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Breast Cancer Surgeon Expert
Terre McGlothin, M.D.
Specialist provides compassion and options
Women need to know that care is available for them, and they deserve to be fully informed of all treatment options with complete explanations

by Ken Parish Perkins

Talk with Plano breast cancer surgeon Dr. Terre McGlothin for more than a minute and you can tell that the care she provides to her patients is nothing short of exceptional. Her patients become almost like family. She follows them for a minimum of five years and has followed some for as long as 20. “The heart as well as the body has to heal,” she says. “The surgery is fairly brief, but for most women, the emotional healing that follows takes a bit of time.” Being there for her patients during both healing processes is clearly one of her top priorities. As the only African-American breast cancer surgeon in North Texas and one of the earliest breast cancer surgery specialists, Dr. McGlothin is clearly a wealth of knowledge.  During her  general surgery residency at the University of Louisville, she developed an interest in breast surgery while working in the lab of a surgical oncologist who encouraged her to specialize. Back then, she points out, hardly any place offered breast fellowships. “When I started, this specialty wasn’t too popular,” she says. “There are now about 30 places surgical residents interested in breast surgical oncology fellowships can go to train.”

She notes that one of the problems women face with getting good breast health care is that too often physicians fail to explain diagnoses and options thoroughly. “Women need to know that care is available for them, and they deserve to be fully informed of all existing treatment alternatives.  They need to know that breast cancer, for example, can be treated and cured. 

Although there is no way to absolutely prevent breast cancer, Dr. McGlothin explains that women who are diagnosed with the disease stand a far greater chance of making a full recovery today than in previous years. “Some women are terrified to go to a doctor concerning their breasts because they don’t know there are options if in fact a cancer is found,” she says. “But more treatments are available than ever before and women diagnosed earlier are most likely to be cured.”
Because the key to dealing successfully with breast cancer is early detection, Dr. McGlothin also stresses the need for women to become actively involved in their own breast health care by performing monthly breast self-exams, making annual visits to their physicians by the time they reach their 20th birthday, and adding a mammogram to those precautions when they reach 40.

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