There are sensory nerves that run from your breast to your brain, sending messages that allow you to feel touch, temperature—even pain. During a mastectomy, the nerves that provide feeling to the breast, skin and nipple are cut when the breast tissue is removed. If the cut nerves aren’t repaired during breast reconstruction, they won’t be able to send signals. No signal means no sensation and you are often left with a completely numb chest.

The ability to feel is such an important part of our lives. Most of us have never considered how we would experience sensation loss or what it would mean in our day-to-day lives.

Losing sensation has personally impacted me in so many unexpected ways; like burning myself while cooking, the embarrassing nip-slips, running into things with my foobs and spilling things all over myself and having no clue... and don't even get me started on how it's impacted intimacy and feeling connected to my body...

Many of us aren’t told or fully explained to how much the loss of sensation is going to impact our lives, this part of our surgeries is often glossed over.

@resensation is working to challenge the norm that we must accept that we will be permanently numb, post mastectomy.

WHAT IS RESENSATION?

Resensation is a surgical technique performed during breast reconstruction that allows surgeons to reconnect the nerves that were cut during your mastectomy. A nerve allograft (donated nerve tissue) is used as a bridge to reconnect nerves in the chest. Over time, the nerves regenerate, potentially restoring sensation and becoming a part of your own body in the process.

I have partnered with Resensation to bring you a little nerve 101 because I truly believe that only when we understand how our bodies work and fully understand what is surgically being done, we are truly empowered to make the right choices for our lives!

First of all, what is a nerve?

In very basic terms, a nerve is a cable-like structure within the body that relays information from one part of the body to another.

Think of nerves like the cable that you plug into the back of your TV. They carry information back and forth throughout your body the same way the cord carries information between your electrical box to your tv.

Now imagine if you cut your tv’s cable, the information would not be transferred, the screen would go blank and if you looked at that cut cable you’d see a group of tiny wires inside.

The inside of a nerve looks the same way!

Nerves are made up of a bunch of little nerves call fascicles. Within each of those fascicles is a bundle of even smaller fibers, the actual wires that communicate between the spinal cord and the body - the axon!

The axon is the actual fiber that carries electrical impulses from the spinal cord to activate a muscle. These can also carry impulses from the skin, conveying touch from that area of skin back to the spinal cord.

There are sensory nerves that run from your breast to the brain, sending messages that allow you to feel touch, temperature, and even pain.

These nerves are typically cut during a mastectomy so the breast tissue can be removed. If the nerves aren’t repaired during breast reconstruction, they no longer send signals.

Why does this matter?

No signal = no sensation.

This usually results in numbness, loss of feeling in the breast area and even pain.

Loss of sensation can lead to permanent numbness, pain, loss of intimacy, can make it harder to reconnect with yourself post mastectomy, and can also lead to day to day discomforts and accidents.

I have burned myself while cooking and have had major spills due to my loss of sensation post mastectomy.

But here is hope!!

In the past, reconstructive surgery mainly focused on restoring the size, shape, softness and symmetry of the breast. But what about sensation? Today, with the help of advancements like Resensation, that mentality is beginning to change. During Resensation a nerve allograft (donated human tissue) is used to reconnect and bridge the gap between the nerves in your chest and the nerves in your reconstructed breast tissue. The nerve graft guides regrowth of nerve fibers over time, potentially restoring sensation to the chest and breasts.

HOW DOES RESENSATION WORK?

Resensation is a new technique of breast neurotization, or nerve repair, that can potentially restore feeling as part of breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy.

Resensation uses allograft nerve tissue to reconnect the nerves in the chest.

Over time, this guides regrowth of nerve fibers and can lead to sensory restoration to the breast tissue.

When is Resensation performed?

Resensation can be performed as part of an immediate reconstruction (at the same time as the mastectomy) or at a later date as part of a delayed reconstruction. It is also possible that it may be included as part of an implant revision surgery.

I am thinking about having Resensation done during my revision surgery!

You can head to www.resensation.com to learn more! I am so excited to be partnering with Axogen to bring you information about numbness after a mastectomy and what you may be able to do about it