Recent Food and Drug Administration hearings on silicone gel implants
have drawn attention to the paucity of information about women who see
k reconstruction after mastectomy compared with those who do not. New
analyses of data gathered in the early 1980s address this issue. Three
groups of mastectomy patients were compared: 117 women who sought and
obtained delayed reconstruction, 26 who sought but decided against de
layed reconstruction, and a comparison group of 53 who were not seekin
g reconstruction. Results indicated that although younger and more kno
wledgeable about reconstruction, patients in the reconstruction group
were similar to those in the comparison group. However, the women who
sought but chose not to proceed with reconstruction appear to have bee
n at greater risk for physical and emotional disappointment with the r
esults of reconstruction, which suggests that poor candidates for reco
nstruction may select themselves out at the time of consultation.