaining
scar. Many of these women
were not able to benefit from
concealing surgical techniques,
due to the nature or
location of their breast cancer.
Not anymore.
“This procedure should
be the new ‘normal’ for
breast cancer surgery,” said
Virginia Maurer, MD, former
Chief of Breast Surgery
at NYU Winthrop and previous
Director of the Breast
Health Program. “We’re
proud to pave the way, introducing
this important
advancement to women on
Long Island.”
Just ask Andrea, a Hidden
Scar patient who discovered
that she had breast cancer
following a routine mammogram.
“If I have a scar, it
will always remind me that I
had breast cancer and that I
could have it again.”
Then Andrea heard about
the Hidden Scar program
and knew this unique procedure,
which would eradicate
the breast cancer but still
leave her feeling whole—was
for her. Following her successful
Hidden Scar procedure,
she explained, “I don’t
have a dimple or any kind of
indication that something
was taken out of me. Isn’t
that amazing? I don’t have to
look at the scar and remember.”
The procedure also
proved right for another
Hidden Scar patient, Kim,
who is young and single but
unfortunately carries the
BRAC gene mutation. Kim
was told she had an 88 percent
chance of getting breast
cancer. Her viewpoint: “I
can either chance it—or
prevent it from happening.”
Kim opted for a double mastectomy
via the Hidden Scar
procedure.
“You can’t see my incision
at all,” said Kim. “Having
the Hidden Scar procedure
allowed me to make the
mastectomy more private.
You don’t have to be reminded
every time you wear a
bikini. I like the way I
look, and now I don’t
have to worry about
cancer.”
The Hidden Scar
approach involves
a specially trained
surgeon utilizing
highly advanced
and unique equipment
to make
a small incision—
much
s m a l l e r
than with
traditional
breast surgery—
in a hidden
area to remove
a tumor. The cancerous
tissue is removed through
that single incision, thus
preserving the natural shape
of the breast while reducing
visible scarring. This small
incision may be made in the
natural crease beneath the
breast; in the armpit hidden
in a natural fold; or along the
edges of the areola, which
can be very desirable for
some mastectomies, since it
is a nipple-sparing technique.
The Hidden
Scar approach
requires consistent
illumination
of the
surgical cavity,
which
is guided by
advanced photonics—
a sophisticated
amplification
of light—that
enhances visualization
of the tumor,
so that tumors
once too challenging
to remove
through
hidden folds
may now benefit
from that approach.
The Hidden Scar approach
can be used both in a breastconserving
lumpectomy that
removes only part of the
breast tissue, or a mastectomy
that removes all of the
breast tissue.
Shubhada Dhage, MD,
Director of Breast Surgical
Services at NYU Winthrop
Hospital and Director of the
Breast Health Program, said
of the Hidden Scar approach,
“Our goal is to go well above
and beyond standards of
care, and that includes helping
a patient continue to feel
like a whole woman by using
the Hidden Scar procedure
to minimize disfigurement.”
Patients who undergo
the Hidden Scar procedure
experience optimal clinical
and cosmetic outcomes and
are at no higher risk of cancer
recurrence than patients
who undergo other breast
cancer surgical techniques.
The Hidden Scar procedure
is available to most breast
cancer candidates, with
some exclusions based on
the size and location of a
tumor, breast shape, and
breast size.
To learn more about NYU
Winthrop’s Hidden Scar®
Center of Excellence call
1-866-WINTHROP or visit
www.nyuwinthrop.org.
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