Surgery Restores Feeling In Breast

HOUSTON -- When a woman loses her breast to cancer, the traditional type of reconstruction does not restore feeling.

But a Houston-area doctor is changing that. She performs surgeries that restore sensation in the breast. Dr. Aldona Spiegel is one of a handful of doctors around the world who perform the operation.

For women like Dr. Karen Holt, it seemed too good to be true.

"I want all women to know there is life after cancer, after chemo, after radiation, and even after a mastectomy," Holt said.

Holt was diagnosed four years ago and she faced the disease head-on.

"I couldn't let cancer deprive me another day of my life," Holt said.

Even though she was going through chemotherapy and losing all of her hair, her attitude never faltered. She never missed a day of work, even going to her school bald for Halloween.

"The quality of our life is not determined by what we encounter in a lifetime, but it's how we encounter life," Holt said.

Spiegel, with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is offering women like Holt something more than just reconstruction.

"We're able not only to achieve the volume of the breast, but the size of the breast, shape that matches the other side, but also the sensitivity," Spiegel said.

Spiegel uses abdominal tissue, not muscle, to restore the breasts. Then, she reattaches tiny nerve endings to restore feeling.

Since Spiegel uses abdominal tissue, the patient also gets an instant tummy tuck, and she said that the nerve endings she connects re-grow, about a millimeter a day, so it usually takes approximately four months to get sensation back. But it can happen sooner, according to Spiegel.

"It really just feels like they're whole again, which is really wonderful," Spiegel said.

"By the end of the first week, I actually had feeling in my breasts," Holt said.