Anne Peled, MD

11/22/2025

Hugged my son to say goodbye one morning this week just three months after my mastectomy and realized I couldn’t feel it. Have loved snuggling with this one since the moment I met him over 14 years ago and could not imagine if this were forever, could not imagine if I hadn’t known that numbness would happen after my mastectomies, could not imagine if I hadn’t been lucky enough to have a sensation-preserving mastectomy so that most (and hopefully all) of my sensation is going to come back over the next year ✨

But SO many people are not that lucky, which I see every day in my breast surgery practice and you can see in these heartbreaking quotes from people who’ve had mastectomies and lost sensation ✨

I promise this is going to impact you or someone you know or love some day - wonderfully we already have the tools to prevent this devastating side effect of breast cancer surgery, we just have to change care and access so it doesn’t just take being lucky to get to avoid it ✨

11/16/2025

As a breast surgeon, patients have always asked me what I would do to get ready for surgery if it were me - feeling so grateful now that it actually WAS me for how well all the preparation got me back to running, lifting, jumping, dancing, and adventuring with my crew faster and better than I ever could have expected 💕

11/11/2025

Grateful for the huge step from the FDA yesterday to remove the black box warning on hormone replacement therapy, which has definitely been a major deterrent over the past decades for women to use HRT to improve peri-menopausal symptoms ✨

For our breast cancer community, also think this is incredibly important moment to highlight that vaginal estrogen is safe for people who have or are going through breast cancer treatment - it can make a big difference in helping with vaginal and sexual side effects of treatment or menopause, particularly with more younger women being put into early menopause from treatment side effects
✨

Hoping that this also opens up more opportunity for future research into the safety of systemic estrogen for breast cancer survivors as well 💕

11/10/2025

As a breast cancer surgeon, one of the very best things I get to share with patients is that there really will be another side to what they’re going through ✨

Remembering this for myself has also gotten me through two cancer diagnoses, six breast cancer/reconstruction surgeries, 19 rounds of radiation and 7 years of hormone blocking therapy feeling stronger than ever ✨

So for anyone else who needs this right now, no matter what you’re in at this moment, I promise there will be light to come, hopefully sooner than you know ✨

11/05/2025

Fortunately losing sensation after breast augmentation or breast reduction/lift surgeries (as well as after other cosmetic procedures!) is rare, but if it happens, nerve reconstruction may be able to help restore sensation, even years after the fact. Love so much that and I not only get to work together to help people maintain sensation after mastectomies, but also sometimes get to combine cosmetic revisions with sensation restoration to really get people looking and feeling their best, all in one surgery 💕

11/02/2025

10/16/2025

Numbness and chronic pain are unfortunately much too common after standard mastectomies, and often impact people’s lives in many different ways. Hearing real stories of what it can be like is heart-breaking, though also such a powerful reminder of the importance of educating patients on sensation preservation and restoration options and continuing to teach more surgeons about these procedures to truly transform the way people live after mastectomy 💕

numbaftermastectomy.com

10/09/2025

Taking a break from BCAM education to breathe in some of my favorite things from the past few weeks that remind me how grateful I am that breast cancer treatment has evolved so much that I get to live life after two young cancer diagnoses so fully and beautifully, from workaversary flowers from my parents to puppy snuggling to visits from family and friends who are family to concerts in the desert to perfectly peaceful Bay Area hikes - truly so so lucky 💕

10/05/2025

There’s lots of attention these days on alcohol and breast cancer risk, which I think is definitely an important piece of information we can give people to help inform their choices, but it’s also helpful to explain how that happens and help people understand the actual risks.

While specific properties of alcohol do increase potential breast cancer development, studies show that the increased risk attributable to drinking is fairly minimal with low or moderate amounts of alcohol. So, if alcohol does play a role in your life, I’d recommend just trying to limit it, ideally no more than 3 to 5 drinks per week (or less if you can!), and to have keeping an eye on intake be one more part of balancing a healthier lifestyle we ideally all strive for as best we can 💕



Drawing:

08/18/2025

Having surgery in less than 2 weeks is definitely starting to hit, and there’ve been a lot of “this is my last ____ before my mastectomy” (and everything that comes with it) thoughts running through my head lately, like my last concert, or swim in the ocean, or late night dance party, or family volleyball game.

But one of the joys of being part of this beautiful community of is that I get to see SO many people who’ve been through this before, absolutely thriving, living their lives, feeling better than they ever have. And as some of my favorites & recently reminded me ❤️, I have a bunch of really good firsts around the peace of hopefully being done with breast cancer forever right around the corner 💕💕💕

07/28/2025

I heard this quote recently in an class with and it’s really stuck with me, especially right now reflecting on how much steadier I feel going through this second diagnosis compared to the first - so beautiful to think that not only do I get the amazing people who’ve been there for me for decades like my family and friends I’ve known since I was a teenager or through the deep bonds of med school and residency, but also people newer to me through work, or raising our kids together, or patients who have become like family and ones who have shown up in the most incredible ways. Hope this possibility of how many more people will deeply matter to you that you don’t even know yet you fills you with as much sparkliness as it did for me 💕💕