Making Nerve Repair the Standard, Not the Exception
In 2025, more than 400,000 American women will hear the words, “You have breast cancer.”¹
In that moment, life changes—priorities shift, and futures are rewritten. For many, treatment includes a mastectomy: a surgery that can be lifesaving but also brings lasting physical and emotional changes.
The physical scars and emotional toll of breast cancer are well known, but one side effect is often overlooked—chest numbness. Even after breast cancer surgery, nearly 80% of women report numbness, pain, or both.2
Nerves run throughout our bodies, functioning like electrical wires, helping us interact with and experience the world around us. They also keep us safe, serving as a first line of defense by helping us feel temperature, pressure, touch, and even pain. During a mastectomy, nerves that provide feeling to the chest are cut and removed along with the breast tissue. Once cut, they can no longer send signals, which means no sensation.
Loss of sensation can be hard to comprehend. Think of how it feels when your mouth is numbed at the dentist. The numbness women experience after mastectomy can be similar, but across their entire chest—and is permanent rather than wearing off after a few hours.
It creates a silent, invisible loss that can affect everything from intimacy and safety to self-image. Without intervention, it’s unlikely to return.
Axogen restores more than feeling and function for patients. We restore hope for a life beyond nerve injury.
Resensation® is a breast nerve repair technique made possible by Axogen’s Avance® Nerve Graft technology that is helping to redefine what’s possible after a mastectomy. Numbness no longer has to be the only option.
During breast reconstruction, trained surgeons perform Resensation by using Avance Nerve Graft as a bridging material to reconnect nerves cut during mastectomy. Over time, nerves can regenerate, offering women the chance to regain sensation, and with it, a vital part of themselves. It’s not just about appearance—it’s about restoring function, connection, and normalcy. Resensation is changing the way recovery from mastectomy is approached, shifting the focus from solely restoring appearance to also restoring sensation.
Despite a growing number of surgeons trained to perform it, breast nerve repair is not yet standard practice. Insurance coverage remains inconsistent, and many women never even hear about it as an option. For those who do, cost can be a barrier. This creates a significant gap in care, one that impacts safety, body image, and intimacy, but also neglects an essential function of the breast: sensation.
Restoring sensation isn’t a luxury—it’s a critical function of the breast. Making sensation restoration part of the standard conversation in breast reconstruction is essential to advancing whole-person breast cancer care. Women deserve to know their options and to have access to care that treats the whole person, not just the disease.
The Power of Improving Patient Care
The life-altering impact of losing sensation and the opportunity to regain it is best described by those who have lived it.
Leanna had a family history of breast cancer and a BRCA2 gene mutation. As a mom of two young boys, she opted for a preventive double mastectomy, determined to not only reduce her cancer risk but also reclaim her sense of self. Unlike many women, Leanna was aware numbness was a potential lifelong side effect, so she made sure to work with surgeons who offered Resensation and planned it as a part of her surgery.
Leanna underwent repair of the nerves cut during her mastectomy with Avance Nerve Graft as part of her breast reconstruction. In the following months, she noticed small but meaningful changes as she experienced her sensation starting to return: the warmth of water in the shower, a hug from her children, the simple comfort of feeling a seat belt against her chest.
“It was never just about looking whole—it was about feeling whole,” Leanna said. “Resensation gave me that chance. Having sensation back has restored a sense of normalcy and comfort that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I really want others to know that they have the option to not only look, but feel, whole again.”
Leanna’s story is a powerful example of how Resensation is changing the recovery experience for women after mastectomy. It’s not just about improving physical outcomes—it’s about restoring a sense of identity, intimacy, and connection that many assume is lost forever.
As awareness grows and policy barriers are addressed, Resensation continues to truly redefine what it means to recover after breast cancer or risk-reducing surgery.