These Brave Cancer Survivors Chose to Live Without Breasts Post-Double Mastectomy

Find out why they opted not to have reconstructive surgery, and check out the incredible photos they posed for.

If you or anyone close to you has never had a double mastectomy, the thought of one probably brings up images of celebs like Angelina Jolie and Giuliana Rancic. But not every woman chooses to get reconstructive surgery after their breast cancer diagnosis.

That’s the case for these women baring their beautiful flat chests in an advertising campaign for Play Out, a gender-neutral underwear company. Emily Jenson, one of the models in the campaign, says that she wanted to help women like her see that their bodies are perfect the way they are. “I wanted to bring attention to bodies like mine and show that having no breasts doesn’t make you any less of a woman,” she says.

Jodi Jaecks (left); Emily Jenson (right)

Two years ago, at the age of 31, Emily was diagnosed with breast cancer and decided against reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy. “I didn’t want to have more surgery or take more medication than was necessary,” says Emily. Now that she’s fully recovered, she says she loves the boob-less life. “Last night, I was walking through the grocery store with a friend and realized I felt less cold because I don’t have nipples,” she says. “Jumping on trampolines is also so much better.”

Aside from those perks, Emily says she wants women to know that missing these body parts doesn’t have to impact the way you feel about yourself. “Feeling like a woman makes you a woman, feeling sexy makes you sexy, feeling beautiful makes you beautiful,” she says. “You don’t need breasts to be those things.”

Emily Jenson (left); Jodi Jaecks (right)

At one of her breast cancer support group meetings, Melanie Testa—who was diagnosed in 2011 at the age of 42—met a 70-year-old woman who had also undergone a double mastectomy without reconstructive surgery. When the woman noticed Melanie wasn’t hiding her flat chest with prosthetic boobs, she told her that she had been wearing the faux breasts for 30 years—and hated it. “It floored me that someone would doing something they didn’t like for so long,” says Melanie. “I wanted to show women that we don’t need to wear fake breasts if we don’t want to, and it’s okay.”

Melanie Testa

Melanie, who also chose not to undergo reconstruction to avoid more surgery, says she actually had to speak to a psychiatrist before her doctor would allow her to get a mastectomy without reconstruction. “My doctor was scared that I would regret getting both of my breasts removed without anything put in their place, but I’ve totally embraced my human form,” she says.

Though she doesn’t mind her flat chest at all, Melanie says that her husband misses the smell of her formerly DD boobs. “I never expected that,” she says. Despite that missing scent, she says her sex life hasn’t been impacted by the mastectomy.

Melanie Testa

Jodi Jaecks was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, the month before her 45th birthday. Though her doctors offered her a lumpectomy, she says she knew that going to get a mammogram every six months would be too much for her. So she opted to get a mastectomy for a “clean start.”

“Ever since then, I’ve been focused on moving forward and accepting my new body,” says Jodi.

Jodi Jaecks (left); Emily Jenson (right)

She says that she feels comfort in knowing that this is the body that she chose. “I feel strong, healthy, beautiful, and sexy in this body,” says Jodi. She says that women often tie their breasts to their sexuality and being a woman, but being flat-chested doesn’t make her feel like she’s lost those things. “My breasts never defined my womanhood or my sexuality, they’re just a body part,” says Jodi. “Being myself makes me feel those things.”

All images courtesy of Play Out.