Open Accessibility Menu
Hide

Breast Surgery

Breast surgery is one of the primary treatments you will receive if you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. At Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC), our breast surgeons understand the range of emotions that come with this diagnosis. That’s why we strive to provide you with the comfort and assurance that comes from receiving the most advanced options for breast cancer surgery.

Under the care of our breast surgeons, Kay Blanchard, MD, Medical Director of MWHC’s Breast Cancer Program, Christa Ilić, MD, and Meredith Whittaker, MD, you will receive treatment that is both compassionate and personalized. Both surgeons are fellowship-trained and work with hundreds of breast surgery patients each year. This deep experience has resulted in exceptional outcomes for our patients.

Breast Surgery Tailored to You

Working closely with our colleagues in medical and radiation oncology as well as genetic counselors, our breast surgeons help to develop a plan that is seamless and specific to your diagnosis and treatment goals. When it’s time to decide upon your surgery, our surgeons will talk through the range of options available so you can make an informed decision.

These options may include breast conserving therapies (lumpectomy) and oncoplastic surgery, which restore the breasts to their most natural appearance with only one surgery and recovery period. Fewer than 2% of patients who choose a breast-conserving method experience a local recurrence of cancer. What’s more, women whose breasts remain intact tend to feel greater satisfaction with their treatment overall. If breast reconstruction is otherwise desired, our surgeons work closely with our plastic surgeons to achieve the desired outcome.

The full range of treatments offered by our breast surgery team include:

  • Lumpectomy
  • Simple total mastectomy
  • Skin-sparing mastectomy
  • Nipple-sparing mastectomy
  • Modified radical mastectomy
  • Prophylactic mastectomy

Hidden Scar Surgery

For some people, surgical scars can be unwanted reminders of their battle with breast cancer. This understanding led Dr. Ilić to become certified in an approach called hidden scar surgery. Using special techniques and planning, Dr. Ilić performs a patient’s breast cancer surgery in a way that hides the incision and eventual scar from obvious view. This yields greater long-term satisfaction among many patients.

Back to the top
Related Locations