Featured in the July 2023 issue of Atlanta Magazine
Three Sisters and a Surgeon (Atlanta Magazine’s 2018 “Best of Atlanta” Issue)
Three sisters. Three double mastectomies. Three cases of breast reconstruction. And one surgeon, “who tied us all together and steered us through,” says Courtney Beach, the oldest of the three and the first to have reconstructive surgery with Dr. Mark Deutsch of Perimeter Plastic Surgery.
Beach, 43, an Alpharetta elementary school assistant principal, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 2012. Her gynecologist had recommended a mammogram and MRI after her sister, Kate Hegidio, was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer.
While Hegidio underwent chemotherapy before surgery, Beach started with a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction. Deutsch explained the different options, and Beach decided to go with a DIEP flap reconstruction. “That means we used her abdominal fat instead of implants to reconstruct her breasts,” says the physician.
“Courtney was a great candidate for this surgery,” adds Deutsch, one of only a handful of surgeons in the Atlanta area that performs the complex procedure. “And she had very good results.” During one of her follow-up visits, he remembered that Beach mentioned her two sisters, who also had double mastectomies. Both had complications from an initial reconstruction with different doctors, and Deutsch took over their cases. Hegidio, 42, who recently moved to Salt Lake City and works as an HR manager for a logistics company, had significant scar tissue on her right breast, which the surgeon first released. He then put in a tissue expander to make room for an implant… continue reading.
