News Comment #11

‘Going Flat’ After Breast Cancer

More and more women are making the choice to “go flat” after having breast cancer. Many doctors push patients to get reconstructive surgery done on their breasts after going through breast cancer (so much so that some patients don’t even know that “going flat” is an option). This is because most doctors see reconstructive surgery as a way to make women “feel whole again”. However, the women featured in this article objected to the idea of reconstructive surgery and had their own stories to tell. Some of these women couldn’t fathom the idea of having reconstructed breasts because of their appearance, while others were worried about the risk of infection. This article is not meant to say that “going flat” is the choice to make, but to let women know that this is even an option.

I actually really, really liked this article. It flowed well and I was impressed by the number of quotes the author incorporated. I believe the extensive use of quotes definitely gave the article a more personal feel by allowing the reader to see into the minds of breast cancer survivors. Along the same lines, I also enjoyed the incorporation of pictures and the size of these pictures. If the pictures had been smaller, they would have seemed less important and definitely wouldn’t have made as much of an impact.

The lead and the following paragraph definitely had impact. I believe these paragraphs effectively dived right into the topic by giving a real life example of why a breast cancer survivor might turn down reconstructive surgery. I especially liked the quote in the second paragraph because it brought up a very valid point (“Having something foreign in my body after a cancer diagnosis is the last thing I wanted”). People with cancer often feel like they have a foreign invader inside their body that is constantly finding ways to kill them, why would they want another foreign body inside of them?

The paragraphs in this article were a bit longer at times, but I believe that is excusable when you consider the number of quotes and statistics that were included. Also, I didn’t find the article any harder to read when I hit some of the longer paragraphs.

This article definitely plays on human interest. I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in learning about this new phenomenon (especially if they personally know breast cancer survivors) and would like to read a happy, feel-good article such as this.

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Comments

  1. I looked at the photos from this last week. Similar photo stories have run in the past, and I’m always impressed by the bravery of the women featured. For some reason, there is still fear and misconceptions, and even a bias against women who have this surgery. These are attempts to own the female body and no longer be ashamed. Powerful.

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