Male Breast Cancer Health Center

Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer. Your doctor can explain each type, discuss and compare the benefits and risks and describe how each will change the way you look.

• Breast-sparing surgery: This is an operation to remove the cancer but not the entire breast. It's also called breast-conserving surgery, lumpectomy or a segmental or partial mastectomy. Sometimes an excisional biopsy is the only surgery a woman needs because the surgeon removed the whole lump during that procedure.
• Mastectomy: This operation removes the entire breast (or as much of the breast tissue as possible). In some cases, a skin-sparing mastectomy may be an option. For this approach, the surgeon removes as little skin as possible.