Cancer manifests itself in many ways. For some, bleeding from the nipple is the first sign of a problem. For others it's a painful lump. Some have no signs at all and find out at a routine mammogram screening.

Many women ignore the first signs of breast cancer, thinking the signs they have don't warrant concern. Bleeding from the nipple can be passed off as some sort of injury or fluke. Lumps are often attributed to the normal swelling of breasts due to menses cycles. But before long, the signs get worse and become impossible to ignore. At that point, most women go to the doctor. Some women keep ignoring the symptoms. Most of these women do not survive. Early detection is the key to beating this disease.

Blood tests, genetic tests, mammograms and biopsies are performed before the diagnosis of cancer is given. When the patient gets the diagnosis of cancer it is devastating. Many women feel shock, disbelief, fear and more all in a few seconds time. The fear never really goes away.

Recently, some surgeons are suggesting women who come up positive for the breast cancer gene have mastectomies as a preventative measure. Women with the breast cancer gene are virtually guaranteed to get breast cancer.

When women have preventative mastectomies performed, a lot can be done to save the appearance of the breasts. Surgeons incise the breasts in the same manner they would for a breast augmentation procedure. The dangerous or precancerous tissue is removed and replaced with implants. By doing this, the likelihood of developing breast cancer is diminished. If there is no breast tissue to develop cancer with, then cancer won't develop. It's as simple as that. This new procedure is saving lives.

For many women who have an actual cancer diagnosis a bi-sectomy or mastectomy procedure is imperative to beat cancer. Even with these drastic measures, many patients must undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Fighting cancer is a hellish ordeal. So many changes happen to the body it is hard for women to accept it. Extreme pain, weight gain from chemo therapy, weight loss from not being able to keep down food, hair loss, and rapid aging are just a few of the things that happen to women with cancer. Once the patients are in remission, and their lives settle down, the realization that one or both of their breasts are gone for life settles in.

Most women choose to have breast reconstruction or breast augmentation performed. Insurance has gotten much better about paying for these procedures in recent years. Therefore, plastic surgeon Los Angeles doctors are becoming specialists in the field of breast reconstructive surgery. The more plastic surgeons perform this surgery, the more they learn about it and the safer it becomes for cancer survivors to have it done.

The outcomes of breast reconstructive surgery improve all the time. Women are given a piece of themselves back. Sometimes the new breasts are better than the ones they had before. These women get their confidence back. It's no wonder so many women elect to have this procedure performed. To learn about Dr. Calvert, a breast reconstructive surgery specialist, go to