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What will my breast look like after breast cancer surgery?
Source: Choosing Between a Lumpectomy and Mastectomy, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: December 2, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
Selected source text with whitespace normalised. This Triangle page is not an NCI PDQ summary. Independent clinical review is pending.
NCI patient treatment article for this disease Exact source article; not a clinically reviewed indication or current-standard recommendation.
| Lumpectomy or other breast-conserving surgery | Your breast should look a lot like it did before surgery.But if your tumor is large, your breast may look different or smaller after breast-conserving surgery.You will have a small scar where the surgeon cut to remove the DCIS or cancer. The length of the scar will depend on how large the incision was. |
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| Mastectomy | If you have a mastectomy without reconstruction, your breast and nipple will be removed. You will have a flat chest on the side of your body where the breast was removed.You will have a scar over the place where your breast was removed. The length of the scar will depend on the size of your breast. The scar is usually shorter for smaller breasts and longer for larger breasts. |
| Mastectomy with reconstruction | If you have a skin- or nipple-sparing mastectomy, your skin and nipple will remain after surgery. You will not have the sensation of temperature or touch, but your nipple will still react to these.Even if you have reconstruction, your breast shape will not look or feel like it did before surgery. And it will not look or feel like your other breast. You will have scars where the surgeon stitched skin together to make the new breast-like shape. If you have tissue flap reconstruction, you will have scars around the new breast, as well as in the area where the surgeon removed the muscle, fat, and skin to make the new breast-like shape. |
With all three surgeries, the scars left from where the surgeon cut the skin and stitched it back together tend to fade over time.
To get a better idea of what to expect from surgery, ask your surgeon if you can see before and after pictures of other people who have had different types of surgery.
Preserved source evidence · Independent clinical review pending · Not medical advice