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Dr. Jay Harness
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VIDEO: Dr. Harness - After A Double Mastectomy, When Can A Woman Have Sex?

Dr. Harness shares when a woman can engage in sexual intimacy after a double mastectomy.

Dr. Harness, M.D.:
I think this is highly variable. After a double mastectomy, there’s a lot of emotional trauma. So returning to sexual activity can certainly occur after drains are removed and the patient is feeling that she is healing. So certainly, probably within a couple of weeks after the surgery.

There are going to be body image questions here, about how she is feeling, about her body after double mastectomy, how her partner is feeling about her body after double mastectomy, what the level of sexual activity was prior to the mastectomies.

So it’s really a complicated question, but from a pure physical perspective, once the drains are out and, you know, decent healing is going on, which is usually a couple of weeks, and no fluid is building up under the mastectomy sites, I see no reason that a patient cannot return to sexual activity.

About Dr. Harness, M.D.:
Dr. Jay Harness, M.D., is the Director at St. Joseph Hospital Comprehensive Breast Center. Practicing medicine for 35 years, Dr. Harness specializes in general surgery and medical oncology. Graduating medical school from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he conducting his internship and residency at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Recognized nationally and internationally for his work in breast and endocrine surgery, Dr. Harness is the immediate past-President of The American Society of Breast Surgeons and is President-elect of Breast Surgery International. Dr. Harness can assist patients in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Visit Dr. Harness at St. Joseph Hospital

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