Breast Cancer Patient Uses Love Handles For Reconstructive Surgery
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Love handles--you know that fat on the side of your waist -- is hated by most people. But they're becoming a loved feature by many breast cancer patients.
Monique Griego has more on how love handles are offering new hope.
"I feel really good. I just realized it's been 18 months," said Laura Taylor.
Taylor looks and feels like a new woman, so much so it's hard to believe just two years ago she received a devastating breast cancer diagnosis.
"I had to sit and wonder what was I going to do. I knew immediately I wanted a mastectomy," Taylor said.
But even as a professor of nursing at Johns Hopkins, Taylor didn't know all her options.
"I was unsure. I had no idea," Taylor said.
Then she was introduced to Dr. Ariel Rad at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
"Oftentimes plastic surgeons will tell patients implants are their only option and that's really not true," Rad said.
Rad told Taylor she was the perfect patient for a new love handle option.
Doctors would take the fat from her hips to rebuild new breasts.
"I was all over it. I even jumped off the table to show him that I had what he needed," Taylor said.
"Nobody likes their love handles and to be able to rebuild breasts completely with that tissue and remove the love handles and slim the waistline even more, that's something that's attractive to patients," Rad said.
The surgery is complex and Rad is one of only 30 doctors who perform it.
"Hopefully allow other women to feel confident," Taylor said.
A year and a half after surgery Taylor is enjoying her new body and hopes other women find out all their options.
"The fact that it was me was totally the perfect touch," she said.
The love handle surgery and all reconstruction procedures are covered by insurance.
Rad says women need to make sure they go to a doctor who's qualified to perform it.
