About Us

I feel that it’s a privilege for me to be able to take care of patients. I’m always very grateful when they are referred to me by patients so I do my best to deliver the best care as if I were treating a family member. I believe in treating disease in the context of the patient’s whole life and their social economic situation. I try to get to know as much about their disease process as much as the patients themselves so I can deliver the most appropriate care tailored to their needs as much as possible

Most common breast conditions are really lumps and bumps. 9 out of 10 lumps patients feel in their breasts are benign. But of course it is important to have them checked out to make sure they are not cancerous.

We see a lot of breast pain – which is mostly hormonal and not cancerous. Most breast cancers are not painful.

We also see abnormalities seen on breast imaging studies such as mammogram or ultrasound, which may need to be followed up or biopsied. We also see many patients with a family history of breast cancer or any genetic mutations like BRCA 1 and 2, the gene that became famous because of Angelina Jolie, that puts patients at a high risk for breast cancer these are these are conditions that we see in our office on a daily basis.

Having breast cancer means that some cells in your breast are growing abnormally. Learning about different types and stages of breast cancer can help you take an active role in your treatment.
Changes in your Breast

Your entire body is made up of living tissue, this tissue is comprised of thousands of tiny cells, which are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Normal cells reproduce (divide) in a controlled way. When you have cancer, some cells become abnormal, changing shape. These abnormal cells may divide quickly and spread to other parts of the body.

Normal breast tissue is made up of healthy cells that reproduce new cells that look the same.

Noninvasive breast cancer (carcinoma in situ) occurs when cancer cells are only in the ducts.

Invasive breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells move out of the ducts (or lobules) into the surrounding breast tissue.

Metastasis occurs whem cancer cells move into the lymph nodes or bloodstream and travel to another part of the body.

Several tests are used to measure the size of a tumor and learn how far and where it has spread. This is called staging. The Stage of your cancer will help determine your treatment options. Based on the American Cancer Society, the stages of breast care are:

Stage 0: The cancer is noninvasive, cancer cells are found only in the ducts (ductal carcinoma in situ).
Stage 1: The tumor is 2cm or less in diameter, it has invaded the surrounding breast tissue but has not spread to the underarm lymph nodes.
Stage 2: The tumor is larger than 2cm in diameter or has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.
Stage 3: The tumor is larger than 5cm or has spread to the skin, chest wall or nearby lymph nodes.
Stage 4: The tumor has spread to the bones, lungs or lymph nodes far away from the breast.

Recurrent Breast Cancer is when the cancer returns despite treatment.

I’m a breast surgeon that also performs some reconstructive cosmetic surgery when it is in combination with diagnostic procedures or therapeutic procedures of the breast. By that I mean when a woman is going through a surgical breast biopsy or cancer surgery, I can combine that procedure with a breast lift, a reduction or a simple rearrangement of tissue within the breast to optimize the cosmetic outcome. That is called Oncoplastic surgery.

Oncoplastic surgery treats breast problems in the most cosmetic way possible, to produce the best outcomes post-surgery, physically, mentally and cosmetically.

Breast surgery is not a hard surgery to do — but it’s a hard surgery to do well. Everybody’s breasts are different, and cancer is varied, both in type and treatment. Generally, breast surgery is considered an intern’s surgery. Take out the tumor and appropriate margins. It can really disfigure the breast, so it’s plastic surgery that makes it cosmetically acceptable.

The advantages of Oncoplastic surgery are many and that’s why I’m so fervent and such a proponent because there are so many upsides. So far, there is no fellowship in Oncoplastics and the courses that they do offer aren’t extensive enough. I spent a year training under a woman, Dr. Gail Lebovic, who did both.

It can be a better Oncological surgery because the margins around the tumor are generally larger. We can take more tissue without disfiguring the breast.

The woman has better symmetry of the breast, post-surgically, which increases patient satisfaction.

Women with Macromastia (large breasts) are often at a higher risk of developing edema, or swelling, after radiation, and Oncoplastic surgery reduces those risks.

It’s also a single surgery, as opposed to a lumpectomy then reconstruction later, requiring two separate procedures.

Anybody can have Oncoplastic surgery. So even a strategic placement of a surgical incision that is used to get to a tumor can be considered an Oncoplastic. For example someone who has a lump that is placed high up in the chest wall doesn’t necessarily have to have an incision right over it but rather in an area that can be very well hidden under the bra around the Areola which is the brown-lighter border around the nipple or even under the breast in an area called Inframammary fold

If we are talking about removal of a tumor and filling that with local tissue, then an ideal candidate for Oncoplastic surgery would be someone who has enough breast tissue. How much breast tissue will be involved really depends on the amount of breast tissue that has to be removed versus how much there is remaining. That will be decided upon at the time of the surgical consultation after we assess the areas that will need to be removed.

Quite honestly, I fell into it. I wanted to do missionary medicine, but before I went abroad, my residency mentor suggested that I pursue a fellowship in breast health first. That led to a completely different path, I fell in love with breast health and this is now my mission.

I want to streamline and tailor therapy, making a terrible, scary diagnosis into something that’s not the worst thing in the world.

That being said, lots of people still die from breast cancer, and we’d like to change that.

We need to educate people. Breast cancer is very treatable. The mean age for breast cancer is between 61 and 62 years old, but 70 is the new 50! Women are living a long time after diagnosis and treatment. As long as women do their breast exams, get their mammograms and get genetic testing if they have a family history, there’s so much we can do.

I’ve have been privileged to know Dr. Beth Lesnikowski, an incredible surgeon, and one of the reasons I came down here was to work at an accredited hospital with a great reputation. I want people to know there are layers and layers of standards to accreditation and we measure ourselves against other hospitals, accredited by Commission on Cancer. Our numbers are better.

We’re in a growth mode and we have an opportunity to build a program that will help more people. I feel lucky to be here and think the timing is right to bring the accreditation and skills to our practice, Breast Specialists of South Florida.