Alternative breast prosthetics available at west end boutique

 

By Anna-Grae York

GROVENOR—A prosthetic breast promoted on Dragon’s Den has proved to be a winning product for a Stony Plain Road businesswoman and her clothing boutique.

Unique Boutique, located at 14226 Stony Plain Rd., is the only retailer in Edmonton that sells the “Been-a-Boob,” a comfortable prosthetic breast for women who have lost their own to mastectomies.

The product itself is nothing more complicated than a soft material sac filled with almost weightless little beans. They are a comfortable, bathing-suit-friendly alternative to the silicon prosthetic breasts that can cost more than four times as much as the “Been-a-Boob,” which retails at $71.75 per breast.

The owner of the boutique, Heidi Werosta, swears by the product, and says she never notices she is wearing one until she talks about it. She started selling them in the shop after going through a mastectomy herself.

Werosta was diagnosed with milk duct cancer in 2007, but considers herself lucky.

“You know what, it wasn’t really a struggle,” she said. “I had no treatments, no radiation, no chemo, and no pills, so I was one of the lucky ones.”

She only had to endure an operation before the cancer was gone.

Werosta first heard about the “Been-a-Boob” while at home recovering from her surgery. She was watching the show Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs present their inventions to investors, when a representative from Janac Sportswear presented the product.

Werosta immediately ordered the “Been-a-Boob” for the boutique. She purchased one for herself, and says she never looked back.

She says she sells quite a few prosthetic breasts throughout the course of the day. They come in sizes to fit every body shape.

“They go from size one to nine, 10, Dolly Parton, whatever you want,” she said.

Werosta won the French Dressing Jeans’ “Women Who Shape Our Lives” contest and was awarded $1,000 in prize money, which she matched up herself and donated to breast cancer research.

Misericordia Hospital’s breast cancer healing sessions refer patients to Unique Boutique for the prosthetics.

Unique Boutique will be holding a shopping party and fundraiser gala, called “the Pink Party,” on Oct. 15. The proceeds will go towards breast cancer research.