Breast surgery is one of the primary treatments you will receive if you’ve
been diagnosed with breast cancer. At Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC),
our breast surgeons understand the range of emotions that come with this
diagnosis. That’s why we strive to provide you with the comfort
and assurance that comes from receiving the most advanced options for
breast cancer surgery.
Under the care of our breast surgeons,
Kay Blanchard, MD, Medical Director of
MWHC’s Breast Cancer Program,
Christa Ilić, MD, and
Meredith Whittaker, MD, you will receive treatment that is both compassionate and personalized.
Both surgeons are fellowship-trained and work with hundreds of breast
surgery patients each year. This deep experience has resulted in exceptional
outcomes for our patients.
Breast Surgery Tailored to You
Working closely with our colleagues in medical and radiation oncology as
well as genetic counselors, our breast surgeons help to develop a plan
that is seamless and specific to your diagnosis and treatment goals. When
it’s time to decide upon your surgery, our surgeons will talk through
the range of options available so you can make an informed decision.
These options may include breast conserving therapies (lumpectomy) and
oncoplastic surgery, which restore the breasts to their most natural appearance
with only one surgery and recovery period. Fewer than 2% of patients who
choose a breast-conserving method experience a local recurrence of cancer.
What’s more, women whose breasts remain intact tend to feel greater
satisfaction with their treatment overall. If breast reconstruction is
otherwise desired, our surgeons work closely with our plastic surgeons
to achieve the desired outcome.
The full range of treatments offered by our breast surgery team include:
Lumpectomy
Simple total mastectomy
Skin-sparing mastectomy
Nipple-sparing mastectomy
Modified radical mastectomy
Prophylactic mastectomy
Hidden Scar Surgery
For some people, surgical scars can be unwanted reminders of their battle
with breast cancer. This understanding led Dr. Ilić to become certified
in an approach called hidden scar surgery. Using special techniques and
planning, Dr. Ilić performs a patient’s breast cancer surgery in
a way that hides the incision and eventual scar from obvious view. This
yields greater long-term satisfaction among many patients.
D. Kay Blanchard, MD, FACS, PhDBreast Surgeon
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Christa Ilić, MD, FACSBreast and Endocrine Surgeon
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On October 14, 2024, our team of experts from the Mary Washington Healthcare
Regional Cancer Center and Mary Washington General Surgery held a live
event on Facebook about breast cancer, taking questions from the audience.
This is a recording of the event.
