Sensation-Preserving Mastectomy and Nerve Grafting

Treatment Overview

Breast sensation preservation is a specialized technique performed during your mastectomy, not as a separate surgery of its own. During your procedure, your surgeons find the nerves that provide sensation to your nipple and breast skin. Because this nerve usually must be cut during a mastectomy, they attach a small nerve graft to reconnect it and help restore sensation to the breast.

Whether this is right for you depends on factors such as your breast size, shape and blood flow. Your surgical team will look at your unique anatomy and help you decide if you are a candidate for nerve grafting.

About a week before surgery, we'll schedule a pre-admission visit to:

Review what will happen during your surgery
Explain potential side effects
Discuss medications and post-surgery care

You'll receive information to prepare for your surgery. If you have any questions after your pre-admission appointment, your nurse or care coordinator will be happy to help.

Nerve grafting adds surgical time to your mastectomy or reconstruction, since your breast and plastic surgeons work together to identify, preserve, and graft the nerve during the same operation. The recovery of sensation is gradual and can take many months to a year for any feeling to return, and results vary by patient. Your care team will check your progress at your follow-up visits.

Sensation-preserving mastectomy aims to help restore feeling to the breast and nipple after a mastectomy. By reconnecting important sensory nerves during breast reconstruction, this technique may reduce long-term numbness and improve the return of sensation as you heal. Patients may experience awareness of touch and pressure, a more natural-feeling reconstructed breast, and an improved sense of connection to their body.

As with any surgery, there are risks, including:

Temporary or permanent loss of sensation, as nerve regeneration isn't guaranteed
Infection
Bleeding or delayed wound healing
Scarring
Painful nerve growth (neuroma)

Your care team will talk with you about these risks, answer your questions and help you make an informed decision that aligns with your goals.

You’ll have several follow-up appointments in the first few weeks after your procedure. This helps us monitor your healing and manage any questions. As time goes on, your appointments will be less frequent, but we’ll continue to support you.

Services are also available to help you through every treatment stage.

Learn more about our supportive care services.

Frequently Asked Questions

No – nipple-sparing mastectomy preserves the nipple-areola area itself during the mastectomy, while sensation preservation focuses on restoring feeling to the breast through nerve sparing techniques or nerve repair.

Yes, nerve grafting can often be performed during the same surgery as direct-to-implant reconstruction to help preserve or restore sensation in the nipple-areola area and surrounding breast tissue. Your breast surgeon and plastic surgeon will talk with you about whether it's a good option based on your mastectomy type and anatomy.

Nerve preservation or grafting doesn’t guarantee your sensation will return. Some patients experience little to no return of sensation despite grafting, and other patients have successful return.

Your care team will monitor your progress at follow-up visits and talk with you honestly about what to expect based on your healing. If sensation doesn't return the way you hoped, your care team is still there to support you through recovery and beyond.

In certain cases. If you're having reconstruction with a tissue expander rather than an immediate implant, nerve grafting could be performed during your mastectomy to help preserve or restore sensation if you are a good candidate. Your breast and plastic surgeons will speak with you about timing and whether it's the right choice for your treatment plan.

We provide a full range of Supportive Care services to support you during and after your cancer treatment. Some of these services include:

Art therapists
Cancer rehabilitation (onco-physiatry)
Care coordinators
Genetic counseling (cancer geneticist)
Health educators
Medical massage (edema, lymphedema management)
Music therapist
Naturopaths
Nutritionists
Oncology nurses
Social workers
Speech and language pathology

We can also help with finances, food, transportation and other challenges for eligible patients through our patient assistance fund.

See the full list of our Supportive Care services.

Note: Some services are provided by local partners and vary based on location. Please contact your clinic for more information.

Coverage for nerve grafting procedures varies by insurance plan and individual circumstances. Because the procedure is performed as part of mastectomy and breast reconstruction, some aspects of care may be covered, while coverage for specialized nerve reconstruction techniques can differ among insurers.

At this time, nerve grafting is not universally covered by all insurance carriers. Our team can help verify your benefits and discuss any potential out-of-pocket costs before surgery.