Becky is 24 years old. In January 2006 she underwent a preventive double mastectomy due to her extensive family history of breast cancer. She had undertaken a genetic test 2 years previously after discovering that one of these relatives had developed the disease in her twenties.

Becky has silicone implants. The shape was achieved by firstly inserting ‘expanders’. These are implants with ‘chambers’ that can be filled with saline over a period of just a few months through a valve that is hidden beneath the skin. This is a routine painless procedure that is performed in Outpatient clinics. The technique used by Becky’s surgeon was to make an incision around the nipple then following a straight line down….rather like a question mark. She chose to retain her own nipple, but her surgeon was careful to remove as much breast tissue as possible. She is aware there may be a very small residual risk in that area but hopes it will be easy to monitor and detect. Her risk is still reduced to less than population risk levels. The operation to replace the ‘expanders’ with the softer permanent implants was performed 3 weeks before these photographs were taken and Becky was very quickly up, around and back to work.