Breast Cancer in men - Reconstruction for breast cancer in men (2024)

So when you came out of surgery and you’d had the mastectomy…

Had the surgery, oh aye, that’s right, of course.

(overtalk) had the mastectomy, I mean, how do you think it looks? Have they done a good job with the scar?

Yeah, it’s fine – I mean, ok, my nipple’s away and everything, and the consultant said, you know, “you can have cosmetic surgery,” and I went, “at my age? Forget that,” you know?

So you were offered that?

Yeah, I was offered that.

At the time, just before they were going to do the…

Before… When I went initially, you know, they were discussing the surgery and said, you know, “you can have cosmetic surgery.” I says, “…don’t need cosmetic surgery at my age,” you know? If I was a young guy or something, uh uh, but I didn’t worry too much about that. But anyway, they made a very neat job of it.

And how do you feel about your body now?

Well it’s, I mean, I’ve got enough scars as well, you know? But the fact that the age I am, it doesn’t bother me at all. The thing is I feel ok – that’s the main thing, you know?

I wouldn’t fancy being tattooed, really. It might hurt (laughing).

Well, you’ve had a couple of…

I’ve had tattoos, yeah. Yeah, no, I, I, no, I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that, coz a lot of women have it done, as well, tattooed back on, don’t they?

I don’t know, actually, coz I don’t know the different techniques that they use.

My cousin’s wife, she had it done on one side, and she had a nipple tattooed back on there.

Coz I think sometimes, they can save the nipple in the surgery?

Yeah, they can do.

As I say, a long way out of my expertise, but…

I mean, probably, if I sort of said well, “I don’t want to…” They could have probably saved this one, but I think this one had to go anyway coz the tumour was right in the nipple, sort of thing.

So close by, yeah.

Yeah – I think that one would have had to have gone anyway, but like I say, you know – especially at my, I mean, it might have been different if I’d been twenty years old, you know?

So you think a younger guy might find it…

Yeah – coz I mean, you know, I mean, all of us, when we’re young, are vain, aren’t we?

Yeah.

You know, whether you’re man, woman, or whatever you are – there’s always a bit of vainness about you, you know? But I think a younger fella might, I don’t know if I would have done when I was young – I don’t know if I would have worried then, or not, I really don’t. Might have done, I don’t know – but then again, we never had time for sunbathing, we had to go to work and earn, you know, and just work. That was your life, you know, just going to work, sort of thing.

So, you were offered reconstruction?

Yes, they said they could tattoo them if I wanted in that area. I said, “Well I ain’t really bothered”. I said, the only time I’m stripped to the waist is usually I sit in here at nights with nothing on because I put the cream on and all that, and I’d rather it soak into me than into me clothing, and of course, weather like this, down on the allotment, I strip to the waist. A little bit, just because there’s three or four young… well, I say young lassies, I mean you know, forty-odd downwards, and it curtails it a bit because I don’t want to embarrass them or myself for that matter.

What now?

Well, I mean, they’re young lassies compared to me, I mean you know, probably between thirty and forty.

Did they offer you reconstruction?

No.

No?

No, no.

Or a tattoo for a nipple or…?

No. I didn’t know you could get it. Well they never asked, I never asked them, fair enough, if a woman might get a nipple, but my wife aint got nowt, you know what I mean? If a woman, fair enough, she get it done but never... I was never asked about it and I never asked them.

It’s not something you’d have gone for if they’d offered it to you?

No... It’s different for a woman.

Why’s that?

Coz she’s got bigguns – mine aren’t big. Mine’s flat, aren’t they? You can see where it delves in there, that’s all so you know what I mean, whereas the other one sticks out a bit here – but it’s only muscle, isn’t it, really when you look at it? No, it doesn’t embarrass me. I’d never shout for it, they never offered, so I don’t think they could help you out – I didn’t know they could offer men owt. What can they offer a man?

Well sometimes they can either, it’s like you say, sometimes if the breast on the other side, if it’s uneven, sometimes they might do some liposuction (ah) to flatten it down or else they might offer you the chance to tattoo on a nipple, just so that, you know?

Even it up, yeah – well no, I never even was offered that and I ain’t asked about it. Well, it don’t bother me now.

