On the other hand, in individual patients, the objective in reconstructive surgery is patient satisfaction, they suggest. An unhappy patient might spur a conscientious surgeon to keep trying, perhaps through repeated procedures, to achieve a better result – a strategy that could be inappropriate and pointless considering that in some cases, “the reason for disappointment with reconstruction include many that the surgeon cannot influence surgically.”
It all suggests that communication between surgeons and reconstruction candidates and patients needs to be deep and candidly honest, informed by the emotional, sexual, and existential meaning the surgery holds.
In a word, it’s complicated.
Betsy Bates Freed, Psych.D., is a clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara, Calif., and a medical journalist.