Dr Liz O’Riordan: The breast cancer surgeon dispelling the myths

It wasn’t until Dr Liz O’Riordan was undergoing treatment for the disease that she realised the extent of misinformation on the causes and cures. Her book aims to dispel those myths with science-based evidence so patients can make clearer decisions

“I’d had a couple of cysts in the past and I’d had a normal mammogram six months before,” she continues. “I noticed a lump in the shower. I just thought, it’s a cyst, I’ll leave it alone.” In fact, it was her mother who persuaded her to get it checked. “That turned out to be a stage three breast cancer,” she says. “Two weeks later, I was in the chemo chair, getting every treatment my patients got.”

Moving from doctor to patient was revelatory. “I realised how little I actually knew about having chemotherapy and radiotherapy, how little I knew in order to make a decision about having a mastectomy. And I found there was so much misinformation out there. The more I looked and the more people sent me — ‘Is…