How to Manage Scarring After a Lumpectomy
Breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer, also called a lumpectomy, can preserve most of the breast tissue of a woman whose individual cancer diagnosis predicts about the same survival rate whether she undergoes a complete mastectomy or the less invasive surgery. Even with a lumpectomy, a scar may form in the surgical area. With diligent care of the wound site ensuring complete healing, the cosmetic result of the scar can improve over time.
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Instructions
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Wash your hands every time you check, dress or handle your lumpectomy wound site.
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Clean the wound daily as directed by your doctor with mild soap and warm water. Dress the wound until it heals with gauze and paper tape. Attend physical therapy during the post-surgery period as directed by your doctor to regain feeling and use of the arm and underarm area near the lumpectomy. Care for any drains placed in the lymph node area according to your surgical team's instructions. Report any signs of infection to your doctor immediately.
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Eat many healthy foods daily including fruits, vegetables and whole-grain carbohydrates to promote healing and your body's strength.
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Apply skin-moisturizing creams or ointments as desired after the wound has healed to improve the look and feel of the scar that remains.
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Tips & Warnings
Talk to your doctor about a possible plastic surgery to help reconstruct the affected breast or to reduce the unaffected breast to help it match the other one, even if you are having a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy.
Although most scars fade over time, a large keloid, or dark raised scar, may form in some people. Medical or plastic surgery treatment may help reduce the appearance of keloids and other thick scars.
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- Photo Credit gauze image by Henryk Olszewski from Fotolia.com
