Umberto Veronesi, a veteran in the field of breast surgery, was the father of the concept of conservative breast surgery, introducing the notion of “minimally effective intervention” instead of the term of “maximum tolerable” in breast cancer treatment, meaning that the ideal is the combination of the least invasive intervention that will have the maximum therapeutic result. That was the kick-start of the conserving surgery era and the abandonment of previous amputating techniques such as the radical mastectomy of the past.

In time the recognition of the importance of the breast in the female existence and nature, as well as the highlighting of the psychological effect of a sex related amputation, as is a mastectomy or a bad operation resulting in malformation, gave rise to the need not only for conserving the breast, but also its cosmesis. Oncoplastic Surgery aims to offer the best oncological outcome in combination with the best possible cosmetic result, in those cases when resection of a big proportion of the breast is dictated. It includes, among others, tissue displacement techniques of the residual gland in a way that covers the blanc space left by resection, preserving a natural shape and form of the breast.

In a number of times a contralateral symmetrizing procedure may be needed on the other side to achieve optimal cosmetic result. Practically, however, mastectomy cannot always be prevented or avoided and in those cases we use reconstruction techniques that include the use of silicone based implants and /or autologous flaps in order to reconstruct the breast in a manner that resembles the natural contralateral breast in shape and form as much as possible.