Why do women who undergo a double mastectomy opt for fake breast?

Aesthetically pleasing/personal preference.

Because it’s generally covered by insurance under state laws.

So their clothes will fit better. (Or like they used to before the surgery.)

@Sunny2 So their clothes will fit better. (Or like they used to before the surgery.)
Why don’t they just demand flat-chest fashions to go with their breast-less new selves? Just wondering…

Because boobies

Also, I was a distant acquaintance of a nurse who opted not to get implants. She may not have even had nipples.

A lot of reasons.

Personal preference, of course. Having breasts is more aesthetically pleasing to many. Having clothing made with fake breasts in it doesn’t help body image while naked.

Also, feeling like a woman. Many women don’t feel as womanly after their surgery. And the prosthetics help them feel more confident.

Finally…why the hell not? This is like asking why men get a prosthetic after having a testicle removed. Because they want to. So?

Societal standards, personal feelings about femininity, to please a spouse, to feel “normal”, to fit their clothes or for any number of other reasons.

That said, if it happened to me, I’d probably opt out of reconstructive surgery. Boobs are more trouble than they’re worth, to me. If my husband really wanted me to have breasts, I might have the reconstruction, but they’d be considerably smaller (and perkier!) than the ones I have now.

@livelaughlove21 Also, feeling like a woman. Many women don’t feel as womanly after their surgery. And the prosthetics help them feel more confident. I thought the confidence came from knowledge and feeling like a woman suppose to have little to do with body parts, much less breast. Almost suggest women would be more confident and feel more like women if they lipoed the ripples out of the legs and bum.

Simple- because they want to have breasts.

@Hypocrisy_Central, uh… can you use the plural, please?

Good question.

It seems that a woman who underwent a double mastectomy would opt for prosthetic breasts, rather than a ”...fake breast.”.

@Hypocrisy_Central Well, you feel free to tell them their feelings are unsubstantiated and advise them as to how they should feel.

@Hypocrisy_Central Confidence comes from where you find it.

To giver themselves a natural outline so that people do not question them or look askance at them.

Because they can.

@serenade: The plural of “breast” is “breasteses,” right?

@Hypocrisy_Central How ften do you buy new clothes? I have clothing I have been wearing for years. You keep talking about clothes for flat chested women, but what are they supposed to do with the full closet they have already?

Also, I think I would be pretty traumatized if I had to remove my breasts. I have had small parts of me removed and I was shocked how mutilated I felt.

Some women only have one breast removed, the one that had the cancer obviously. They either have to wear a mastectomy bra or they can get an implant for the one breast.

@bkcunningham I like your answer a lot. :)

If you’re a guy, it’s kind of like having your penis cut off. Wouldn’t you want a new one?

@Auggie, I agree with that “more trouble than they are worth.”

@bookish1 Breasticles.

To feel whole again. If you were suddenly missing a part of your body that had always been there, wouldn’t you feel like you were missing something, like your body was incomplete? Breast*s* are a normal part of the body and a huge aspect of femininity for most women, so why shouldn’t they want to reclaim that womanly confidence? You just posted in your recent question your very specific requirements for a woman to whom you would be attracted- including perfectly sized and perky breasts…but you now say that women shouldn’t find breasts to be desirable or to be a source of confidence? That’s a double standard if I’ve ever heard one.

And obvious sexist tones to your answers aside, what is with your prejudices against fat people? You managed to work it into a question that has absolutely nothing to do with it. We get it already, you don’t like “chicken flap back arms,” “double saddlebags,” and “tankles” (whatever that’s supposed to mean).

Body image.

@Hypocrisy_Central I like the clothes I have, some of which are old but still classic style. Call it egotistical, but I’d prefer to look as much as I did before the mastectomy. I’d also prefer to have a prosthesis if I lost a leg and I’d wear pants as I do now, to look normal. If I lost two legs, I’d have the prosthetic devices that made me the same height as I am now. If I went bald, I’d wear a wig. Vanity, vanity. Yep. I also stopped drinking tea because it was staining my teeth. It’s my body and MY choice.

So they can prosthetic-breast feed their young’ns synthetic milk? ;-p

Funny thing, they never did give The Terminator a swinging dick & matching pair of balls…no wonder he was such a dedicated stalker, so much frustration/sexual tension.

@Incoherency_ Yes, but only prosthetic children

@Hypocrisy_Central : Why would you question what someone who has undergone a mastectomy does with their body?

Just to qualify my flippant response, @Fly said everything that needed to be said & actually took the words right out of me my mouth. Therefore with all this talk of plastic penises & cosmetic balls, there was little else to add other than to play around with it.
That’s okay though, although she basically “stole” my stuff…i’m not bitter, not at all :)

Because they can?
Because they want to?
I most definitely would. I’d do it for myself though, not for anybody else. I don’t think it would matter either way to my fiancé, he’s not a boob man to begin with.

My dear friend is facing a mastectomy within the month. She’s 66 years old and although she has a positive attitude, she’s scared to the point of tears. She has stage III breast cancer and it has moved into her lymph nodes under her arm. Do you want to ask her why she has decided to have breast reconstruction after her breast and a portion of her armpit is removed?

After what she’s been going through for the past six months, I think she should do whatever she wants to do as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. She’s lost her hair, lost her appetite, lost her security, lost her innocence and now she’s losing her beautiful breast. If she decides to do what women did before reconstructive surgery was an option and wear a bra with a pad inside the cup, I would support her 100 percent.

She’s doing it because she can.

Someone in my family had breast cancer, and was offered the chance to do tummy tuck and simultaneous breast reconstruction. They would take the fat off the tummy and make breasts out of it. Two benefits in one! I would have done that in a heartbeat.

@jca Me too.

@JLeslie @Hypocrisy_Central How ften do you buy new clothes? I have clothing I have been wearing for years. You keep talking about clothes for flat chested women, but what are they supposed to do with the full closet they have already? I do not buy new clothes often, usually when they have to be replaced. Should my physical dimensions change drastically enough for me to have to get new clothes, the old ones I would donate—they will still fit someone.

@sparrowfeed If you’re a guy, it’s kind of like having your penis cut off. Wouldn’t you want a new one?
Breast do not even come close to comparison to a penis.

@Sunny2 Thank you for being real about it

@Fly You just posted in your recent question your very specific requirements for a woman to whom you would be attracted- including perfectly sized and perky breasts…but you now say that women shouldn’t find breasts to be desirable or to be a source of confidence? That’s a double standard if I’ve ever heard one.
Because I live women with the physicality I described, that is good for me. Some like women a lot heavier and others like them with bones sticking all over the place. What I think is a beautiful woman has little to do with confidence, if confidence came on how attractive others think of them, a lot of women lack confidence and that is making the manufacturers of Jenny Craig, and Weight Watchers very rich. The double standard is to say “I don’t want to be known as a body part” then go under the knife to make a body part the more noticeable thing depending on what you are wearing or your surgeon created cleavage; that is the double standard