The Lived Experience of Body Alteration and Body Image with Regard to Immediate Breast Reconstruction among Women with Breast Cancer

Influence of body image on quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing breast reconstruction: Mediating of self‐esteem

“…Furthermore, due to a lack of reliable information, the study of Yi et al (2016) stated that reconstructive surgery was decided based on the reputation of the medical personnel. According to the study of Ahn and Suh (2021), it is difficult for patients who lack sufficient medical knowledge to make all these decisions in Korea's medical reality, where patients must make decisions on breast reconstruction and surgical methods based on limited information without sufficient time to think after being diagnosed with breast cancer. However, Dempsey et al (2022) studied the role of breast reconstruction on body image for 4 years and found that it restores from negative effects on body image such as decline of body image and sense of loss caused by breast removal.…”

“…Breast cancer is particularly likely to cause emotional distress, and the negative body image of breast cancer survivors lowers individual self-esteem and leads to mental health problems. As reported by Ahn and Suh (2021), the lack of information about the advantages and disadvantages of breast reconstruction, treatment progress, and treatment process when deciding on breast reconstruction may adversely affect the formation of a positive body image and quality of life due to false expectations. Furthermore, due to a lack of reliable information, the study of Yi et al (2016) The total score average mean of self-esteem of participants was 33.60 (range: 10-40), and the average rating mean score was 3.36 (range: 1-4).…”

“…Breast cancer is considered as a major health problem for women because the incidence of young patients in their 40 s and younger is high in South Korea, as opposed to Western countries, where it affects women in their 50s (Ahn & Suh, 2021; Lundberg & Phoosuwan, 2022). Since there are many young breast cancer patients, there are many days to live as breast cancer survivors even after completion of breast cancer treatment.…”

“…Unlike mastectomy, breast reconstruction is an elective procedure that was not widely performed in the past due to concerns about high costs and complications, as well as lack of knowledge about breast reconstruction (Phoosuwan & Lundberg, 2022; Thakur et al, 2022; Zhu et al, 2022). The number of breast reconstructions is increasing as national health insurance became available for breast reconstruction in 2015, and the treatment methods were diversified (Ahn & Suh, 2021; Lundberg & Phoosuwan, 2022). Considering the breast cancer characteristics in South Korea, where the proportion of young people is high, and the medical reality where breast reconstruction is adopted as a general treatment method (Dempsey et al, 2022; Hong et al, 2018), the number of breast reconstruction cases is expected to increase steadily.…”