Study co-author Dr. Scott Spear, past president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, said the study examined 74 women who had preventive mastectomies and subsequent breast reconstruction between 2000 and 2005. Forty-seven patients had breast cancer in one breast and elected to surgically remove their other breast -- unilateral prophylactic mastectomy. Twenty-seven patients did not have breast cancer, but chose to surgically remove both breasts due to a high-risk of developing breast cancer -- bilateral prophylactic mastectomy.

The cosmetic outcome was scored by 14 surgeons who looked at post-reconstruction photos and evaluated the result on a 1 to 4 scale with 4 considered an "excellent" result.

The study, published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, found that women who had a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy were 100 percent satisfied with their breast reconstruction and 100 percent of them would have the surgery again. Ninety-four percent of women who had unilateral prophylactic mastectomy were satisfied with their reconstruction and 96 percent of them would have reconstruction again.

The study noted the cosmetic assessment for all patients was a score of 3 out of 4.