4. Christina Choy

Christina Choy

Consultant Breast Surgeon

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Treatments provided by Christina Choy

Initial consultation fee: £225

Follow-up consultation fee: £275

Miss Christina Choy offers expert detection and management of breast cancer and benign breast conditions and provides a full range of modern, oncoplastic surgical techniques and aesthetic breast procedures:

  • Investigation and treatment of benign breast conditions
  • Breast conserving surgery
  • Immediate breast reconstruction
  • Lumpectomy
  • Mastectomy
  • Flap surgery
  • Therapeutic mammoplasty
  • Breast augmentation
  • Mastoplexy (breast uplift)
  • Breast reduction
  • Fat transfer to the breast lipofilling)
  • Sentinel node biopsy
  • Family breast cancer risk assessment
  • Risk reduction mastectomies
  • Genetic risk counselling

Treatments, operations and tests

Biopsies take a small sample of tissue from the breast for analysis. There are a number of methods depending on the growth: Fine needle biopsies are used on fluid filled lumps to drain the abscess. Core-Needle biopsies are a local anaesthetic procedure to take a sample of the breast tissue using a hollow needle. Surgical Biopsies are also local anaesthetic procedures, performed by a surgeon, and remove the lump through a series of small incisions. After a biopsy, the sample can be analysed for cancerous cells.
There are many ways to perform breast enlargements. The method must be tailored to the individual patient needs. The principal is to create a pocket under the breast tissue and place a breast implant into that pocket. The breast enlargement operation is done under either local anesthetic (you are awake) or general anesthetic (you are asleep).
A breast exam is a self-inspection of your breasts. During a breast exam, you use your eyes and hands to observe the appearance and feel of your breasts. Breast exams allow you to become more familiar with your breasts. This may give you a greater awareness of the condition of your breasts. Breast exams may help identify potential breast problems. Breast exams, once thought essential for early breast cancer detection, are now considered optional. While other breast cancer screening tests have been proved to save lives, there's no evidence that breast exams can do this.
Lumpectomy (aka: tylectomy) is a common surgical procedure designed to remove a discrete lump, usually a benign tumor or breast cancer, from an affected man or woman's breast. As the tissue removed is generally quite limited and the procedure relatively non-invasive, compared to a mastectomy, a lumpectomy is considered a viable means of "breast conservation" or "breast preservation" surgery with all the attendant physical and emotional advantages of such an approach.
Breast reconstruction surgery is an option after a mastectomy to balance out the appearance of the breasts. Beyond external prosthetics, there are two options, artificial implants can be surgically inserted into the breast or tissue can be transplanted from one area of the patient to the breast. A surgeon's top priority is to ensure a good match and surgery can extend to cosmetic work on the affected breast.
Reduction mammaplasty is a breast reduction operation which removes the excess fat and skin from the breasts, which are reshaped and the nipples re positioned to form newer smaller breasts. This breast reduction surgery should result in more attractive breasts and reduce many of the problems outlined above. In breast reduction surgery there are several different surgical designs to reshape the breasts and are illustrated opposite. All of them will involve a scar around the areola of the breast. Each method will use different scars and will have advantages and disadvantages and your surgeon may select with your approval the best breast reduction technique in your particular case. Breast reduction surgery / mammaplasty may be used to correct asymmetry of the breast, where one breast is very much larger than the other and where it is considered to be the least normal of the two.
The aim is to treat any malignant disease in the breast. It is done by removing the breast. You will usually end up with a fine scar running across the chest wall. The breast and nipple can always be rebuilt, usually at a later date.The second aim is to find out whether there are malignant cells in the rest of the body. If so, then treatment with hormones or chemotherapy would be of help. Simply taking out the diseased part from the breast and using x-ray treatment for the rest of the breast is an alternative.
A breast biopsy is a procedure in which part or all of a suspicious breast growth is removed and examined, usually for the presence of cancer. The growth sample is suctioned out through a needle or cut out using a surgical procedure. The sample is then examined and evaluated under a microscope by a pathologist to identify non-cancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant) tissue. Words used to refer to the abnormal area or growth before and after diagnosis may include lump, mass, lesion, and tumor. The basic aim of a breast biopsy is to determine whether or not a worrisome lump is cancer.
In both breast augmentation and reduction the aim is the change the size of the breast, whereas mastopexy (breast uplift) changes the shape alone. As nothing can be done to restore the breasts former elasticity, the only solution is to remove sections of slack and redundant skin. This procedure may remove a few stretch marks but most remain, although some may be less noticeable. The results of this operation are usually excellent and you can expect less drooping of your breasts with the nipples in a higher position.
Mammography is the process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast and is used as a diagnostic and a screening tool. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through detection of characteristic masses and/or microcalcifications. Like all X-rays, mammograms use doses of ionizing radiation to create images. Radiologists then analyze the images for any abnormal findings. It is normal to use lower-energy X-rays than those used for radiography of bones. Ultrasound, ductography, positron emission mammography (PEM), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are adjuncts to mammography. Ultrasound is typically used for further evaluation of masses found on mammography or palpable masses not seen on mammograms. Ductograms are still used in some institutions for evaluation of bloody nipple discharge when the mammogram is non-diagnostic.
Fat Transfer is a method used to restore volume and shape to areas such as the face, breasts, buttocks and hands. Fat is taken from your body fat via VASER Liposuction or Micro Lipo and the purified fat is then transferred/injected into the areas of the body where volume has been lost. The procedure can be performed under local anaesthetic and is thought to be more beneficial than synthetic dermal fillers.
Gynecomastia is an enlargement of breast tissue in males, often developed in adolescent boys during puberty. Gynecomastia may be related to a number of diseases, such as Klinefelter syndrome, metabolic disorders, or as a side-effect of medication but is most often associated to a natural decrease of testosterone production in older males.
An inverted nipple is a nipple that, instead of pointing outward, is retracted into the breast. In some cases, the nipple will be temporarily protruded if stimulated, but in others, the inversion remains regardless of stimulus. Plastic surgery is one method of protracting inverted nipples. If a woman elects to have this surgery performed on her inverted nipples, it can permanently destroy her capacity to breastfeed. Another method of protracting inverted nipples is to have the nipple pierced. The success of both of these methods, from a cosmetic standpoint, is mixed.
A PET scan produces three-dimensional, colour images that show how the tissues inside your body work. PET stands for positron emission tomography. A PET scan works by detecting a radioactive substance inside the body and making images that show where the radiation is concentrated. Radiation is introduced into the body before a PET scan using a medicine called a radiotracer. This builds up in the part of your body that will be examined (see How it works, above). A PET scan can be used to diagnose a condition or to see how a condition is developing. It can also measure how well a treatment is working
Ultrasound or sonography, in medicine, technique that uses sound waves to study and treat hard-to-reach body areas. In scanning with ultrasound, high-frequency sound waves are transmitted to the area of interest and the returning echoes recorded. Ultrasound is noninvasive and involves no radiation.