Our preliminary results show that patients with the Nipple Guard had a 4% increase in nipple projection at 8 weeks, compared to a 66% decrease for the controls.

What was the average measured nipple shrinkage for the patients that used the Nipple Guard?

So at 8 weeks, the patients using the Nipple Guard had projections that were slightly larger than those created during surgery?

Yes.

Were you surprised by the observed results? If so, what surprised you?

I was not surprised to see that the Nipple Guard did better than the controls. The Nipple Guard protects the nipple reconstruction from external pressure and our study shows that it can help maintain projection.

What did surprise me was that there was an actual increase in projection compared to the initial projection.

What preliminary conclusion can be drawn?

The Nipple Guard protects the reconstructed nipple from direct pressure and is an effective means of preserving nipple projection after nipple reconstruction.

What are the next steps for the study?

We’ll be continuing to measure nipple projection in our patients for as long as they are under our care. Our study has primarily looked at the first 6 months after nipple reconstruction, but the results are promising enough that we want to see if nipple projection can be maintained indefinitely.

Thank you for your time Dr. Lee.

Stay tuned! A future edition of Self Asteame Magazine will examine the 6 month follow-up results for the patients in the Stanford University clinical study of the Nipple Guard.

The information in this article is not intended as a substitute for personal, professional and / or medical advice. Please consult your physician, therapist or other medical professional for advice and treatment.