Two Women & Infants Breast Surgeons Become 1st in RI to Use Hidden Scar Technique

Two Women & Infants Breast Surgeons Become 1st in RI to Use Hidden Scar Technique

Doctor Jennifer Gass, MD and Dr. David Edmonson, of The Breast Health Center at Women and Infants Hospital, have been certified in a new technique called Hidden Scar Breast Surgery. They are the first in Rhode Island and among the first in the region to achieve the certification. 

“This is an approach to breast cancer surgery that attempts to hide the scar in areas not easily visible to the patient or others, such as the inframammary fold, the peri-areola margin or the axillary crease. This allows us to remove the cancer safely while reducing visible scarring,” said Jennifer Gass, MD, co-director of the Breast Health Center at Women & Infants and the hospital’s surgeon-in-chief. 

Hidden Scar Breast Surgery

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The surgery utilizes Invuity's Intelligent Photonics technology to illuminate the breast cavity and improve the surgeon's visibility during a lumpectomy and nipple sparing mastectomy. While allowing the surgeon to perform complex surgeries with higher confidence, it also gives the patient a transformative surgical option. 

“When a woman has surgery to remove breast cancer, we will do anything to help eliminate the daily reminder of the disease, including using this cosmetic procedure to hide the telling scars,” Dr. Edmonson says.

Every year, about 232,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer that requires surgery. Patients who undergo Hidden Scar Breast Cancer Surgery experience optimal clinical and cosmetic outcomes and are at no higher risk of recurrence then patients who undergo an other surgical technique. 

The technology augments the tools breast surgeons have available to them to improve the cosmetic outcome of breast cancer surgery. 

Doctor's Gass and Edmonson are also trained in oncoplastic surgery, a novel surgical procedure that combines the best techniques in plastic surgery with oncologic surgery to remove breast cancer while preserving and reconstructing the breasts in the most natural looking way at the time the cancer is removed. 

Others Pursuing Certification 

Others pursuing certification are Candace Dyer, MD, of the Breast Health Center at Kent; Sonali Pandya, MD, and Ashley Stuckey, MD, who both see patients at Women & Infants and Kent; and Hannah Bansil, MD, of Women & Infants.