There’s some men get a reconstructed breast like a woman, obviously not the same size as a woman, but they can do that.

I know what you’re saying, yeah, yeah – build it up a bit, yeah. Coz that does sink in, know what I mean? It’s flat as a pancake now, where that one stands out a bit but it doesn’t bother me – it doesn’t bother me one bit.

And did he discuss options afterwards? Was there any talk of any reconstruction, or have you ever felt any need for that?

I was offered a tattooed nipple, which I thought hilarious – I thought that was really great. I could have any colour I liked, I presume! But from my point of view, the breast care nurse talked to me about that, and said, you know, did I want to go down any of those avenues, and I said, “No,” I think because I’m – even though I’m 58, and my breasts have grown a little bit, I didn’t have huge man boobs. I didn’t think there was a need for me to have any reconstructive surgery. The actual – I’m a hairy person as well, so a tattooed nipple would have been a total waste of time in a couple of weeks, because the hair would have grown over it. I didn’t fancy the pain of having a tattoo – which is funny when you have full surgery, and you worry about the pain of a tattoo! But, literally, no other issues. I’ve been swimming in a public pool since, I’ve got no qualms about my scar being on view. I know it’s different for a woman, obviously, but from a man’s point of view, you can always say you know, “Look at my scar!” I think, you know, it’s one of these things, isn’t it?

Men like showing off their scars?

Yeah, showing off, yeah, “Look at this scar!” You know. So there’s no...

So you haven’t felt at all self conscious, or any need to feel self conscious?

No, not at all. Literally. I mean, from the point, when I said earlier, about showing my, you know, I took my, opened my shirt on the bus. And people are looking on the bus, and quite interested.

So you educated a few people!

So I educated quite a few people, yeah, late at night, yeah. Quite funny! But – no, I’ve got no qualms about it. But I can appreciate that there will be people, men who don’t want to bare their chests, but what I say is, you don’t look that different, because you haven’t got big breasts in the first place. It’s just a flat version of the other side, literally.

Why did they recommend that you went to a plastic surgeon then, this second time? Did they offer you some kind of reconstruction, on the second occasion but not the first, or-?

They had never talked about reconstruction the first time, and I had insisted on being referred to a plastic surgeon. After the first time, to see what could be done. And that was greeted with some astonishment, I remember. And-

Again because you were a man asking about it?

Because I was a man, and I was aware that women were offered reconstructive surgery at the point of initial surgery or they could delay it. But they were offered reconstructive surgery. So I felt like Oliver Twist almost, asking for more. But I was determined then that men should be treated absolutely the same as women. And they referred me to- no, they didn’t refer me to a plastic surgeon, they gave me the telephone number of the plastic surgeon, to make an appointment.

So you had to do that yourself?

I did.

I phoned the number and the person said, “Oh, you’ll have to hang on until I get my diary, [name]”. I said, “Okay”. So, she came back. “Okay, mister…” I remember exactly, she said, “Okay [name] I’ve got the diary now. What’s your wife’s name?” And… that was obviously as bad as the pharmacist.

Yeah, it must…

And anyway it was this assumption that men first of all didn’t get breast cancer, and secondly they wouldn’t bother at all with the reconstruction and…

So, there was just no thought at all that you might be phoning on your own behalf?

Just no thought that I might be the person looking for treatment. Anyway, I made the lady aware that it wasn’t my wife I was talking about, it was me and I was the very first man… the very first man, that had been referred, or asked to be referred to a plastic surgeon after breast cancer treatment and this is of course before I found out the symptoms returning to the other side and by that time, they had decided a second mastectomy was best and because I had spoken to the plastic surgeon, she said she would do it…

Right.

… and that’s, that’s how it came about.

Right.

So, after the second mastectomy of course I was… didn’t have anything, no nipples so there was a serious lack…

That must feel very strange?

Well, it does and it kind of looked very neat but there is definitely something missing and I did miss them and I do. Anyway, after that treatment, after that surgery, the plastic surgeon said that she would do something for me but not until the wound had healed and calmed down, and then she would see what she would do and I said, that’s fine, but in the interim, before she did anything, I became very depressed.