Postmastectomy attitudes in women who wear external breast prostheses compared to those who have undergone breast reconstructions.

Sixty-four women who postmastectomy wore an external breast prosthesis and 31 women who had breast reconstruction participated in the present study. It was hypothesized that the breast prosthesis group would exhibit more negative attitudes towards their mastectomy experience compared to the breast reconstruction group. Using the Mastectomy Attitude Scale (MAS) the results indicated that both groups were satisfied with their bodies, had a positive outlook towards their lives, implied that sexuality entailed more than having breasts, and felt that mastectomy treatment was necessary to save their lives. Neither group concealed that they had a mastectomy, however, they were not prone to discuss their mastectomy experiences. The findings from the study indicate that the women postmastectomy already had or developed positive attitudes towards themselves and life in general and the method chosen for breast restoration had no apparent impact on these attitudes. Reasons for the sample's positive attitudes are discussed.

Body image, self-concept, and self-esteem in women who had a mastectomy and either wore an external breast prosthesis or had breast reconstruction and women who had not experienced mastectomy.

The perceptions of three groups of women regarding their body image, self-concept, total self-image, and self-esteem were compared. The groups included 64 women who had mastectomies and wore external breast prostheses, 31 women who had mastectomies and underwent breast reconstruction, and a control group of 78 women who had not experienced mastectomy. The body image, total self-image, and self-esteem mean scores indicated that the prosthesis and reconstruction groups had more positive feelings regarding their bodies than did the control group. There were no significant differences in self-concept among the three groups. These findings challenge a common assumption that mastectomy automatically results in psychiatric morbidity caused by an altered body image and suggest that health professionals should not make assumptions about how a woman will psychologically respond to mastectomy.