Post-operative lingerie can also be beautiful and sexy. Faced with the lack of supply from traditional brands, more and more small brands are launching their own bras intended for women who have undergone breast cancer surgery. A great initiative to help them regain their femininity endangered by illness.
Breast cancer is most common in women. In France, 58,459 new cases were enumerated in 2018. Each year, it is estimated that nearly 20,000 women for whom mastectomy (single or double) is a necessary step, according to the report of the Societal Observatory. Cancers.
Following a mastectomy, a minority of women (2 to 3 in 10) engage in breast reconstruction, most often several months (or even years) later. About 10,000 surgical reconstructions are performed every year, according to the report of the High Authority of Health.
Breast cancer directly affects femininity and affects the image that women have of themselves. And the loss of one or both breasts does not only lead to physical consequences requiring materials and shapes that do not attack the skin (the breast mistreated by the treatment becoming hyper-sensitive), it also leaves psychological consequences in depriving the sick and combatants of a symbol of their femininity.
In this incessant fight, the reappropriation of one's body also involves access to underwear adapted to this new morphology. Women who have had an operation face a major problem: the pretty post-operative lingerie is almost non-existent. And the brands that can be found in pharmacies, very medicalized, only send them back to their sick status.
In order to meet a growing demand that is ignored by the big brands, more and more entrepreneurs are launching themselves into the design of models allowing these women to regain their self-confidence after a breast cancer.
Post-operative lingerie brands
So this is how brands like Madder, Amoena, AnaOno Intimates, Coeur de Lys, BIBI & BIBI or BraXiere were able to see the light of day. Very often, it is former patients who have themselves encountered the lack of suitable lingerie who have decided to respond so that others do not experience the same difficulties.
This is the case with Garance. Imagined in 2008 by Céline Pasquinelli after her own cancer, this brand offers underwear designed for each moment and stage of treatment. To complete her approach, Garance offers her clients the opportunity to embody the brand, without make-up or artifice. " We want to show them that their body has changed, so what? Femininity is multiple and we defend it whatever it is »Explains Cécile.
But because every story and every bust is unique, the glamorous post-surgical undergarment isn't the easiest to design. All the designers, however, put in the means to guarantee comfort and femininity. The French brand BIBI & BIBI thus offers differentiable and adaptable reinforcements according to need, products guaranteed without harmful substances and materials of great finesse and quality such as Calais lace.
With his BraXiere bra, Macha Brizay wanted to simplify women's lives by elegantly protecting each breast or prosthesis without the aid of a pocket. Its creation supports each breast or prosthesis independently of the other, to ensure optimal comfort.
AnaOno, launched in 2015, does not seek to fill a void left by an ablation of the breast with its lace bras in very trendy colors delicately covering the breasts, whatever its shape. Other models are specially designed for women wearing implants with perfectly adapted cups and frames.
© AnaOno Intimates
What about the big brands? Some brands specializing in lingerie such asAnita or Red throat offer a post-operative range. Faced with the lack of suitable lingerie on the market, RougeGorge called on women who had had surgery and had been affected by illness to co-create its collection. Anita care develops, for its part, not only adapted bras and swimsuits, but also breast prostheses and special post-operative products.
The Kiabi brand has also been marketing, for several years now, bra models designed for women who have undergone breast surgery, at affordable prices (from 16 to 20 €). More recently, the Etam brand unveiled its first post-mastectomy lingerie collection.
How to choose a post-operative bra?
Today there are many models: triangle shape, basket, bandeau, bra, seamless, with or without underwire. The most important thing is to choose a bra that you feel comfortable in and feel beautiful in.
After a mastectomy, a tumerectomy or a reconstruction, it is nevertheless better, in the first stages, to favor a bra in a soft, anti-bacterial and breathable material. Also, you will be a little more limited in your movements, so choose a front opening for more convenience.
Prefer models without seams (or make sure they are as flat as possible) and without frames, to prevent chafing against the skin and scars. The shoulder straps should not be too thin to be able to release the pressure in the shoulders a little.
Choose a post-operative bra with a pocket after a mastectomy to slip your external breast prosthesis into it (made of fabric just after the operation, and silicone after healing). And without a pocket after a possible reconstruction.
Once the healing is complete, it is possible to gradually switch to more noble materials such as lace and more aesthetic models.
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