Angelina Jolie underwent cosmetic surgery, but she only did it due to the alarming status of her health.

In the past years, Jolie has been tagged as one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. Still, most fans noticed that she had enhancements on her face - including lip fillers and nose enhancement (rhinoplasty).

But aside from these plastic surgeries, she also underwent cosmetic surgery for her breasts - not to enhance them but to prevent the risk of developing breast cancer.

The "Maleficent" actress announced the news in an op-ed for The New York Times (via CNN) in 2013, revealing that she received a preventive double mastectomy after discovering that she had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene. Patients with the mutation have a higher risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

"My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman," she said. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy."


Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died due to ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 56. The actress was 37 years old at that time.

Angelina Jolie's Surgery Detailed

Her op-ed, titled "My Medical Choice," revealed that finished three months of medical procedures at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California. It included the mastectomies and reconstruction.

According to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a double mastectomy is a surgery wherein both breasts are removed at the same time. It is being done to remove cancer or reduce the risk of the dreaded disease in a woman who may be at high risk of developing it.

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For Jolie's case, she had a procedure that gave her a chance to save her nipples. She had temporary fillers before undergoing reconstruction of the breasts with an implant.

"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie wrote. "My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent."

Aside from Jolie, Christina Applegate also underwent a similar procedure after finding out that she had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene.

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