To celebrate women’s day this year, Medmonks’ Team decided to talk about some common medical conditions and cosmetic procedures that women undergo frequently.

So, we invited three amazing doctors from Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh to our office, who happen to be one of the top medical specialists in India in their respective fields.

Oncologist│ Dr Kapil Kumar

Orthopedic Surgeon│ Dr (Prof) Amite Pankaj Aggarwal

Cosmetic Surgeon│ Dr Richie Gupta

So, we started the q/a session by asking a few questions about breast cancer.

Question: I think every female is a hypochondriac when we talk about breast cancer. There are so many guides on ‘how to check if you have breast cancer’ on the internet, do you think they are helpful or are they completely useless?

Another thing that’s very confusing about breast cancer is its symptoms. Now, most breast cancer symptoms that I have read about online are experienced by females during their monthly cycle.

Dr Kapil Kumar: Yes, you can use the self-breast cancer screening guides available online, but we recommend people to visit a doctor, and learn the proper way of screening from them.

Lump is the most common symptom of breast cancer. Skin irritation, Scaling, Nipple retraction, Nipple discharge and breast pain are some other common signs of breast cancer. 

Question: Can you explain when should a female get checked for breast cancer? Or should it just be a regular process?

Dr Kapil Kumar: We recommend patients to undergo regular screening for breast cancer after the age of 45, as the risk increases after that. Early detection of the disease obviously helps in increasing the chances of patients survival.

Question: Can these lump in the be non-cancerous?

Dr Kapil Kumar: Yes, in some cases the mass growth can be non-cancerous, but we recommend all patients to get it diagnosed to be sure.

Question: Is it safe for women to undergo mastectomy after breast cancer surgery? If yes, how much time should they wait?

Dr Kapil Kumar: In cases, where the patients want to have breasts after a mastectomy, they can get breast implants at the same time of the cancer surgery. The breast tissue will be removed by surgical oncologist then a cosmetic surgeon will perform the breast implants surgery.

Orthopedics

Question: Every female single my life, has complained about joint pain. I myself, suffer from joint pain at times. Can you talk about a few ways in which females can keep their joints healthy? What procedures are useful for getting rid of joint pain?

Dr Amite Pankaj Aggarwal: The leading cause of joint pain is lack of flexibility in the body, which can occur because of lack of exercise or growing age.

Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh has launched a ‘Fast Track Knee Replacement Surgery Program’ after which the patients can walk within a few hours after the surgery.

Both knee and hip replacement surgeries are effective in improving the patients quality of life.

Cosmetic Surgery

Question: What are the differences between Botox and fillers?

Dr Richie Gupta: Botox is a paralyzing agent, so it is used for removing fine lines or crow’s feet. Fillers are used for improving the appearance of the depressions that people develop under the eyes as they go in their mid-20s. Filler also absorbs access skin.

Question: Are there any side effects of fillers?

Dr Richie Gupta: There are hardly any side-effects, as the material used in the fillers, high aluminic acid, is already present in the body. The acid injected in the body, automatically gets absorbed in the body without creating any side effects.

Question: Which treatment is better for weight loss: Liposuction or Bariatric Surgery?

Dr Richie Gupta: Now people often confuse these two procedures. But Liposuction is a body sculpting procedure in which patient’s fat cells are removed, and they lose weight from a certain portion of their body only. Bariatric Surgery is a weight loss procedure that helps obese patients lose weight by reducing the size of their stomach that reduces their food intake.

We also talked about some other procedures in detail, that are listed below:

Limb Lengthening Surgery

Sex Change Operation

ACL Surgery

Fillers

Weight Loss Surgery

Breast Cancer

10 Misconceptions about Cancer