Angelina Jolie, breastless

[Syt]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/14/angelina-jolie-double-mastectomy

Angelina Jolie reveals she has had preventive double mastectomy

Actor reveals she has had mastectomy because of gene defect that increases risk of developing disease that killed her mother

Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer, and has gone public with the news to raise awareness.

The actor has a defective gene, BRCA1, which significantly increases her risk of developing breast cancer, the disease that killed her mother at the age of 56, she writes in the New York Times.

Jolie says she chose not to keep the decision private in the hope that other women would get gene-tested. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimise the risk," she says.

Women with a defect in BRCA1 have on average a 65% risk of developing breast cancer. Jolie says her doctors told her that her risk was 87% and that surgery had reduced it to 5%. The defect also increases the risk of ovarian cancer, which Jolie says doctors estimate is 50% for her.

The 37-year-old, who has six children – three by Brad Pitt and three adopted – finished three months of medical procedures on 27 April. She says she first had "nipple delay" to maximise the chances of saving her nipples, before breast tissue removal and, nine weeks later, reconstruction. Pitt was by her side for "every minute of the surgeries", she said.

Jolie said her children had often asked if she might get the illness that killed her mother, Marcheline Bertrand. She says now: "I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

"It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was."

Jolie adds: "I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices."

[Eddie Teach]

Caliga's been crying and didn't know why.

[Viking]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

[Caliga]

Dude, she'll just get implants.  No worries.

[CountDeMoney]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

Jennifer Aniston still has hers.

Jolie says her doctors told her that her risk was 87% and that surgery had reduced it to 5%.

One would hope so.

[Viking]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

Jennifer Aniston still has hers.

I gotta say nose reduction surgery is apparently preferable to radical breast reduction surgery.


But seriously, Jolie was told that if she didn't get the surgery she would get cancer. So this was the right decision. It's not like anybody thought her breasts were real anyways.

[Grey Fox]

They were reconstructed at the same time, it's in the damn article.

[garbon]

I think I said before that my mother's friend had a double mastectomy and as they said they didn't have implants that small, she came out with larger breasts than before she went in.

[merithyn]

Jennifer Aniston still has hers.

Good for Angelina. I'm hoping that she's also planning to get the CA125 test done every year, too. (Or that she plans to have her ovaries removed, though that comes with a lot of other issues.) Ovarian cancer is really the bigger risk since it can't be seen or easily checked for, like breast cancer, and it's far more invasive.

[Caliga]

they said they didn't have implants that small

That's what I would have said too. 

[Phillip V]

Dude, she'll just get implants.  No worries.

Is it the same?

[Martinus]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

It really must suck to be him. He is arguably one of the sexiest men alive and when he started dating Angelina, she used to be hot. Since then she turned into a breast-less monster/skeletor.

[merithyn]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

It really must suck to be him. He is arguably one of the sexiest men alive and when he started dating Angelina, she used to be hot. Since then she turned into a breast-less monster/skeletor.

Yeah, not seeing this "monster/skeletor" that you are.

[Eddie Teach]

She used to be hot, then Marty realized he was gay.

[garbon]

Brad Pitt's like, wait, WTF?

It really must suck to be him. He is arguably one of the sexiest men alive and when he started dating Angelina, she used to be hot. Since then she turned into a breast-less monster/skeletor.

I'd pick Jolie over Pitt any day.