Breast Cancer

• If a mastectomy has taken place, once the wound has healed, you may choose to look at the area with your partner by both of you lying or standing nude in front of a mirror and expressing your thoughts and feelings together.
• Until you are ready to make love with all of your clothes off, you may choose to wear fancy underwear or nightgowns. This hides the area but is still sexually exciting.
• To decrease a direct view of the chest, your partner may wish to try different positions such as a side lying or an entry from behind position. The New Joy of Sex book by Alex Comfort is a great source for different positions a couple may use to increase sexual pleasure.
• Try making love by candlelight to decrease the shock of how your body has changed.
• You may also try the "sensate focus" exercise explained in the book, Heterosexuality by Masters, Johnson, & Kolodny. This involves paying attention to certain sexual tasks to decrease anxiety, reduce concerns about how you look and act and refocus interest on other parts of your anatomy.
• Because many women enjoy stroking, sucking or licking, and manipulation of the breast, you can be reassured that this type of foreplay can continue without the fear of causing a second cancer in the other breast.