Talking Plastic Surgery — with the staff at Colorado Plastic Surgery Center

I believe in miracles. In fact, in my lifetime, I think I’ve witnessed quite a few. However, a “push-up” bra – no matter how well-made- does NOT qualify as a miracle to me. It is more like an illusion, a trick. While it suggests – even promises - the allure of youth and beauty, when it comes to fulfillment, it (pardon the pun) falls flat.  Because even the loveliest bra has to be taken off eventually.

Whether that means the “big reveal” is a humiliating first glimpse by an eager new lover, or the predictable gaze of a lifelong partner, virtually every woman knows the embarrassment and possible shame of disrobing and exposing the real thing. When the underwire, the uplift, the padding and the straps are gone, you’re just left with you and all of your insecurities and vulnerability. And although most men genuinely love and accept their too-small, lop-sided, deflated or droopy women, we have a hard time convincing ourselves of that.

Women realize it is silly-even destructive-to feel this way. We remind ourselves that we are more than just objects, that we are deeper than the two-dimensional images and unrealistic messages we’re subjected to every day. And yet, most of us will admit that we wish we had voluptuous bodies with “perfect” breasts. We buy expensive bras and succumb to ridiculous offers for gimmicks that might enhance what nature has given us. Usually, we end up feeling like we are wearing a disguise… and that leaves us feeling ashamed.

I have wrestled with shame most of my life, and so have many of my friends. Shame is something  many women are intensely familiar with. Last year, as I found myself facing “50”, I decided to make a change. Instead of continuing the argument I’d been having with myself for decades, I opted to have breast augmentation surgery and the results were amazing. If I was wrestling  with shame in the past, I can now say I have beaten it.

More than just the obvious physical benefits, I have experienced an inner transformation that is almost miraculous. It was empowering to make my body look the way I wanted it to look. My confidence has soared and I am reminded daily that, although I will never be perfect, I do not have to settle for shame. We have choices, and I’m so happy with the choice I made. My only regret is having waited so long.

Suzanne Patterson, Practice Administrator

Watch this video of Dr. Slenkovich performing silicone breast augmentation on a patient under local anesthesia. This patient was fearful of general anesthesia and opted for local anesthesia instead.


This type of anesthesia, administered via injections along the sides of the torso, allows the patient to be awake and alert during the procedure.

For more information on breast augmentation under local anesthesia, visit our breast website.

After several months of hard work, Dr. Slenkovich and I are proud to announce our brand new breast website, www.elegantbreast.com! Since breast surgeries are a main focus in our practice and easily the most common procedure Dr. Slenkovich performs, we thought breast procedures deserved more emphasis.

Please check out the website to see articles, content, blogs, photos and videos unique to Elegant Breast. We’re always open to learning and writing about new topics, so please leave comments in the blog entries with questions or feedback!

With help from the rest of the staff, Dr. Slenkovich and myself will contribute to the blog regularly to continue to emphasize communication and patient connection and we hope that Elegant Breast will help convey that as well. We have expanded on topics present on ColoradoPlasticSurgery.com and have added fresh content based on patient need.

We’d also like to thank Erika, Andrew, Jonathan and the rest of the staff at Page1Solutions for working with us to get the website set up, and to the wonderful patients who participated in our video testimonial shoot. We couldn’t have done it without you.

We hope you enjoy the new website and as always, feel free to contact us any time!

- Madeline, Marketing Coordinator

Earlier this week the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force published new guidelines in the Annals of Internal Medicine stating that routine mammograms, generally recommended starting at age 40, should only be performed every other year on women ages 50 to 74. The guidelines also encouraged physicians to refrain from teaching their patients to examine their own breasts for signs of cancer because of a lack of beneficial evidence.

The new guidelines have undoubtedly caused an uproar in the medical community, especially for those who could be affected by the new protocol. Dr. Lilly Klancar, a medical oncologist and hematologist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, has worked extensively with breast cancer patients, most of whom have found their cancer themselves or had their cancer discovered by a routine mammogram.

She completely disagrees with the new guidelines, saying mammograms and self-exams are the absolute best way to catch cancer in its early stages and improve survival rates.

Klancar says about 90 percent of breast cancer patients at Swedish Medical Center have had their breast cancer caught by a mammogram. She currently has at least 15 patients who have found their own breast cancer through a self-exam, particularly a patient in her 30s who was too young to qualify for a mammogram and could have missed her aggressive form of breast cancer had she not performed a self-exam.

Self-exams are free, easy, without side effects and are ideal for women who are too young to have mammograms covered by their health insurance, Klancar says. “It never hurts anyone to know how their breasts feel normally.”

Klancar believes that these guidelines could cause more women to die from breast cancer because women under 50 may not visit their doctor until symptoms arise, generally signifying that the cancer has progressed.
Lora Barke, Medical Director of the Invision Sally Jobe Breast Network, a prominent breast and breast-related imaging center in the Denver area, says that despite the new guidelines, women should still receive mammograms starting at age 40.

She says,”While only 1 in 69 (1.5 percent) women will be diagnosed with breast
cancer in their 40s, we cannot say with any certainty if, or when, a woman will develop breast cancer. But based on evidence we can say that her odds of dying of breast cancer are increased if her cancer is diagnosed after symptoms develop. For this reason, regular mammograms are an important part of women's preventive health care beginning at age 40.”                                                                                                          
       
Dr. Slenkovich always encourages his patients to perform self-exams and requires patients over the age of 30 undergoing and any breast procedure to get a mammogram prior to surgery.

Mammogram image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.