[Breastfeeding after breast surgery: patient information]

Objectives: Partial mastectomy, augmentation and reduction mammaplasty are often operated on women who are not yet bothered by breastfeeding. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the information given to patients before surgery, and describe difficulties that mothers confront when starting breastfeeding in order to create a reference document about breastfeeding to inform patients who will undergo such surgery in the future.

Material and methods: We led one first study to evaluate the surgeons' practice in the Reunion Island and a second retrospective and descriptive study upon patients.

Results: We encountered the fact that few patients in childbearing age ask for information about breastfeeding before undergoing surgery, but surgeons do not systematically give such information either, even less before partial mastectomy. The impact of surgery on breastfeeding depends on the type of intervention and the surgical technique. Even though breastfeeding is possible, the mean period of breastfeeding after surgery is shorter and the most frequent difficulty encountered is lactation insufficiency, even more after reduction mammaplasty, periareolar incision, and nipple hypoesthesia after surgery.

Discussion and conclusion: The information document that we tried to establish concerning breastfeeding after partial mastectomy, augmentation and reduction mammaplasty, may compensate patients' lack of information and sums up all the complications described in our study and in the literature.